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not all who wander are lost
but we sure are
Permalink Mark Unread

She doesn't recognise that tree.

She's been here before, she's not that far from the estate, this isn't some unknown place. She must've taken a wrong turn, of course, but where? She should probably just try to retrace her steps, Jaol will be incredibly mad at her...

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Meanwhile -

Tetsuma sprints through the high branches, leaving small indents in the bark whenever they push off. Blinking away frustrated tears, they curse their father under their breath - and that jerk Butsuma, too, for good measure. Why is it anyone's business if they sneak off to learn jutsu other than silly kunoichi tricks? Tetsuma's going to be a real shinobi, the best ever, just watch them.

That, though, apparently means leaving the clan, along with any pipe dreams of showing just how awesome they are, and how they deserve the title of clan prodigy, not Butsuma.

The trees thin, turning into pines as they approach the northern mountains. Tetsuma leaps to the ground and darts among the trunks, before tripping as they round a particularly large tree -

- And landing in a tangle of limbs as they collide with someone who they could've sworn wasn't in their path a second ago.

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She yelps and now the tangle of limbs contains two pairs of each limb, rolling along the grass before resting by a tree.

"...ow."

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Tetsuma's startled to say the least. They go to untangle themselves and stand. "Sorry!" they say, then - "I'm Tanaka Tetsuma. Do you need help up?" This person looks like she's from the Land of Lightning, though Tetsuma hadn't though they were that far north. Luckily, the Senju have no current quarrel with any Lightning clans, while most of their enemies do. They'd be a fool to give their clan name, though, even if this person doesn't look much like a shinobi, so 'Tanaka' it is. 

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This person blinks, and says something in a completely unfamiliar language. It sounds like a question.

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A foreigner

Tetsuma shakes their head, shrugs, then gestures to themselves and says, "Tetsuma." They then offer their hand. 

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She takes the hand and dusts herself. "Dayo," she introduces herself.

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Tetsuma smiles and says, "Hello, Dayo!" Um... They've never actually taught (or learned) a language before... Maybe start with basic words? Their father's men should've given up on chasing them by now, anyways, even if this takes a while.

Actually -

They look around. 

This isn't the same forest, and a quick chakra pulse doesn't disturb any illusions. The trees also feel real to their mokuton, which might be why they didn't notice at first.

So very good genjutsu, or they stumbled into someone's space-time ninjutsu. Both would explain the sudden foreigner, who doesn't seem hostile. Both possibilities are also highly alarming.

Tetsuma gestures widely at the forest and says, "Do you know where this is?" while doing their best to clearly telegraph confusion. 

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She shrugs and shakes her head, looking around in confusion, too.

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...Great.

Tetsuma closes their eyes and extends their senses. No one else obviously near, no suspicious rustling, no killing intent...

They open their eyes, look around, and pick up a nearby stone. Then, with illustrative pointing, "Stone. Tree."

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"Stone. Tree," she repeats. She pauses. Then she raises one finger and points at it, then two, then three, then four, then five. After all, numbers sound more useful than random nouns.

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Tetsuma delightedly repeats the numbers, then does the same in Japanese, then combines the numbers with the random nouns. They then pause, and look around. Everything's so wet, and there's not really any dirt to draw in... They hold up their hand in a 'wait' gesture then dart off at nearly-top speed, aiming to get out of sight so they can pretend to find a nice, light piece of wood and some charcoal for drawings, and then notice that the trees only extend so far, a half mile maybe, which is weird because this forest feels like it should be larger than that, so they sprint in that direction - 

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And reach the edge of the forest. The ground terminates suddenly in a sharp cliff. Trees cling to it as far as they can, leaning over the side. The sky seems to stretch below the cliff, though a swirling, almost shimmery fog starts at ground level and thickens rapidly towards the cliff's possible base, obscuring the view. There's no visible horizon.

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Tetsuma skids to a stop, digging a small trench in the ground, and stares incredulously. Something feels weird about that fog to their chakra sense. They turn, sprint back the way they came until they reach the clearing they left Dayo in. (It's been a bit less than a minute, at most). They gesture back, agitated, and try to figure out how to indicate bizarre cliff thataways with charades.

...This is definitely not their original world, or it's a genjutsu by someone who probably already knows about their abilities given that Tetsuma's not dead. They make a Ram seal, then hold a Snake seal, concentrating until a nearby root sprouts and detaches an extremely crude approximation of a cliff with trees at the top. 

Tetsuma picks it up, gestures for the sky, shows it circling down, then gestures for the cliff extending down really really far, then points again back the way they came. 

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She looks extremely confused! Then gestures at the two of them and points in that direction and mimes walking with her fingers.

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Tetsuma nods, then starts using their wood-sense to try and find a more civilian-compatible path that doesn't involve jumping over boulders or the like. They make a point of walking at a civilian's speed when they set out, gesturing for Dayo to follow. 

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Yeah Dayo is probably a civilian. She follows.

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They reach the cliff edge in somewhere around fifteen to twenty minutes. It's still as Tetsuma saw, mostly, though the edges have maybe shifted a little. A long patch of the mist has a glimmer of color to it, and seems to be flowing more consistently and more swiftly than the rest. A few thin tendrils sweep over the forest here and there. 

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...okay that is just bizarre. She points back the way they came, sounds safest.

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Tetsuma nods and turns to go. They set out for the clearing they arrived in, figuring that's as good a place as any. 

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Yeah probably. They can proceed from there in some other direction, presumably.

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The clearing isn't empty when they reach it. A large red fox is perched on a log, head tilted to the side, tracking the two humans' movements rather intently. 

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...well that sure is a fox. Onwards.

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The fox huffs, and says, sounding amused, "Hello. It's rather rude to ignore someone, you know."

Both of them will be able to hear him just fine in their own language, though his words have an odd echo to them. (Unfortunately, the two humans still won't be able to understand each other.)

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Tetsuma rolls their eyes. "Whose summons are you?"

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She blinks at Tetsuma, then at Reim. "My apologies, where I'm from foxes aren't people. It's nice to meet you."

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"Well, one of you has manners," the fox says. "My name is Reim. To the rude one's question, I am no one's summons - though I find it encouraging, that your magic allows summoning. Rare, that. Useful in the right circumstances." The fox pauses. "And it is so very good to meet you both. You see, I'm in need of a little - help."

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Tetsuma blinks. Ah, well, the fox-who-apparently-wants-to-hire-them isn't nearly as strange as this entire world. "I apologize for any insult, honorable Fox," they say, only somewhat insincerely, then: "What would you offer for our assistance?" And since the fox is apparently able to communicate with both of them - "And would you share your translation jutsu?"

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"—our help in particular?" she asks, looking between Reim and Testuma. "Erm, sure—but I can't really understand them..."

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"Well," says the fox, "I suppose I can offer the translation magic as an investment and initial payment, of sorts. You will have to let me touch you, of course, but it will allow you to communicate in any format you wish, with anyone."

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Only sort of answers their first question (presumably more magic is on the table; makes sense for a fox spirit), but Tetsuma nods and steps forward.

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Uh sure why not.

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The fox taps both of them. The magic should feel sort of tingly, and then they'll be able to understand each other just fine (talking in someone's native language should also feel possible, but it won't be intuitive how). If Tetsuma is paying attention to their wood-sense, they might notice some just-out-of-sight plants wilting. Small things, mostly. 

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Yeah Tetsuma's paying more attention to the fox, and their wood sense doesn't do non-trees all that well.

When they feel the magic settle, they (politely) thank the fox, then turn to Dayo and say, "Hello! Sorry for running into you earlier!"

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"—hello! Oh wow this works. Erm, it's okay—and I think I'm very far from home, all this magic is completely impossible."

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"...Yeah, I was figuring I got hit with a space-time ninjutsu, though not sure why unless I stumbled onto someone else's fight without noticing. This is a bit overly complicated for a genjutsu - plus it's next to impossible to fake senses you don't have, and my wood-sense thinks this forest is real, just strange." Tetsuma shrugs.

"So you're non-native too? Not sure how someone would do the edge-of-world thing, but I tend not to assume anything's impossible for jutsu, there's always some weird kekkei genkai that'll prove you wrong. How'd you end up here, then?" 

(The spell will offer literal translations and even explanations of the foreign words, but leave them untranslated to Dayo's ears as unique concepts. Jutsu: technique, in this case specific magical ones. Ninjutsu: jutsu that cause physical effects. Genjutsu: illusions. Kekkei genkai: powers specific to a bloodline.)

(The fox, meanwhile, is just silently watching them talk). 

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"—none of those things you just said exist where I'm from. Jutsu and all that."

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"Huh. If you don't have jutsu, how does... magic? Work in your world?"

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"Ravelry is what we call it. Less than one in a hundred people have it, when they're teenagers they get a choice amongst a few options and the one they pick is their ravelry for life. If they don't pick one the options start disappearing until there's only one left and they're stuck with that. Mine's shapeshifting, but there's all sorts of things."

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"...Proper shapeshifting is actually something jutsu has a lot of trouble with. You don't rule out potential enemy capabilities, but not everything's - easy. I can - " And they demonstrate, forming a ram seal, shifting with a puff of smoke to a more masculine form (their default is feminine unless they're unhappy enough with it to justify the cost), " - but that's costly to maintain, attention- and chakra-wise, and can be dispelled if someone hits me, since it's more illusion than actual shift. I can't do non-human other than as an illusion." Well, so far.

They let the male-shift dismiss, then say, "It sounds like your ravelry's more common, but less flexible. There's maybe a few hundred shinobi in the Land of Fire, out of... I think civilian numbers in the low millions. Does ravelry come with a cost? Jutsu use up chakra, if you run out you'll risk dying."

(The fox is now watching very intently, ears pricked forwards.)

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"There's a cost in, er, energy? The same kind of energy you use to not fall asleep, or to run a marathon—if you do a lot of ravelry you get tired and need a nap or to sleep or to drink a lot of coffee. You can't die of it, though, you'll just pass out first. How's your magic picked?"

(Yes, she has noticed the fox, she'll move on to that in a moment.)

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"You learn it as a child, but I've been making progress despite getting a really late start, and it might be a tradition, not a requirement. I've never heard of anyone not from a shinobi clan using jutsu, but that might be just because we're secretive and don't teach it to outsiders." They frown a bit. "Most people within the clan who they're willing to teach can learn at least how to dispel illusions and speed up movement, though being able to pull off the complicated or high-energy stuff's rarer. Kekkei genkai on the other hand are inherited. My wood-sense and wood manipulation are part of one."

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"Why do you not teach it to outsiders? What kinds of things can it do? I mean, illusions and speed and wood manipulation don't sound... like the same thing at all, so I'm having trouble generalising from that."

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"I'm not really a theorist, but there's three things going on - yin release, yang release, and elemental transformation. Most people just say spiritual and physical effects. I think the poetic description is that yin creates form out of nothing, and yang breathes life into form? Yin requires more control to use, I think, yang more raw power, and you can increase yang by using chakra a lot or just by exercising. Most people are better at one than the other. You have to use both to mold chakra for non-elemental jutsu, but different jutsu require different amounts - like, genjutsu's almost entirely yin, taijutsu is yang, ninjutsu's a mixture but the kinds people use lean towards yang. It sounds like your ravelry is entirely yang release, from the energy it uses. Can you get bigger effects if your physical endurance is high?"

"As for what it can do - " Tetsuma shrugs. "Enhancing taijutsu and weapons-use is actually the most common, since it's easiest to make yourself physically better at something you're already good at. Illusions that can fool civilians aren't super hard, but being good enough to trick shinobi is rare. Elemental transformation is more... restricted? Like there'll be a set thing you can do with each jutsu, and most people are only good in one element, sometimes two. The basic elements are fire, wind, lightning, earth, and water. You can only use one at a time, though some kekkei genkai work by combining them - my wood manipulation is earth and water. Ninjutsu can also do healing - which requires ridiculous control, creating clones, barriers, seals - like explosive tags, messing with space, and I'm actually really not sure what the upper limit is, since most of what's possible is only recorded in legends. Our world's kinda constantly at war, so people don't tend to get much past the basics, which is most of what I know."

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...well this is fascinating. "You can't get bigger effects with more physical endurance, exactly—you can do exactly the set of things you can do, and you can do more of it, or more complicated things with it, but not exactly bigger.

"Anyway, you say anyone in your world can do that if taught? Do you know if you could teach me?"

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"I could try? You're not, like, a chakra-less zombie or anything, I would've noticed that. And I think it's 'anyone could learn chakra manipulation' the same way 'anyone could learn to sword-fight.' And raveling sounds like it might interact interestingly. It's entirely possible it expends yang chakra? So you might already have decent reserves, though you'd then want to focus on building yin chakra, they're supposed to be balanced. I wonder if learning ninjutsu, genjutsu, or especially taijutsu would help with raveling..."

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"That'd be fun! I have no idea how it'd interact, it's not like ravelry's a thing that develops or that needs practice or anything like that, but maybe with this chakra thing it will."

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"I've never taught before, but I remember my lessons well enough, and we can probably figure stuff out." They pause and glance over at the fox. "What do you think about his offer? I'd like more information, like why us and what he needs help with, exactly." 

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"—right, we shouldn't be nerding about magic right now." She looks at the fox. "How can we help?"

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The fox stands, stretching. "Oh, I mostly need help with retrieving a certain item that was stolen from me. A jewel on a necklace, of mostly sentimental value, as it was a gift from my mother. Would get it myself, but - " He holds up a paw. "I have a rather unfortunate lack of opposable thumbs, you see. Gets quite in the way of opening doors." Reim then pauses. "As for why you - well, most who wander by this island are ley-captains using the dock for a rest. Quite in a rush, most of them. Rarely interesting in offering a bit of help. Your magic systems are also unlike anything else in this world - jutsu is flexible, and I suspect local detection magic will have trouble picking up on ravelry. Native magic is more - energetically obvious.

"There will, of course, be payment. I can do some persistent magical effects, and if you wish for a more conventional reward, I have quite the store of trade goods - precious gems and the like. The amount I'm willing to offer is fairly arbitrary."

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"If you have so many gems and this necklace jewel only has sentimental value, why did anyone steal it in the first place, and why can't you bribe them to get it back what you'd pay us? Other than terrible incentives, I guess."

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"The culprit was an aquaintance of my mother's, I believe," says Reim. "I am unclear as to his motive - perhaps he'd wanted to inherit the jewel, or wishes to use it in some ritual against me, or is simply trying to annoy me - and he's proven rather unwilling to trade."

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"—ah. Sorry about that. Now, I'm extremely thankful for the translation magic, but I must ask—how do I know you're not asking us to steal something that's not actually yours?"

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"You can't for certain, really. You could, I suppose, ask him when you get there. He is not the type to lie."

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...Yeah. 'Does this thing you want us to steal actually belong to you' is really not high on Tetsuma's priority list.

"How dangerous is he?" Tetsuma asks.

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The fox flicks his tail. "His abilities are primarily defensive. He has some talent with illusion, but less than the worst of your world's genjutsu." This is even technically true! Technically. If by worst you mean 'most horrifying' and not 'weakest.' "He is immensely unlikely to kill you for asking a question." The fox pauses, then adds, "He has control of water in his domain, but I am uncertain whether your jutsu or his magic would win in a direct struggle."

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"...is anyone expected there? I can look like anything—or anyone."

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Reim grins. It looks rather odd, on a fox. "Clever. Unfortunately, I have been limited in my ability to spy on him. You will have to find that out yourself."

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"I highly doubt there are no servants, or people making deliveries, or townsfolk, or neighbors inclined to visit," says Tetsuma. "Finding out their identities is something I've actually been trained in." It's kunoichi work, but not the most onerous. Spying can be fun, even. "Depending on whether he can detect your shapeshifting, we might be able to answer our questions without a direct conversation."

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"Reim seems to think Ravelry might be hard to detect locally, so, there's that."

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"Can we try it? Assuming Reim's ability to detect things works like the person we're stealing from."

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Shift. "Sure."

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Reim tilts his head. "Interesting. I felt the initial change, though faintly, but now your magic is hardly higher than background levels. He will be able to tell you're there, so I would not recommend sneaking in as a beetle, but most likely not that you're shifted. I was able to partially see through Tetsuma's shift, but not through this one. Does your shift require constant energy use? And is it physical or illusory?"

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"I can't actually shift into a beetle, it's mostly humanoids with some more outlandish alterations but nothing that significantly changes my mass."

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And back. "It's entirely physical, and the only thing that requires energy is actually changing from one thing to another, not keeping any one form. The magic you can detect is probably just the background fact that I am a raveller."

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Reim shakes his head. "No, most sapients can be detected. It's why invisibility doesn't work - nobody has figured out invisibility that doesn't also make you glow. Still, the lack of a need for upkeep is impressive; native shapeshifting is extremely high-cost and detects as such. As long as your acting holds up, he shouldn't notice."

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She beams. "Great, then I'm not completely useless here."

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"...Even if your ravelry wasn't helpful, it shouldn't take you too long to get up to my level in jutsu except the wood manipulation, since I've been practicing in secret and not for long. 'Two shinobi' is a significant improvement over one." Tetsuma shrugs. "If we're doing this, we should probably discuss some strategy, exchange tactics. And we need to figure out timetables." Turning to Reim: "Is the jewel's retrieval urgent at all?"

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Reim shakes his head. "Not on a timescale you would notice. I am rather old, and neither I nor the thief are going anywhere."

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"Which means I can learn the new magic and exploit the heck out of it? What a good world this is." Pause. "Er, hey, by the way, do you know if I could. Erm. Tell someone I'm here? Or, well, get that someone here?"

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Reim shakes his head. "If anyone has discovered how to leave the ley-worlds, they haven't shared. If you wish to return home, the kingdom of Bajilda might be close to an answer, or at least they are greatest in their understanding of this realm."

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"And you can't just, I don't know, summon someone here from outside, without actually going there?"

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"No. Summoning is not in my capabilities, nor is interfering with the boundaries of the realms. And the mechanism by which people enter this realm in the first place is entirely unknown to me." Also actually true, to Reim's great annoyance. His tail flicks. 

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Sigh. "I understand. Thank you anyway."

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The fox nods. "Any other questions?"

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"...well, what is this place?"

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"This forest is an island of... I suppose solidity is the best way to phrase it, floating in the void. It's a common stopover, since it doesn't have any major predators and anchors several ley-lines. This realm is the ley-worlds, made up of similar islands all connected to each other. You get between them on ley-ships, that can navigate the void along ley-lines. As far as anyone can tell, the realm has no native sapient life - outsiders wander in at apparent random, from many worlds and many times within them. Individuals, usually. Occasionally small groups. On one memorable occasion, an entire island.

"Most of the ley-islands are small, with a single terrain, though some contain entire continents. No one's recorded this realm's entire history, but it's at least tens of thousands of years long."

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"I... see. How peculiar. Is the place mapped? Does it have a consistent size?"

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He shrugs. "Some of it is mapped, and how much of the mapping people have access to varies. It's also possible to get a feel for the ley-lines, even without formal maps. Islands will sometimes become inaccessible, ley-lines sometimes move, and new places are sometimes discovered; it's hard to say how often the underlying realm is actually changing, though. The islands themselves have inconsistent borders, but not, typically, by much."

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"How fun. Alright, I guess we should explore this concept more after I learn all the jutsu magic I can and we help you with your thing."

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"I suppose that's my cue. Is there anything else you need, Reim?"

Tetsuma is mildly suspicious - the fox is almost certainly planning on paying them, but something's... Off.

"I'll also want a more thorough idea of our target's capabilities at some point."

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"No, nothing for now. We can go over strategy in depth once we have a better idea of our side's abilities."

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Tetsuma nods and turns to Dayo. "Basic training usually involves both physical and mental practice. You want to start with meditation, see if you can already access some chakra?"

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"...sure. I don't expect I'll be much good at meditation but I guess that works."

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So Tetsuma walks her through the first of the exercises. First meditation, getting a feel for breathing properly, practicing visualization. 

If Dayo does well with this they can try reaching for chakra? If there's any feeling of energy, not just threads, being pulled on with Ravelry, that'll help - the metaphor that Tetsuma uses is that chakra is like water that's shaking slightly, and you're trying to find it and hopefully make it swell into proper waves. But there're other metaphors - flaring an inner fire, directing wind, increasing the force of your heartbeat, pushing with pure energy, patterns of light, breathing... It'll probably take at least an hour of meditation practice to get to the reaching-for-chakra point, more if there aren't similar experiences Dayo can draw on. (It took Tetsuma three hours to even feel their chakra, and they didn't manage to do anything with it for over a week, but that was as a scatter-brained eight-year-old with no prior magic and other obligations).

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Well Dayo finds this massively boring and will not have it down after an hour.

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...Tetsuma can show off cool things you can do with even super basic stuff? That's part of how their older brother taught them, since even highly determined eight-year-olds have the attention span of a fly. Like, sticking leaves to yourself! Juggling very acrobatically without actually touching the knives/ rocks/ leaves! 

Maybe it'll help if they focus on Dayo sensing Tetsuma molding chakra first? Tetsuma can mold chakra very heavily in their hand and push it outwards; it should feel like an odd form of pressure. Or they can jump straight to doing? Tetsuma has at least one cousin who stubborned their way to the leaf-sticking stage by repeatedly putting leaves on their forehead and focusing on keeping them there through sheer willpower. Or Dayo can try to cheat with Ravelry? Like, how would you ravel 'unformed current of energy'? (...Maybe Dayo's chakra is like vibrating threads and molding chakra is like pulling on them? Is that a workable metaphor?)

(Tetsuma finds visualization interesting, so they can't really help Dayo there, and meditating was fun once they figured out that they could hear trees.)

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You cannot in fact ravel 'unformed current of energy,' ravelry feels subjectively like threads and just like the thing itself, it's not much different than the way moving a muscle feels, but the metaphor helps. She gets the hang of it in another half an hour and then loses all concentration due to glee.

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Tetsuma grins. "Do you want to take a break for a bit, or keep trying? I should probably start getting shelter and food prepared - it looks like it's about evening-ish - but I can do that while you practice."

(Reim was watching them for a while, but has since apparently gotten bored and wandered off.)

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"Keep trying!" She closes her eyes.

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And Tetsuma sets up camp!

...This involves a lot of experimenting with wood manipulation, because why not. 

After a few attempts they make a large glorified lean-to, with the side and back wall of jutsu-made packed earth and a crude door on the front. A second lean-to is quickly raised on the other side of the long earthen wall, then a firepit out front. 

...For food, hunting is probably out, what with the talking fox. Might be talking deer or something. After some searching, they find fruit and nut trees - some they recognize, a bunch they don't - plus some edible roots, and test everything for poison. They gather what they can, going ahead and using their hat as an impromptu basket.

If Dayo hasn't stopped practicing on her own, they'll interrupt when it's time to start preparing dinner. 

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Dayo will be interrupted and will help.

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Tetsuma asks whether they're planning on staying in the area; if so, they'll save seeds, some of the nuts, and some of the roots, to grow new plants with, so they don't have to wander so far in the future. (Using wood release to make food directly is inefficient, but making fruiting trees, bushes, and various plants isn't, as long as they start with a seed.)

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Sure, she doesn't see any reason to go anywhere else. And Tetsuma doing their magic is fascinating.

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So Tetsuma grows fruit and nut trees, and berry bushes, and edible roots (this involves shooing some of the existing trees to the side a bit; the clearing's big, but not that big). They get fancy, some - mostly trying to make the trees grow into interesting shapes, which is an incredibly difficult exercise in control. (The trees end up interesting, but not what they were going for, exactly. More bizarre abstract art than lattice-work. At least their functionality's intact.) 

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Fascinating. "I wanna learn that!"

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Tetsuma blinks. "Um. Sorry. The wood manipulation is a kekkei genkai. And a rare one - it's unique to my clan, and we'll get one person every few generations." They pause. "...You know, it's blood based, family lines and all. I wonder what would happen if you shift into me? Do you get the - underlying blood stuff - when you turn into someone?"

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"I... think so? I'm not sure. Could try?"

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...It'd be highly alarming if she succeeded, but also the most exploitable thing ever.

But - "The only verifiable proof that you also got the kekkei genkai I can think of is being able to actually use the wood manipulation, though, and you're not at the point where that'd be even slightly doable yet."

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"Oh well. I can learn more until I figure it out, then."

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"That sounds like a good plan to me. Wanna discuss worlds? I'm curious about what a world without shinobi turns into." They're betting 'significantly less violent,' but that's really not much detail. "We really haven't exchanged many details."

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"Sure. Wanna start or should I?"

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"Why don't you start?" While Tetsuma mentally untangles the mess that is their world. And thinks of how much they feel like sharing of their own story. 

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"I'm from a kingdom called Antaurb." Pause. "I'm the princess, actually."

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Tetsuma raises an eyebrow. "I'm assuming you don't really stand on any formalities of address?" How would those even translate, anyways - and the spell's translating 'princess' weirdly, it can't seem to decide between 'daughter of an emperor' and 'daughter of a daimyo'.

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"Nope, I was running away. My father's—a good ruler, mostly, kinda, but he has certain problems and is a bit conservative and does not like my gender thing and I was running away from home when this place caught me."

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"...Huh. I was running away, too. Mostly over an arranged marriage, plus being told to stop practicing arts improper for a kunoichi. Gender thing?"

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"Sometimes I'm a boy, sometimes I'm a girl. Not a very good princely habit."

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Tetsuma blinks. Then, hesitantly, "It's... The same for me. Sometimes I'm also something else or both or nothing at all. Like now, I'm not anything. Everyone treats me like a girl, though. That was part of why the arranged marriage, I think. My little brother saw me dressing up like a boy and practicing ninjutsu and told our father."

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"...I'm sorry."

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They shrug. "It's okay. I probably should've just left long before anyone found out. Still, it's really cool that you're like me!"

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"And—unlikely. Think this place picked the both of us for that reason?"

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"...I have no idea how it even works, and apparently neither do the locals. Maybe? If we assume it's intelligent, yeah, but if it kidnaps a couple thousand or million people, some of them are bound to run into weird coincidences..."

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"Yeah, good point. Anyway, er, do you even have monarchies where you're from, I forgot to ask—"

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"We have the daimyo? They're the sorta-hereditary military rulers of territories. We used to have an emperor, a few generations ago before the Warring Clans period, who ruled over the daimyo, but the dynasty ended and a new one hasn't been started."

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She will Explain Monarchies, then! And tell them about Antaurb and a few silly laws about how ravelers are paid for their time and some other cultural things, and about the neighbouring kingdom she'd been fleeing to, Casasha, where the monarch is chosen by a magic crown that rewards altruism.

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That's really fascinating and kinda weird! Especially the kinda-sentient-heir-choosing crown thing. Though having guaranteed altruistic rulers must be nice; daimyo gain and keep power mostly by killing anyone who wants them not in power. The payment thing is definitely inefficient. The shinobi don't have a well worked out system (though they totally need one), but generally payment scales with how dangerous and/or difficult what you're doing is.

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Yeah that's how Casasha does it.

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Yeah the shinobi probably need a formalized system, but paying by job definitely leads to better work incentives.

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So how exactly does Tetsuma's world work?

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So Tetsuma explains! Some history: there used to be an Emperor, who granted land and noble titles to generals in his army. The land and title were linked to military service; you didn't send troops to fight in the Emperor's wars, you didn't get to keep your land. Then the daimyo started arguing among themselves, then started fighting, and then the most recent Emperor died without an heir, and it kinda became a free-for-all. The shinobi had been military clans of exceptional individuals within the system. Instead of noble titles, they asked for things like political influence, money, and the right to live on a specific daimyo or lesser lord's lands - you'd generally see specific lords associated with specific clans. Daimyo and the lesser lordships are all hereditary rulers, but anyone who seizes enough territory can arguably declare themselves lord of it. 

The shinobi also started fighting among themselves, so now all the clans are doing their own thing, which usually involves competing for limited work and places to live. Some of the weaker clans have associated with stronger clans, and there are alliances. The Senju (Tetsuma's clan) are the leaders of one of two major factions in their area. The fighting's been really bad lately. Boys usually go out to fight pretty young, and do military-type missions, while girls train as kunoichi - specializing in healing, assassination, and sometimes guard work. 

...There are also monsters, ranging from minor spirits to the Tailed Beasts, which show up every decade or two to destroy a couple square miles then vanish.

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Wow um no offence but their world sounds crappy.

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...Yeah it kinda is. If Tetsuma had known this place exists and snatches runaways they would've left when they were like, eight. Dayo's world sounds really cool though!

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But Testuma's has cooler magic.

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Yeah. Their world's probably also a lot nicer in places not at constant war. It definitely needs to be fixed, Tetsuma's just not the type to know how

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...Dayo kinda is.

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That would be beyond awesome. 

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Might help if she understands the magic better though.

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Tetsuma can explain more of the theory? Also the more technical details of chakra molding and how handsigns work.

Unfortunately they don't really know super much about more advanced jutsu - their older brother taught them the really low level basics, as a kunoichi they learned some healing and genjutsu, they taught themselves wood manipulation, and as far as what other people can do goes, they mostly know about the type of stuff you'd run into guarding a daimyo's daughter - assassination techniques, not battlefield stuff.

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How are techniques developed in the first place?

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Experimentation, mostly. Very careful experimentation, that usually involves a lot of meditation on what you're doing and how as a first step. Generally you figure out how to shape the chakra, first, then figure out the handsigns to help with control. It's easier to develop techniques for a kekkei genkai than for ordinary nature transformation, which is easier than non-natured ninjutsu. (Taijutsu and genjutsu vary in how easy it is to develop techniques, mostly based on what you're doing.) (Tetsuma can actually go into a lot of technical details, and does if Dayo seems interested - they developed all of their wood manipulation jutsu basically from scratch. They can also point to the early attempts at shelter as an example of 'experimentation.')

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Yes technical details!!!

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So many technical details! Many that don't translate well and manage to very effectively test Reim's translation magic. 

...Tetsuma will not, in fact, have gotten even close to finishing explaining by the time night fully falls. Chakra manipulation and jutsu development are really complicated. Tetsuma actually mostly relies on intuition for both, especially with wood manipulation, but it's still important to know how to calculate stuff. 

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Awesome. She should meditate some more, though.

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Yeah, though they should consider keeping a watch - Tetsuma doesn't really trust this place to be safe at night. They can set alarm traps around the campsite, though (minimal jutsu use - mostly wire, noisemakers, and only a small handful of seals). Is Dayo aware enough of her surroundings when meditating to notice if something sneaks past the alarms? If so Dayo can take first watch and meditate while Tetsuma sleeps. 

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...no she is not, she should probably just watch.

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Yeah. Sorry. After a bit (and talking to Reim next time he shows up, and setting up camp more thoroughly) Tetsuma will probably feel more confident having them sleep at the same time, especially if they ever figure out how to make a wood clone, but for now they'd rather have a watch. Dayo can maybe practice the handsigns instead? Tetsuma can draw them as a memory aid if she wants.

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That will help!

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So Tetsuma makes a flat piece of lightly colored wood (paper is still too finicky), and sketches out the handsigns in charcoal, with their names and a quick explanation under each, like 'associated with fire manipulation' for the Tiger seal. (Luckily, Reim's spell also handles writing). They demonstrate each handsign again, of course, once the piece is ready.

(And if Dayo doesn't need anything else, they're going to go ahead and sleep.)

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Good night!

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Nothing crosses the perimeter during Dayo's watch. 

But the sky above is weird - wheeling streams of light, two major moons (one large and multicolored) with lesser attendants trailing in their wake, stars that twinkle at odd intervals - and something whispers in the darkness. The trees creak in an unfelt wind, and occasionally stars forget their paths and wander through the trees, only to wink out. 

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...that's actually really pretty. Are the whispers intelligible?

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Mostly not. Sometimes there's snatches of random words - needle, jewel, old, how, star, cloud, glow - with an effect rather like listening to a crowd chattering all at once, unnaturally quietly. 

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Well. Pretty.

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Other than the world itself being weird, the night - both Dayo and Tetsuma's watches - passes entirely uneventfully. (Tetsuma spends their watch trying to figure out a wood clone. They don't get far.)

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And then: "Good morning."

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"Morning!" Tetsuma's appearance is more feminine today, and she's changed into casual wear rather than the travel clothes.

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"How was your night?"

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"Uneventful. I tried developing the wood clone jutsu, so neither of us has to keep watch, but haven't really gotten super far." She gestures to a pile of wood; some of it is vaguely humanoid in shape. She's been breaking the failed attempts up as firewood. 

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"What exactly does it do?"

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"It's - a reflection of me? Clones generally aren't sapient, but they have their maker's knowledge and limited decision-making abilities, though there's sometimes glitches. A wood clone would look like me, and could stand watch, fight, and do various basic tasks, though it'd take chakra to maintain and probably wouldn't be able to carry on a conversation, unless I get really good at the jutsu."

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"Are there kinds of clones other than 'wood'?"

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"Yeah. The basic clone is actually just yin chakra, but they're not solid and don't last long if you aren't focusing on them. They're essentially semi-autonomous illusions. It's theoretically possible to do a more advanced clone with yin and yang chakra combined, but if anyone's figured it out they haven't shared. There's variants using nature chakra, like earth and water clones, that're more solid and usable."

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"What's the difference depending on element?"

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"Well, water clones are more easily destroyed, but they're more - intelligent? So better for fighting. They also require a decent-sized body of water to make. Earth clones are slower and less mobile, but fairly durable, and require less chakra to maintain. I don't think fire, lightning, or wind clones are a thing; you'd have trouble getting them to remain in the right shape. Wood clones should be durable, mobile, and low-maintenance, but I haven't created the jutsu yet. I've heard somebody from the Land of Water uses ice clones, but I'm not sure about their properties."

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"What about water makes them more intelligent?"

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"I'm actually not sure. I think more fluidly active or faster might be a better way to word it? The difference is really only noticeable on a battlefield."

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"I see. ...perhaps I should get back to doing the meditation thing so I can start learning the basics rather than asking all questions that pop in my head."

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Tetsuma shrugs. "If you want. Though I'd also recommend setting some time aside for physical exercises at some point."

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"You're the teacher."

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"Usually I exercise in the morning, but what time's best for you probably depends on your energy levels. When do you focus best in the day? Would a morning or afternoon run work better? That sort of thing."

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"I'm not really a morning person or a night person or an afternoon person. Might be better to just get used to your schedule."

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"The forest isn't really a good place for a run, though I can scout better locations. Probably best to stick to stationary exercises for now."

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Nod.

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So Tetsuma leads Dayo through a series of stretches, then push-ups, sit-ups, jumps, lunges, practice punching, that sort of thing, with stretches at the end as well. Exactly how long they spend on each thing, and how many breaks they take, mostly depends on Dayo. Tetsuma will exercise until lunch if left to her own devices, though a few repetitions of every exercise can be gotten done in an hour and a half or so.

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Dayo: is actually pretty physically fit. Not shinobi-levels of fit, but definitely on the right tail of the normal human distribution.

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Then they can work up to more advanced exercises as they warm up, including proper 'how to fight hand-to-hand Senju style' instructions, and some tips on monitoring chakra flow while exercising. Also: it's possible to do moving meditation, if Dayo wants to try, though it can make you clumsy if you're moving fast and not used to it.

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...he's bad at stopped meditation, he's not gonna try moving meditation yet. He's also not very good at anything to do with it and detecting chakra, apparently.

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Some people actually find moving meditation easier, though 'tire yourself before meditating' also generally works for that subset (generally the 'can't sit still' group). And, yeah, usually takes way more than a day to be able to identify your chakra and sense what it's doing with any regularity. Tetsuma finds her chakra easier to sense when moving, but Dayo might find it easier when still.

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...he's in the 'can't sit still group,' yep, he'll give that a shot.

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Moving meditation's kinda different. How you breathe's still important, but so is how you move every muscle - it takes up a lot more active attention to start. It's best to start with what's essentially stretches, though you can also do repetitive motions if the stretches are too slow. Like, punching. Punching is very meditative, though not quite so good for visualization. 

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He's not good at all at visualisation yet anyway, so he can start with the punches.

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It probably takes a while to fall into the rhythm, especially if he doesn't have previous experience with hand-to-hand, but the meditative state should, once it settles, be a lot less cluttered with thoughts. (Running's Tetsuma's favorite way of meditating, though really not something you want to do where there's anything to trip over.)

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Oooh okay this is way better than the sitting kind.

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Chakra moves and swells when you're exerting yourself, and it's hard to notice over your heartrate and breath and the soreness of muscles, but differently hard than getting a response out of the soft quiver of still chakra.

Tetsuma meditates on her own chakra, flowing through each kata while 'listening' with her inner self, breathing and with each breath expanding her wood-sense, trying to get a better feel for smaller plants, for the soft pulse of nature chakra - 

She makes some progress by lunchtime, to her delight. 

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Dayo does too! Kinda!

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They can celebrate with roasted nuts and fruit! (Tetsuma should probably try to find more variety this afternoon. Definitely look into mushrooms. Or figure out where Reim went to and ask him about hunting.)

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"—oi Reim can you hear us?" he calls out loud.

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After about a minute, Reim appears.

It's not entirely clear where from.

"Yes?"

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"Testuma wanted to ask you a couple of things."

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"How likely are other animals to be intelligent? Can we hunt? Also, do you know if the mushrooms will be similar enough to my homeworld's that I can identify ones that're safe to eat? Are any of the plants here poisonous? How dangerous is the area, do we need to worry about getting attacked at night."

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Reim sighs. "In order: some animals here are intelligent, but not all. Avoid eating squirrels and rabbits. You can hunt hooved animals, if you find any - this island lacks intelligent ungulates. I have no idea about mushrooms in your world, but I can identify ones edible to me. Some of the plants are poisonous, yes, but it's generally decently obvious as they're extremely bitter. I have informed the others of my kind that you are under my protection, so this area is about as dangerous as any random forest, though there are some large predators and territorial animals." He pauses, then, "Well, a random forest in this realm. New people arrive along the ley-lines fairly frequently, though they generally move on in the morning, and traveling spirits might be disinclined to listen to me."

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"There we go," he tells Tetsuma, grinning. "We can hunt."

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"Then large ungulate for dinner it is," says Tetsuma. To Reim: "Thank you." Then, turning back to Dayo, "Do you have any experience hunting?"

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"I have experience doing what royal family calls hunting, so some?"

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"Hm. Do you have weapons you're familiar with for hunting - Also, we should consider whether to hunt together or not. Hunting together would require securing the food here, but would be safer if anything's dangerous, and I could help you work on stealth. One of us hunting alone would allow the other to keep working, you on meditating or me on the wood clone, especially since hunting might take a while. Considerations are that I'll handle any fighting better, but I suspect you might have more experience - my experience is limited to trapping small game, which Reim told us to avoid. I wouldn't know how to find anything, other than running everywhere and getting lucky. I also only have and know how to use knives, a sword, and jutsu, none of which are ideal for hunting."

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"I'm pretty good with a bow, and I have one with me, but it's not one of the best."

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"Well, would you rather hunt or stay here and practice?"

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"I'd rather stay and practice but I think it's best if I hunt."

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"And I'll work on the wood clone? Or if we go together, you can show me how to hunt properly so I'm not just running back and forth looking for deer to throw knives at, and I'll handle hunting in the future while you practice."

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"Yeah, we can go together, sounds like a good idea."

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So hunting it is. Once they've finished lunch, Tetsuma ducks back into her shelter to change into her traveling gear and load up on knives (shuriken have poor range and will probably be utterly useless for hunting, so she doesn't bring many). She sets about securing their food, which admittedly isn't much - she decides it'll be easier to just bring the nuts and roots and her travel rations, and she's been picking the fruit only as they need it. 

She then checks for Reim (wandered off), and turns to Dayo to ask if he has any advice on when to set out, and if he needs or wants anything before they do.

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He thinks any advice would be very moot, here, what with the whole "alternate universe fucked up place" thing—he's not sure whether noon is a coherent concept. He doesn't want/need anything more, they can go.

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They'll come upon hooved... things, after a while, more swiftly if they're specifically trying to track deer. 

There's a small herd of four where the woods meet a wide meadow at the edge of the island, stripping leaves from the low, fast-growing trees at the treeline. Its front legs are significantly longer than its back, and it has a head vaguely reminiscent of a horse. The back feet split off into three hooves, while the front limbs end in long claws. They're slightly larger than a tall horse. 

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"...I was not expecting that," he whispers.

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"...Yeah, same, I suppose I should stop thinking this world will be normal," she whispers back. "They don't look too dangerous?"

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"No but I'm not sure my arrows will do much against something this big and... strong-looking?"

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"...Yeah and I can't really do wooden spikes well yet. Or quickly. Otherwise 'overkill' might do it. Keep looking?"

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"I think so."

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Tetsuma agrees.

And if they keep looking for deer, they'll come in short order on something that actually mostly resembles a deer!

With two-inch-long fangs.

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"Holy cow," he whispers.

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"Actually I think my world has those?" Tetsuma whispers back, then freezes when the deer's ears twitch.

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...he very carefully crouches down and grabs a rock...

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The weird deer glances around, but goes back to grazing.

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...this dear has way too good hearing. He throws the rock a couple metres that way, close to the ground so they'll make barely a sound—

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The deer bolts!

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Sigh.

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"...I can probably catch it?" Tetsuma says, squinting after the deer. It's not running away very fast, and she can still see it through the trees.

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"—if you think you can go ahead I guess? I can't, not amidst these trees."

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"This'll probably be messy," she warns, then darts full-speed after the deer, leaving a dent in the ground behind her and leaping into the tree-tops. 

...She's just realized that her aim's not good enough with a thrown knife to do anything quick to an erratically moving target. 

Slamming into it at speed should work, right?

She manages to bruise her shoulder and ribs in the process, but finishes the deer - which up close is a lot bigger than the water deer native to her homeland - off without losing her hand to its snapping fangs (definitely not a water deer), and then awkwardly hauls it back to Dayo. 

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Tetsuma grins somewhat sheepishly. "Um. Yeah I realized I hadn't thought that through about when I was already doing it. Wanna head back to camp?"

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"Yeah. Need any help with that?"

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"If you could carry it for a bit that'd be great - managed to bruise my shoulder, and medical jutsu doesn't do bruises well."

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"—I'm pretty sure I can't carry it on my own. Er, does the whole chakra thing make you vastly stronger than baseline?" he asks, eyeing Tetsuma's frame.

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Tetsuma's a bit short, but decently muscled. More like she's built for flexibility than strength, though.

She blinks. "You know, I've never thought about that. Maybe? I can carry twice my weight with proper support without needing to use chakra, and this is a bit less heavy than me. Mostly carrying it is putting my shoulder at a weird angle, so I can carry it fine, I'll just need to rest my shoulder for longer after."

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"...I cannot carry twice my weight. I can... maybe carry my weight for like ten seconds? I can drag my weight."

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"...Okay yeah, probably a chakra thing. I'd get tired very quickly carrying twice my weight, but carrying another person my size is doable even over distance."

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"I can probably help you carry that, though."

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" - That'd require a bit of logistics, but I can probably make a frame? Like, a pole with shoulder rests to tie it to, some rope or twine - wire won't be any good..." She mutters to herself for a bit, considering how to make anything like a rope with her wood manipulation. "Vines should work fine..."

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"Yeah, way to do it is tie it to a pole of some kind and carry either end of it on our shoulders, and I have rope."

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"That's even better. I can make a sturdy pole more quickly than we can find one, though." She thinks for a moment, then forms a ram seal, focusing to make an appropriately sized pole rise from the ground.

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So they can tie their game to the pole, yes?

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Yup! And head back to camp?

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Indeed!

...the part where they turn the animal into food is less obvious.

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Tetsuma actually knows how to do that! And has a set of knives suitable for the various tasks involved.

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Oh good then Dayo can learn.

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Field dressing a deer is actually fairly easy (though messy), and Tetsuma walks him through the steps, pointing out which of her utility-type knives is best, then - "How do we want to cook this? For now, stew or roasting would be easiest."

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"Sounds good, I don't care for having more work than we need to have."

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They can do a mix, since some of the cuts should really only be stewed. Tetsuma sets everything up - both for roasting, for stew (a rough clay pot with earth manipulation, large enough for bones), and a second fire for smoking. She then shows Dayo how to bury everything they're not using - "We really don't want to attract whatever this place has instead of bears" - preferably well away from the campsite. They can take turns monitoring the food; she'll put what's not being cooked yet in another pot for now.

"It'll take something like three hours for this all to be done; we'll want to put on the tender cuts in about two. What do you want to do in the meantime?"

 

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"Practice chakra things probably."

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"And I'll work on the wood clone, then. How much progress have you made with sensing and pulling on your chakra?"

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"Sensing, can do, pull, not so much. It's weird, you'd've thought someone would have noticed this at some point in my world, but no."

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"Yeah, manipulating chakra always takes longer than feeling it. Maybe meditating on internal energy's not super common? It might also be incredibly difficult to figure out for yourself. Chakra manipulation was, according to myth, introduced to the world all at once by the same person, and I've never heard of anyone using chakra who wasn't at least the apprentice of a shinobi. You also can't do much without handsigns, and I'm really not sure how someone would stumble on those."

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"Yeah, if it really needs teaching maybe it just happened that no one had the lucky break."

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She nods. "It is strange that people don't seem to discover at the very least sensing on their own, but 'it requires a teacher' makes sense as to why chakra isn't known in your world, especially if you don't have kekkei genkai."

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"I mean I'm just going by what you said, if apparently your civilians don't learn it either that's probably it."

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"Yeah. Raises the question of where the first shinobi learned it, of course, but anyways." She shrugs. "So keep meditating on it? I can try to draw a diagram of the chakra lines and points if you think that'd help with visualization, but I'm not sure how well I remember it."

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"Chakra lines?"

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Whoops. She forgot to explain how chakra moves within the body, apparently! This ties into 'why handsigns.' She dregs her memory for the old lecture (she remembers more than she thought; she had to practice this pretty thoroughly for medical jutsu) and explains the Gates, and how chakra clusters and flows in lines in the body, and the points where it's easier to force chakra from your body - or block someone else's through careful injury. 

...Unfortunately charcoal-on-wood isn't a good medium for drawing fiddly detail like the chakra lines. She can try a very rough sketch on a particularly large piece of wood, though. 

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Dayo can make lines of different skin colours appear on his body for demonstration?

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That actually works really well! And Tetsuma can correct them when they're in the wrong location. (The lines themselves are internal, but the points do come fairly close to the surface.) There's 361 chakra points, though pretty much everyone can only manage expelling chakra from the hands or feet, so the others are less important to remember unless you're going into medical jutsu. Knowing where the pathways are is kinda needed, though.

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This is very cool!!!

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It really is! And Dayo's enthusiasm is contagious; it's been a while since Tetsuma felt so excited about jutsu.

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Dayo likes magic very much, this is awesome.

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Same! "Do you have any other questions?" she asks. If not, they can keep practicing at their respective efforts until dinner.

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"Not at the moment, thank you."

Practice!

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It takes Tetsuma a bit, but she figures out a) definitely the first hand seal, and b) that there probably should be multiple seals, since she's still having control issues. (Weird, since clone techniques almost always just require one seal, but whatever.) If Dayo's interested, she can narrate parts of the development process whenever he feels like taking a break from meditation. It'll be time for dinner before she makes any more progress, though. 

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Dayo's tempted, but no, he'll try to just get this done already, no breaks. Punchpunchpunch.

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He'll probably find his concentration slipping after a while, but hey whatever works for him, and Tetsuma will call a break for dinner before too long.

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Ooh dinner.

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Dinner is two different versions of cooked deer-thing, with yet more tubers and nuts and fruit. (Tetsuma's planning on looking for herbs and other plants next food sweep. At least something to make tea with.) 

"How've you been doing?" she asks.

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"I'm not sure! I might be getting somewhere! But it might be my imagination and I don't know yet how to tell. How about you?"

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"I've got the basics down - I know the first seal, and that it'll take more than one, a bit unusually for clone jutsu... Hopefully this won't turn into one of those ridiculous jutsu with four dozen signs."

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"Four dozen, that sounds fun."

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"I know! The whirlpool jutsu is like that - it uses a lot of chakra but still needs to be controlled pretty finely. I don't actually know how to do it, it's just always brought up as an example. People who are really good can get it down to fewer signs, though."

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"Oh there's variance?"

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"Yeah, both in terms of complete jutsu - there's variants between clans, especially between larger regions - and what people actually use. I've never actually heard of anyone not needing hand signs for ninjutsu outside of myths, but if you've got ludicrously good chakra control, and if you've practiced a jutsu a lot, you can reduce the number of signs needed."

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"So what do the handsigns actually do, mechanically, to the jutsu, and why?"

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"Control, mostly. It's really hard to shape chakra to do anything other than basic enhancement. Since people channel chakra through their hands, something about the way the hand signs shape the pathways helps shape the chakra. It's also a muscle memory thing - if you always shape chakra a certain way when you perform certain sequences, that reduces the amount of conscious control you need to put in." Then more details on the twelve basic hand signs. "There's also some rarer seals, like the clone seal - " which she demonstrates - "that're limited to a few techniques." Tetsuma doesn't know the theory for why each sign does its thing, though. There's definitely differences - clones made with Tiger versus Horse versus the clone seal act differently for instance - but again not sure why.

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...huh. Can a given string of seals be used for more than one jutsu?

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Yup! Especially short strings. 

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Huh. Makes sense, with so few signs. Actually, why are there so few signs? Why not use other body parts, or the whole body as a sign?

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There's actually a lot, the basic twelve plus the clone seal are just the widely used ones. Plus maybe it's really hard to figure out new ones? And there's not a ton of continuity or sharing among shinobi, if someone figures out an innovation it'll usually die with them or at most pass to an apprentice, maybe to their clan. 

As for 'why just hands' - it'd be difficult to do a full-body sign in the middle of a fight or while running, is Tetsuma's first guess. Fingers also have a lot more flexibility, and it's difficult to channel chakra through anywhere not hands or feet, which presumably signs involving something other than hands would require. She's not sure, though.

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Well, they can experiment, after he's gotten good enough to actually be able to do things.

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Sounds fun!

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But now: food.

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Food! Tetsuma eats a lot.

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...Dayo does not eat that much. Dayo is kinda fascinated by this.

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She finishes another piece of fruit, then grins. "Yeah, chakra use is really energy intensive. Normally I wouldn't need as much, but - " she gestures to the pile of failed experiments turned firewood. 

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He giggles. "Yeah, sounds plausible."

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"It's a lot like exercise, really."

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"I don't eat that much when I exercise!"

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She shrugs. "Well, I don't eat this much just for plain exercise, either."

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Giggle.

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And so over the next however long, Tetsuma settles into a routine. She finds more plants, hunts some (with varying levels of success), and after a few days finishes the wood clone. She starts on trying to improve the shelter jutsu.

Once Dayo figures out chakra manipulation, she'll teach him the very basics: how to channel chakra to your legs, to start with, to run faster and jump farther. How to reinforce your joints, so you don't injure yourself on landing. How to mold chakra with each hand sign. How to throw off genjutsu - Tetsuma turns Dayo's entire field of vision blue for practice.

Then, the simplest jutsu: the basic clone (insubstantial, doesn't cast shadows, but is a decent distraction) and the replacement technique (again, good for misdirection). Once Dayo's got the replacement technique down, they'll move to the body flicker, which requires insanely fast reaction times to be useful tactically for anything other than retreating. Then how to throw knives and shuriken, followed by the shadow shuriken jutsu. (Tetsuma starts on a jutsu to make wooden but usable bladed weapons.) 

Tetsuma's not certain how to test for elemental chakra natures, so Dayo can learn one basic jutsu for each of the five types (starting a campfire, pulling pure water from something wet, making a small breeze, generating a mild shock, and softening earth), to see which he has the least trouble with. Once they know his type, they can move on to more advanced techniques. 

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The water thing's particularly easy.

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Good! Tetsuma's nature is water/earth, so she actually knows a good bit to teach with.

They're going to be on 'pulling water out of things' for a while, though, just with increasingly big or difficult things. Then making waves in the water, once they find a lake. Then forming the water into a sort of funnel to drench things (great for putting out fires). The water clone, when his reserves and control are large enough.

(Tetsuma also has him working on chakra control - floating leaves over his palms, running up trees, standing on water, catching things without touching them, and so on. Plus more non-elemental chakra manipulation like genjutsu, and fighting hand-to-hand or with weapons.)

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Aaaaaaaa this is so cool.

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Tetsuma's really glad that Dayo's having fun!

...While she's also having fun developing new jutsu, eventually they'll probably want to at least start thinking about Reim's mission. At the very least strategic planning for what abilities they'll want to practice. 

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...right, right. That thing. Okay, so, how does jutsu help with, you know, infiltration things?

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'Stealth' is a pretty basic application. Genjutsu, of course, but also softening footfalls, misdirection, climbing sheer walls, jumping moats, improving your senses some, earth jutsu can let you go through the ground, Tetsuma's almost got down something to go through or merge with wood, you don't need conventional weapons - shinobi are traditionally stealth-orientated, it's only lately they've been getting dragged into open war. Kunoichi still train mostly for the 'sneaky sneakers who sneak' role, so Tetsuma actually knows way more about espionage than about war.

Plus if it comes down to a fight, combat jutsu will help tremendously, and there's nothing like the body flicker for running away really fast once they've gotten Reim's jewel. 

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So Dayo should perhaps look around and try to impersonate someone to get enough information about the place's securities and the jewel, and then they jutsu their way out with it?

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Maybe.

...They should consider bring Reim in on this conversation. Presumably he knows a lot more about various weaknesses and strengths. 

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Correct. Reim, you around?

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It takes a bit, but Reim shows up after a quarter hour. "Ready to discuss strategy?"

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"Quite! I got such nifty magic now."

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He nods, and an illusion of a castle on a hill surrounded by heath shimmers into place before them. "This is where Lingormr, the jewel-thief, dwells. I have unfortunately never been inside, nor has anyone I've contacted, and he rarely leaves, but his servants frequently come and go from a nearby town for supplies."

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"What do you know of the security of the place?"

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"Unfortunately not much. There are archers on the walls, and guards at the gates." The illusion turns; there's a shimmery moat around the castle. "His walls are likely warded against attempts to fly over them. Going through the walls isn't something native magic can do, so I don't know how he'd react to that. Lingormr himself forms much of the defense - he's a powerful mage, and is said to be a shapeshifter, though I don't know any details on his other form. Presumably some sort of animal."

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"What does being a powerful mage mean?"

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"Mostly, powerful illusions and incredible strength and speed. He will be able to take the form of at least one animal, likely large and predatory, knowing him. It's possible he can fold space, though that is slow magic and will mostly affect the castle's layout. He might be able to use fire-magic."

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"Fire-magic consists of what, here?"

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"Varies. Mostly, moving around existing fire sources. Very rarely, generation of new flame. Requires significant amounts of concentration."

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"Okay, so not terrible. Is there a way to detect shapeshifters?"

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"I have never attempted to describe the magic-sense to someone without it, unfortunately."

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Tetsuma tilts their head. "I'm going to try something; tell me if it registers as magic to your magic-sense." They flare their chakra.

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Reim nods. "I felt that. Very brightly."

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"So chakra-sense might pick up on it, if native shapeshifting is as energy intensive as you say. I'd be able to feel someone using as much chakra as I just produced, as long as I was near them."

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"Do you know any other shapeshifters, or anyone who might be using any magic as likely to be registered by the magic-sense as shapeshifting?" she asks Reim. "As a test case for chakra sense."

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Reim chuffs, then - 

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- Is a human, clothed in silks in a multitude of colors.

Standing near him will feel vaguely like static electricity in the air.

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"...coooool."

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And he's back to a fox. "That is incredibly energy-intensive. For me, it'd be easier to put an illusion in place, but I presume that Lingormr has better magical capacity."

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"Still cool. And I definitely got that."

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"Good, especially since he might have other shapeshifters in his employ. Unlikely, but possible."

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She nods. "Don't think I'll have that problem, there's no static when I shift."

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"I can faintly feel the initial shift, and it'd be foolish to assume that his sensory abilities are less than mine, but he should miss it in the background if he isn't paying attention."

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"Oh right I'm not planning on shifting while he's around."

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Tetsuma frowns. "Didn't you mention something about water magic, the first time we spoke?"

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Reim tilts his head. "It is possible that he has... in a way embedded his magic in the water around his domain. Having seen your jutsu, I suspect you would win in a direct contest, but he might make it difficult, admittedly."

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"Yeah, I don't think a magical confrontation's the way to go, here, if it gets to that then we've already lost."

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"...I am not convinced that you would lose, but yes it would be preferable to avoid a direct confrontation."

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"Yeah." Shrug. "I don't like conflict."

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"Reasonable."

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"Feels like the next step is actually going to this place, then."

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"I'd agree."

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"How do we get there?"

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"You would have to find a ley-captain to take you. Fortunately, ships dock here frequently enough."

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"—not here here."

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"Well, not in this clearing, but certainly on this island. I can lead you to where the dock is."

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"Thank you," she says, smirking.

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The dock Reim leads them to is odd - formed of stone that seems to have flowed into shape rather than been carved. There's something like a massive scoop pushed into the side of the island, with jutting rock formations as piers. More spaces extend into a cliff that overlooks the dock, with stone pathways visible only from certain angles. Doors and windows and the occasional patio dot the cliff-face.

At the moment, no one is there. 

"Off season, unfortunately," Reim says, "But someone should come through within a few days."

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"And do we just ask for a ride?"

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"Well, yes. They will almost certainly ask for some nominal fee, but coins of different worlds are usually accepted, as is trade in labor, or stories, or knowledge, or items."

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"I have plenty of ryou, a type of gold coin."

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"Then we're all set."

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They'll have to wait a few days, as Reim said (they can practice stealth in the meantime, and Tetsuma offers to make a game of chasing each other up and down the cliff in a sort of vertical hide-and-seek). 

Then, one gray morning, a sleek ship emerges from the swirling mists in the distance, seeming to glide through the thick, shimmery fog like water. It has gossamer sails and an opalescent sheen to the hull. 

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Ooooh pretty! Can they signal to it?

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Well, they can go out to the dock and wave? The ship seems to be heading in towards the island, and will glide towards the dock they're on when they do. 

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Sure, they could go do that.

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It slides smoothly to a halt next to them, thin tendrils brushing like spiderwebs to cling to the dock, and a woman steps out onto the deck.

"Ho there!" she calls. "Are you looking for a ship?"

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"We are! Hi!"

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She jumps down to the dock, in a smooth motion that really shouldn't be possible for an unaided human. "Captain Sarati, at your service," she says once she's standing before them, extending a hand.

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That seems safe enough. She shakes. "I'm Dayo, it's a pleasure."

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Tetsuma takes Sarati's hand next. "Senju Tetsuma - or just Tetsuma - at your service." (Not her people's custom, but she can adapt.)

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"Where are you looking to go?"

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She describes their destination.

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"Yeah, I know where that is. Not quite on my route, though it's close, so it'll cost you a bit. What've you got to trade?"

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Tetsuma pulls a ten-ryou coin from her pouch. "Coins like this, some in smaller sizes, some in silver, some in bronze. We can also trade labor, or act as guards, or trade stories - we're both recently come to this realm, and those we've had contact with hadn't heard of either of our realms."

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Sarati takes the coin and seems to weigh it in her hand, staring at it intently for a few moments. "This'll do. Good quality gold. How about, one of these for the both of you? Plus some tales on the route, though I'm also willing to trade a story for a story. And if we're attacked, help defending the ship, though that's unlikely."

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- Gold must be worth a lot more here than back home. "Sounds fair to me. Dayo?"

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"Yeah, sounds reasonable." She does not look surprised that Sarati thinks that single coin covered the entire trip, so perhaps it's worth a lot more where she's from, too.

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Sarati hands the coin back to Tetsuma. "I'll collect when we set out. For now, I'm resting - it's a bad idea to sail a ley-ship nonstop. My loose plan is to leave in the morning, though I can delay until slightly later if needed. It'll be about twenty days past that, give or take a few; the ley lines aren't super direct, I'm the only navigator, and I have other stops to make first."

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"Sounds fine by me. How do you navigate the ley lines?"

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"Intuition, for me. There's - the lines have a flow, which can be somewhat seen but mostly felt with the magic sense. It feels like music across my skin, to me. And locations have their own resonance, and some points within the ley-realm are fixed, as are some directions. The ley lines aren't actually in this dimension, so magic also behaves a bit oddly, and you can sometimes tell where you are by how oddly."

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"That's fascinating. Can anyone learn that?"

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"Theoretically? As long as you can use local magic, I mean. Not everyone has any talent, mind you, and it takes years to learn even for a genius, especially if you're soloing and not part of a crew. I was practically born on a ship."

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She nods. "And how does one learn to use local magic?"

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She shrugs. "Find a teacher?"

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"So it's not, like, something you're born with or anything like that, it is in fact learnable."

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"As far as I know. There's entire colleges of magic, after all, and people from just about everywhere attend."

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"...I'm really worried and sad about the friend I disappeared on but I love this realm."

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"...It's theoretically possible that ley-lines could be navigated back to other realms. You'd want to talk to the researchers up at the university in Elgadhzi for that; they're the closest out of anyone."

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"And space-time ninjutsu might be able to do something, though I don't think it'd be all that safe to try and reverse-engineer." 

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"—yeah I am extremely interested in that."

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"If you have any magic that can handle space-time, I'd definitely suggest visiting the university at some point, though you might want to build up some local resources first, so they take you seriously, especially if you don't already know the - jutsu?"

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"Okay by 'unsafe' I mean you're always hearing cautionary tales about people who tried and wound up dead, and it typically involves seals which I know next to nothing about and are also dangerous to mess up, but with those caveats I can try teaching the university people the building blocks? I'd want to know I can trust them, though, that level of magic is - highly exploitable."

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She nods. "Still, this is very interesting and useful information."

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"Definitely! Maybe a place to head after the mission? We can probably get Reim to help with the local resources thing as payment."

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"Yeah, sounds like a plan."

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Sarati half-turns back to her ship. "Anything else you need me for? I'll want to get settled some, if not."

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"I think that's all for now?" she half-asks, looking at Tetsuma.

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"I don't have anything else to ask, no."

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"Well, then, we'll meet up tomorrow morning." She jumps back into her ship. A while later she'll jump out and head to one of the shelters in the cliff-face, a bag slung over her shoulder. 

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"This is so cool."

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"Seriously! We have nothing like this back home. I've never even been on a normal ship."

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"And all this shareable magic!"

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"And everyone we've met so far is pretty nice, too!" Not being in a war zone has been weird for Tetsuma. Good, but weird.

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"Yeah, although I'm still slightly suspicious of Reim and his jewel."

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"I suspect it's worth a lot more than what he's saying, though as long as he's planning on coming through on paying and not using it nefariously that doesn't really worry me? My main concern is if he's underplaying the danger of the mission."

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"...I'm actually concerned about stealing something that's not his."

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"That didn't really strike me as the case? Like, I've dealt with shifty clients before, so unless he's a really good liar - which is possible, especially since I'm not used to reading emotions off of foxes - he considers it his. Though it's also entirely possible that both of them consider the jewel theirs, if there was an inheritance dispute or something." Mostly actually Tetsuma honestly doesn't care that much about proper ownership, though she's going to avoid letting that on if she can. "Trying to quiz this Lingormr fellow about Reim and the jewel might not hurt, though."

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"Yeah, hearing both sides is usually a good idea."

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"Not always a luxury I've had, but yeah, when you can."

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"Yeah, it's just, doing whatever the first person you meet somewhere tells you is not a good heuristic for—anything, really."

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Tetsuma nods. "I'm more accustomed to - being for hire, really. Usually with a pre-existing relationship with the client, admittedly, or at least background knowledge of what's going on, and almost always arranged through my clan." Then, wryly, "Apparently, following orders and acting on my own recognizance require different mental habits."

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She smiles. "Yeah, they do."

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"It'll be something to get used to, mostly. Should probably think it over more while meditating, see if I can't directly retrain some assumptions."

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"Assumptions?"

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"Um - not openly questioning if I should do something I'm told to, especially for moral rather than safety reasons. Like, on my own I probably wouldn't have stopped to wonder in depth if Reim was lying about the jewel being his, I would've just treated it as a standard client situation. Assuming that most people are lying, which is a useful instinct among shinobi but probably isn't helping here. Paranoia about trustworthiness of random people or around handing out information - like, back home giving someone my full name could get me killed or worse, though I've mostly already worked through that one." She stops to think. 

"Assuming that both sides of any conflict are probably horrible, is a big one - there's not a lot of moral righteousness in the clan wars. There's probably more, too, what with this place not being a warzone and all. Having you here is - good, but it'd be better to get myself properly into a more useful headspace for this realm."

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"...right, you live in a sorta war-torn zone. That must suck."

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"Kinda, yeah. I mean it varies, there was a lull in the wars for a lot of my childhood, and since I was trained as a kunoichi I wasn't in the direct fighting - I was mostly put on healing and logistical support. But yeah my older brother Akirama - the one who taught me to fight properly - died pretty young by non-shinobi standards, I don't even remember my oldest brother, and leaving the clan compound wasn't really safe even for non-combatants. Not that that stopped me." A breath. "But - it wasn't all bad. I should've run away much sooner, when Akirama died, but... I had friends. Hope, sometimes, that there'd be peace. Though peace is unlikely with my younger brother Butsuma as the heir."

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She shakes her head. "We should fix your world."

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"It'd be great, though I'm still not sure how, even if we can get back there. Someone's always benefiting materially from the fighting, and there's people like Butsuma who've decided to rest a large part of their identity on the wars. There's a lot of old hatreds and griefs, and just about no one trusts in any given peace process."

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"...found a country, be very nice to live in, refuse to pursue war," she suggests, half-jokingly.

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"I mean, you'd have to find somewhere to put it, there really isn't empty land - and a way to keep people from just attacking you - and some way to handle refugees. But could work some? At the very least, you could establish enough power to be a decent third-party negotiator. I know some of the clan heads, like my father, aren't super enthusiastic about fighting, and if you could get the daimyo to cut it out, that'd do a lot. Even the Uchiha don't tend to pick fights with us when not hired to do so..."

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"Third-party negotiator with a known policy of accepting refugees from anywhere, and possibly a military or group of shinobi or whatever strong enough to defend our lands but we don't need anything more than that... And if what you've said is true and your kind of magic is kept as a tight secret, we can have good defences just by teaching anyone who wants to learn."

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"You'd want a way to keep a hold on internal dissent, too, especially if you're handing out power, but that should be doable by having a nice enough place. Teaching everyone jutsu would be unprecedented, so I don't know what that'd do - even possession of ordinary weapons is restricted by law in most lands." She pauses and thinks. "The Senju might take exception to you having me there, especially since I have the wood manipulation and know a lot of clan jutsu, which could threaten any peace, but I imagine my father would let it drop in exchange for some sort of alliance. Butsuma wouldn't, though. We'd also probably have to prove that we could hold our lands; it'd take a ludicrous army to be an automatic deterrent."

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"I'm thinking start small, with very few people, and try to avoid attracting notice. If we can develop magic that keeps the place hidden, even better. Grow slowly, don't engage in fights, only come public when we can actually win."

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"I don't know if there's any jutsu that could properly hide a country, though they could help with mundane ways of hiding a village or something small. We might find something in this realm, though. And the shinobi clans have really good information networks, typically, so I'm not sure how possible keeping away from the public eye will be? Unless we can like raise a new island or something, which would also help solve the 'people already live everywhere' problem."

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"Yeah. We need to figure out what local magic is and isn't capable of, to know what resources we have."

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"And any other transmissible magic systems - I'm betting there's more than just the native magic plus jutsu and raveling."

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"Oh yeah definitely!"

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"Captain Sarati mentioned colleges of magic - if anyone would have a catalog of known magic, it would likely be them."

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"Yeah, we should go visit them as soon as we're done with this mission."

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"Does your world have colleges? The translation magic's giving a weird feedback on what it means; I think the closest my world has is the civil service academy. Maybe we can trade Sarati for stories of - the university in Elgadhzi? And colleges, and any other magic systems she's run into."

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"I'm getting weird feedback, too, yeah, but I'm just rolling with it."

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"...I'm really curious about how the translation magic works. Also, it might not be a bad idea to learn each other's languages properly at some point, in case it stops working." The magic doesn't overlay sound or anything, just gives meaning, so she's picked up on some of Dayo's language, but not anything systemic, and she's not sure she'd understand much without the spell.

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"Yeah. I'm kinda terrible at languages, though."

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"I've never learned a foreign language before, but the spell might help? Especially with writing - I can write something, then you can write what the spell translates it as next to it. I'll probably want to finish the paper jutsu first, though" She can make extremely rough wood-pulp paper so far, though she's trying for smoother paper pre-bound into a book or scroll.

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"Might be better to just pay more attention to what we're each of us saying and use that plus the meanings the translation magic is giving us."

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"...I really don't think I'd do that well with parsing larger chunks of words, though. And my memory would do better with writing, I think. We can try both?"

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"Sure."

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"I can go ahead and make some paper and charcoal, if you want to start on that for today, or we can do something else? It's still a long while until noon. Maybe discuss our worlds and languages at the same time?"

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"That sounds like a good idea, yeah."

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So Tetsuma can make some reams of paper and charcoal, giving some to Dayo and keeping the rest for herself. She starts with a map, labeled in Japanese, with the political situation as of the last time she checked. She leaves spaces for translations, and (somewhat more slowly than usual), explains each country and who leads it. She tries to concentrate on individual words whenever Dayo talks, rather than just focusing on the translation itself.

(She strongly suspects Dayo's language's writing system will be a lot less complicated than the three-writing-systems pileup that is Japanese.)

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...yeah, it is in fact a lot lot less complicated than that, what the heck, Japanese is bizarrely complex.

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Tetsuma actually has no idea why it's so complex! But of the three systems (kanji, hiragana, and katakana), you don't super much need to learn katakana, making it effectively two systems for everyday use, and the hiragana is pretty straightforward, each symbol corresponding to a syllable. 

But yeah Tetsuma hates kanji. A separate symbol or set of symbols for each word is way too complicated

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It is!!! Here, her alphabet is entirely phonetic, that should help.

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That's extremely helpful! Tetsuma takes out a separate sheet of paper to write out which consonant-vowel combinations correspond to which hiragana. Once she thinks she has the hang of the alphabet, she writes Dayo's full name in her cutest handwriting in hiragana, which isn't very neat but is pretty (involving flowers, hearts, and little smiley faces), and makes an earnest attempt at neat - or at least legible - in the alphabet. She then writes her own name underneath, in the same style.

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Her handwriting is adorable. She's adorable.

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Tetsuma's cheeks turn a splotchy brick red. "Oh uh - thanks! You're really pretty - I mean your handwriting is really nice too - I mean..." Annnddd it'd be even more awkward to literally sink into the ground, wouldn't it. 

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She giggles. "So you like girls, hm?" she asks, in a lightly teasing tone.

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Ahhhhhhhh how did the ground swallowing jutsu work again

"I like everyone," Tetsuma mumbles. "You're always pretty."

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She leans forward, resting her chin on her hand. "Useful information."

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Why can't she remember the earth swallowing jutsu.

At least she's... fairly sure Dayo's flirting back?

Ahhhhh how does flirting even work.

 

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"You're rather red. Are you feeling ill?"

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Tetsuma makes a sound somewhere between a groan and an eep.

"No, you're just - you." 

(There is a reason Tetsuma didn't get sent on undercover missions.)

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"I am indeed myself, but if I'd known I could do this to people I might have tried to be less that!"

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"I like how you you are."

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"Oh? So this redness is a positive development? What a peculiar variety of human you must be."

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Ahhhhhhhhhhh

Tetsuma stares resolutely at the sky.

Then, all in a rush (with a bit of squeaking): "I don't know how flirting works and you're really pretty so I have no clue what I'm doing."

A deep breath, then in something approximating a normal human vocal register, "And, um, if you think I'm pretty too I'd kinda like to know? For sure? I think you're flirting with me - I mean I'm not sure - I'm going to be quiet now."

Earth swallowing jutsu probably starts with a Tiger seal, right?

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"Look at me."

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Tetsuma does.

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And she leans forward and kisses her.

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!

Tetsuma freezes for a few moments, then kisses back.

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Oh good she got worried for a second there.

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Yeah nothing to worry about here, Tetsuma is very happy with kisses. 

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Eeeee good it is good to kiss this adorable cute nerdy magical girl!

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Ahhh Dayo's so pretty and nice and kissable. Tetsuma's never properly kissed a girl before, this is wonderful! 

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So wonderful!!!

"This was a very good idea," she comments.

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"The best idea!"

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"Been kinda wanting to do it for a while."

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Eeee!

"I've - thought you were super cute and nice for a while, but I kinda wanted to be sure? And I'm bad. At, like, feelings."

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She nods. "Good thing I'm shameless, then."

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Yes that's very much one of the things Tetsuma likes about Dayo, though she might not've worded it like that. Bold, maybe.

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Nope, definitely shameless. It is the thing she is.

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And Tetsuma's so very happy that she is! 

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Eventually they should probably do, like, productive things, though.

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Yeah definitely. They need to pack, for one, since they're leaving the next day; Tetsuma's accumulated some stuff. Figure out what to do with whatever they're not taking. Finish the day's training, too, and plan out any questions they want to ask Captain Sarati. 

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All of those, yeah, especially the training part. Also the occasionally kissing Tetsuma part.

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Eee! Training with kisses is definitely a thing.

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Such a thing!

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Tetsuma mostly works on learning the alphabet, writing out the letters and muttering their names to herself, then practicing writing words, trying to guess at spellings without having to ask first (maybe she can get a kiss for each one she guesses right? She feels like a kiss per properly-spelled word would be an excellent incentive). Once she has each word down, she carefully copies it and its translation over into a quasi-dictionary she's making to use for review.

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(Such a good incentive! Yes, she gets that, and an extra kiss for having had that idea.)

Dayo tries to be as meticulous but advances much more slowly—Tetsuma's alphabets are hard. Speaking it is much easier to learn with telepathy, though, and she can use her own alphabet for memory aid.

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Tetsuma teaches Dayo the poem to remember the order for the hiragana - "Iro ha nihoheto..." - which is pretty cool, since it has every kana exactly once! There's 47 hiragana, so probably a bit more than the alphabet, but they're almost always phonetic. The iroha ordering isn't very systemic at all, though, and Tetsuma can see how if you don't know the language it'd be harder to remember. They can learn the hiragana line-by-line, though?

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Yeah that works.

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Tetsuma sorts through her stuff and packs during breaks. Most of it'll get left behind. Stuff like the practice papers can get used for kindling for the fire (even though it isn't cold out, Tetsuma insists on properly cooked meals - it's unlikely they'll be cooking anything on the ship, after all). One experiment with wood manipulation let her create a rough cloth sack, that their dried food can get stored in. 

"You know what I'd like? More clothes. Maybe we can see if one of Captain Sarati's stops has a money-changer and at least a cloth merchant. We'll probably want to pick up some local fashions, too, for sneaking into the castle."

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"Yeah, probably. I was already running away so I'm cool with the clothes I got but blending in is probably the better idea."

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"Yeah, I packed for traveling, too, but it'll be nice to have more than three outfits."

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"Yeah."

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Tetsuma decides to meditate for a while after dinner, then she'll turn in early, unless Dayo has other plans?

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...well that depends on her reading of how far Tetsuma'd like to go on this new and exciting kissing road.

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Yeah Tetsuma's still on 'mostly chaste kisses.' She was mostly thinking of, like, 'staying up plotting' type plans.

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Eh, they can plot when they're less tired, tired plots don't tend to work well.

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Definitely! Then they can make sure to be well-rested for setting out the next day.

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The next day there's a change.

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Ugh his skin is crawling, the transformation jutsu is a poorly done waste of chakra but needs must. At least it'll be good for expanding his chakra stores.

(He starts muttering to himself about ways to improve the transformation, because seriously.)

He nods to Dayo when they both emerge. 

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"Have I mentioned you're very attractive? Because you are."

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He smiles slightly and leans in for a quick kiss. "Being able to customize helped!" Then: "And I am positive I haven't mentioned enough how attractive you are."

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"I don't know about 'enough' but it's certainly been said." Kiss! "Are we ready to go?"

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"I am. I don't see Captain Sarati around, though."

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"Let's go looking for her, then."

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Sarati's already on the ship. She jumps down when the other two approach the dock, and asks, "About ready to go?"

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"Yes ma'am!"

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"I have a few final preparations before setting sail, but we can go ahead and get you both settled."

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"Okay!"

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Sarati leads them into the ship by way of a smooth plank that emerges from its side to the dock, a doorway rippling open in the hull. There's a single level accessible to passengers, plus the deck. The rooms are small, theirs at the very end. The narrow room consists of two sets of bunk beds across from each other, with a thick curtain able to be pulled between them. There's just enough space in between for two people to stand. There's something of a main gathering room in the center, with boxes serving as chairs and tables (and more boxes in the corners). 

The ship's interior is lit by smooth, heatless lamps recessed into the wall. The one in their room can be turned off by tapping it. Most of the rooms don't have windows, but Sarati says she can turn part of one wall of the gathering room transparent while they're in the ley-line. 

"Unfortunately being on the deck's unsafe for non-navigators, especially if a storm hits. It's plenty gorgeous just looking through the view-port, though. Like nothing else."

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"It's unsafe at all times?"

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"While within the ley-lines, yes. Not immediately unsafe - it's not like the air's instantly poisonous - but it's like being on the deck of a world-ship in a storm, and there is a lot of magical charge around, which can overwhelm the untrained. Storms are also decently common and often hard to predict."

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He nods. "We'll stay inside."

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Tetsuma nods, too.

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"Good! Passengers are sometimes a bit more stubborn that all that, so it's a nice break to get folks who'll listen to safety warnings. Once we drop from ley the deck'll be safe, and you can come up to watch our approach. If there's nothing else, I'll want to get back to undocking."

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"Nothing else on my end, thank you."

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"Or for me. Thank you for your hospitality." 

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She waves a hand. "Thank you for the commission, and the company on the journey. I'll leave you to get settled in, then. Shout if you need anything." And she heads off, to a ladder leading further below.

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Well... this is certainly more comfortable than the tent.

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Definitely! It's smaller and more cramped than the quarters along the cliff-face, but the bed's a good bit softer than anything they'd managed before.

If Dayo doesn't have an opinion, Tetsuma claims the right bunk bed as his, storing his things underneath. 

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Yeah sure he's fine with whatever.

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Tetsuma glances around the tiny room. "We should probably head to the main room."

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"Yeah, let's."

He leads the way.

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Tetsuma follows, bringing a pad of paper and the charcoal, in case they want to work on writing. 

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The ship's fairly small, all things considered. The passengers' room sits at the end of a long hallway with storage rooms branching off. The main gathering room has two long curved walls in the same pale, opalescent material as the outside of the ship. One long wall is clear of any obstructions, and has two of the three tables resting along it. The crates that make up the tables and chairs are of a simple pale wood, with arcane markings on them, many of which the translation spell fails to catch the meaning of. (The ones it does catch have prosaic meanings, like 'this side up.') One of the 'tables' along the wall is large enough to spread their papers out on, while the other is small, clearly meant for a single person or two having a quick meal. The third table is medium-sized, sitting out in the middle of the room.

Crates are stacked to the ceiling in the corners, bound by netting, with some along the other long wall like a low bench. The other wall has maps and charts hung up all along it, some of them with bizarre symbols and unclear meanings.

A second hallway branches off from the main room directly opposite theirs, leading to Sarati's room, the ladder up and down, the bathroom, and more storage spaces. 

The ceilings in all of the rooms are low, and the floor is a cool, dark material that feels almost but not quite like metal. There are no windows, just the lamps that shed a light like daylight. All three tables have movable lamps resting on them.

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And are there other people?

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Just them and Sarati, apparently. 

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"I don't think regular ships back home could be manned by so few people," he muses aloud.

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"Also I'm assuming she'll probably need sleep at some point, and it didn't sound like she's planning to dock every night..."

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"Yeah... I'm curious, I'm gonna ask."

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"I'd be surprised if she doesn't check in on us again before launch. Should be a good time to ask then."

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"Mmhm, good idea. ...so what do we do in the meantime?"

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"I'd like to try and refine the transformation jutsu - it's far too much of a drain on chakra, and doesn't hold up well. It's also one of the few jutsu I can easily practice while here. I'd also like to talk about - us - at some point."

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"That last part sounds easiest."

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"Just - where do you see - us - kissing and all - going? I mean, how seriously should I set my expectations at?"

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"...I'm not sure? I'm not, like, opposed to serious, if that's where we're headed. Don't think these things do well with a lot of planning, though."

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"I've never done anything beyond - like, goofing around - though I'm... also not sure, but theoretically fine with anywhere from 'courting' to 'extended fling.' Stuff like - this - also isn't as big a deal to shinobi as I think it is to civilians, civilians in my world would usually treat kissing as a major step. 'Serious' is typically planned well ahead, too, but I'm okay with letting things develop as they will." He's blushing.

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"—you're adorable. And stuff like this is a bigger deal to not-me people, I think. I like you, I think you're fun and cute and smart and hot and I want to kiss you and for now that's about it."

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Blushing! "That's - about my thoughts."

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He grins. "And you're really cute when you blush."

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He groans and tries (unsuccessfully) to fight the blush. "One of these days, I'll figure out something that gets you flustered."

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He snorts. "I'd pay money to see you try."

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"Might be the hardest mission of my career."

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"I believe it might."

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He snorts. "I just had the funniest mental image of hiring shinobi with the mission of 'make my - boyfriend? lover? - blush'."

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"I don't think lover is quite the word, yet," he says, looking Tetsuma up and down.

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Yeah Dayo's won this round of 'fluster Tetsuma.' "Not sure which word to use to refer to - us."

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"Boyfriend probably works. We can go with lover after I fluster you out of your clothes."

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He groans. Because now he's thinking about it. Thiiis is definitely something to meditate on. "You're more likely to fluster me into testing if the merge with earth jutsu works on the ship!"

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He just smirks. "Wanna bet?"

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"I know better than to make that bet." A pause, and a very deep blush. "Though - it'll probably have to wait until I can figure a transformation jutsu that'll - hold up - or until I shift back from male. Dysphoria and - stuff - do not mix."

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"—yeah, of course. I can imagine." Hug?

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Hug!

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"Your magic's very flexible, though, I'm sure it's feasible."

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"Yeah, definitely..." A thought occurs to him. Before he can overthink it, he blurts out: "I could probably figure out a jutsu. That would. Not directly involve me. But still be - fun."

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"You might need to be more specific."

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Dayo's doing this on purpose, isn't he. Tetsuma's blush is extending past the collar of his shirt. "Like. You know. With the wood jutsu. I can animate - things."

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"Is that so."

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Ahhhh Dayo's worse than Tetsuma's kunoichi friends. "Though I'd need to practice, uh, a lot, to get it right, and I don't think the Captain would appreciate us using her ship as - materials."

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"Perhaps we should collect some materials inland before taking off, then."

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"We'll have to check the departure time, but we could also wait until next dock. I got the impression they'd be fairly frequent. And I'd still like time to - think things over, and my jutsu development priority's going to still be a better transformation..."

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"Yes, those make sense. So we could stick to just kissing for now."

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"Yeah. And the jutsu definitely holds up to - minor stuff. Heavy petting, as long as I don't get distracted enough to drop it."

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"—'heavy petting.' What a phrase. I should kiss you for it." Dayo kisses him for it.

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Tetsuma approves of kisses! He'll step a bit closer and get hands slightly involved, too, since talking's reduced some of the - jittery. Entirely above-waist so far.

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He can match that, for sure.

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Tetsuma will be very glad to continue until they're interrupted, if Dayo is!

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Has Tetsuma met him?

Yes. He is.

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They'll get interrupted after about fifteen or twenty minutes. Sarati clears her throat, looking clearly amused.

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He pulls away, looking completely unashamed. "Hello!"

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Tetsuma also pulls away, though he's blushing even more than before. "Uh - hello, Captain."

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"Please keep hands above the waist, and all clothes on, in the main areas," she says wryly. "I came up to let you know that we'll be undocking in fifteen. I can turn the viewport transparent now, if you want." A pause, then: "Oh, and I would in fact be highly annoyed if parts of my ship were used for - jutsu."

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He snorts. "You heard that, did you. So did you hear the part where we were wondering about—other crew?"

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"Yes, though I wasn't paying careful attention. There's no other crew but me, though you could argue the ship as its own crewmember. It's capable of maintaining a straight course in calm currents, and can alert me to problems before they occur, so I can sleep at appropriate intervals. Though it's not built for long-term sailing, so we'll be docking about twice a week, ideally. Luckily this is a fairly close together cluster of islands."

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"That's kinda fascinating, that a single person can man the whole ship."

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"It really is! Ship design's one of my passions, but it's a very niche field in magic. This girl," she taps the hull, "Is practically my baby. Larger ships need a fairly substantial crew, and can't maintain course on their own, usually. She's pushing the upper limits on size for a one-person."

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"That's really awesome. Closest thing to anything like this back home is artificers making artefacts and they're, like, much smaller stuff."

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"Mind telling me more about your magic systems once we're set on a course? I'll trade, story for a story."

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"Absolutely!"

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"Sure thing."

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She flashes them a smile. "So: viewport, yes or no?"

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"That's a yes from me."

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"I'd be interested, yes."

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Sarati nods and walks over to the long, blank wall that two of the tables are by. She traces an arcane pattern in the center, then places her palm flat on the wall for a few long moments. The wall ripples, a glimmering rainbow of color spreading like through water, and then the entire wall turns transparent. They can see the dock beyond it, part of the island and the distant mists. 

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Ooooh!

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Tetsuma is already fascinated. 

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Yes this is incredible! And super pretty.

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"Just wait until you see the ley proper."

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"I bet it's gonna be awesome."

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"I think it is, but you'll have to see for yourself. If you don't need anything else, I can go ahead and get us on course."

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"Sounds good."

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"I'm fine."

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Sarati nods, then heads over to the ladder, this time climbing up. A minute later, a soft hum starts up, and the ship jerks, shudders, and then the view begins to change as the docks slide past them. Soon they hit a denser patch of the shimmery fog, and the ship rocks slightly as if on a wave. It's a smooth ride overall, far moreso than any sailing ship at sea, but the floor is still shaking and occasionally tilting a bit. 

The banks of wispy mist increase steadily, until the island slowly recedes from view, and then it's like they've crossed some invisible line. The entire ship pitches forward then back, then yaws left to right, then settles with a shuddering groan. The mist lightens, and they can suddenly see the ley. The fog forms dense, opaque structures like waves that are moving parallel to them, and its colors shift through the rainbow like an oil slick. Glimpses and flashes of frozen lightning in impossible colors arc across the fog, some thin tendrils extending - not into the air, but into the area of thinner mist. Something streams through the air at high speed, making a low moaning sound that almost harmonizes with the engines' hum. 

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Yes she was right this is astounding and what the heck is that something?

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It's not entirely clear! Whatever it is glimmers in flashes, like stars or bits of metal.

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"I've never seen anything as amazing as that." Tetsuma is staring, thoroughly enraptured.

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"Me neither. We should ask Sarati about that, whatever that is."

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"Definitely. I think she said she'd be down at some point? I wonder what a storm looks like."

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"Guessing 'terrifying and beautiful'."

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"Probably! She did say they're dangerous to be outside in."

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He nods, and stares some more at all the pretty.

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Tetsuma is fully willing to join him in that.

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After a while, Sarati comes back down to the main room.

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"Hi! That's beautiful!"

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"It really is! I'm glad you're enjoying the view."

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"So question." Point. "What's that?"

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"The flashing lights? No one quite knows for sure; we haven't managed to look up close at any. They're called star-flecks."

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"What happens if you try to go up close to them?"

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"They don't get close enough to the ships to grab easily, for one. Attempting to reach them with a long pole or something's unwise; the pole will be destroyed, if you're lucky. If you're not, you can unbalance the ship."

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"Oh. What if you use one pole on either side?"

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She shakes her head. "The winds snatch them, is the problem, and not predictably."

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"...there must be some way," he insists stubbornly.

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"People've been trying for about a hundred, hundred fifty years now. Especially Bajilda; if it involves the ley, they want to know about it. It's possible you could with a large enough research ship, but ships large enough to be stable twist themselves apart. Better materials is a bit of a priority, since you also need a larger ship to survive larger storms and go further from the lanes. I'm not saying they're impossible to study, I'm saying people've tried, and we'll need a technology jump or currently unknown magic to get any farther."

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Sigh. "Let's try for the former."

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"If you're interested in studying the ley, the university in Elgadhzi really is best. It's where I did my formal studies."

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"In the future, yeah."

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"What else do they teach? It doesn't sound like anything in my world."

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She shrugs. "Oh, just about everything - mathematics, natural science, chemistry, architecture, philosophy, history, calligraphy, poetry, literature, languages, music, religious studies, off the top of my head. It's an enormous school, as large as a small town."

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"This world is weird but really great."

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"Definitely."

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"Yeah. It has its own problems, but I wouldn't trade it for anywhere."

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Grin.

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"What's the next port like?"

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"Small place, though larger than the waystop I picked you up at. Think 'small fishing village'. I've got a few things to trade them, but mostly we'll be resting. If you need proper supplies beyond various dried lake creatures, you'll be wanting Cloudshear, the stop after. We're about two days out from the village, rest a day there, then four days to Cloudshear."

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"Four days in the ley?"

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"Yeah, it's a bit of a long jump for this ship, but the waystops aren't well spaced there."

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"How often do accidents happen in these trips?"

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"I've never been navigator or captain on a major one - when I was first starting, we had a few bumps on docking occasionally, the equivalent of knocking something over with your horse, but it's been a while since I had even a small accident. Potentially deadly accidents are rare on small jumps, especially if you avoid stormier lines. Still, ships do go missing, or come limping in with damage. I'm not sure about exact statistics, though I know small jumps are safer than sea travel or even land travel, some areas."

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"Go missing and never return?"

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"Presumably, they got caught in a bad enough storm or strayed out of lane and sank. It's more common with research and exploration ships, almost never happens on the leys we'll be taking."

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He nods. "This whole—place—is completely out of anything I have any intuitions for."

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"Same. I can - sort of compare ley-ships to the ships from my world, but not well."

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"That's common, I suspect. You can always tell the first-gens by how they're - adapted, I suppose you'd say. Many of those pushing hardest for a way to leave the realm for others are first-gen."

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"First-gen? As in, imported from other worlds?"

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"Oh, sorry - yes, it's short for first generation. People who weren't born on a ley-island. Nobody's quite sure how many there are, but it seems to scale slightly with the populations of the world's this realm draws from. They're a small part of the wider population, though."

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"Which is how many?"

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"I'm not sure. Bajilda, Madeza, and Frisland all have populations in the tens of millions. There's a couple other large nations, though those are the biggest. There are eight known continent-sized ley-islands, and all are populated. There's at least thousands of small, independent villages and towns like the one we're approaching, and hundreds of city states like Cloudshear."

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"And how long has it—been around? I mean, how long's this place's history?"

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"Nobody knows. Bajilda has records dating back seven hundred years, and there were already well established communities when the founders arrived. There's ruins of civilizations older than any records. Some spirits have been able to give lower limits, though they're not very trustworthy - there's a desert spirit near Elgadhzi that claims to be thousands of years old, and that the world was much the same when she was born. There's scholars that think this realm's been around as long as the source worlds have had life."

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"Thousands of years old doesn't sound that implausible, though, my world has that much history."

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"A few have claimed significantly longer, but, yes, she's generally believed, even on less verifiable details."

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"Like what?"

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"Some about history, or where artifacts have been left, or who's passed through recently. She's known to have - idiosyncrasies, that can affect the veracity of her information, but that's one of the things you learn to work around when studying local history."

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"Idiosyncrasies?"

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"She's prone to holding grudges, is fairly consistently untruthful on some topics - that sort of thing."

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"Is there any pattern to the topics she's consistently untruthful on?"

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"Not that I can remember, but history wasn't my primary course of study."

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"Fair enough."

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"Anything else you'd like to know?"

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"Nothing immediately comes to mind, thank you."

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"What's your world like? Where are you from in it?"

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"Well... whole, for one. It's a round planet in contiguous space without anything like these pockets. And I'm from a kingdom called Antaurb. My, ah, father's the king."

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"I think most planets are contiguous, actually. There's debate over if they're naturally round or flat. Are you the heir? What's your world's magic like? Can you do illusions of the architecture?"

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"I'm the heir, yeah. My world's magic's called Ravelling—" And he explains how that works. "I don't know any—genjutsu?—yet, couldn't do illusions."

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"Your world's magic is interesting. Pity you can't show off the architecture. It's always interesting how different worlds develop." She turns to Tetsuma. "What about your world?"

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Tetsuma explains the mess that is the history and politics of the Elemental Nations, then a vague overview of chakra and jutsu. He's horrible at genjutsu, but as long as Sarati doesn't try to throw it off, he can show her some of the architecture. He's been to the capitol and other major cities on missions, so some of it's the really impressive temples and castles and palaces.

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Sarati is fascinated, especially by the architecture. "My secondary course of study was in the history of art and architecture," she explains.

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"After Tetsuma teaches me more of his magic I'll be able to do the same thing but I think that'll take a while still."

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"Really basic genjutsu shouldn't take long - you already have a bit of it with the clone jutsu - but yeah, unless you're talented I'm not sure it's worth focusing on, though it'd be easy to practice while on the ship."

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"Eh, let's give it a shot, why not."

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"If you don't need anything else, I'm going to head below, then."

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"Okay. Thank you."

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"I'm good. I'll let you know if anything comes up."

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Sarati nods, wishes them good luck with training, then heads down the ladder.

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"So you want to try genjutsu?"

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...and he kisses Tetsuma.

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Eee!

Tetsuma kisses back.

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"You're adorable."

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"Thanks! You're - amazing."

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"I agree but I'm not sure what amazing thing I've done so far."

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"Just - being you. Kind and smart and confident and all."

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"Well in that case you're amazing, too."

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Eeeeee! The only appropriate response is clearly more kisses.

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So many of those!

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After a while of kisses, Tetsuma asks, "So do you want to learn genjutsu? I'm not very good at it, but there's all sorts of fun to be had at higher levels."

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"Yeah, it sounds interesting and fun."

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So they can go through basic genjutsu! ...Which is all that Tetsuma knows. Though it's enough for the general principles, and if you have a knack for it, genjutsu is the most flexible field. Tetsuma can make some fairly decent visuals but can't make them believable, and he only knows vague theory for the other senses.

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Dayo picks it up on the first try.

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That earns kisses. Highly impressed kisses.

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Eeee "This is fun I like this!"

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"Kissing or learning genjutsu?" Tetsuma teases, blushing.

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"Both," he says, smirking.

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Another kiss. "I'm having fun with both, too. It's great seeing you so excited."

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"Your magic is great and everyone should learn it."

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"I'd like to know more about why my world's so unusually unstable first - there might be some inherent problem with having that much power floating around - but yeah."

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"Well... it might be something cultural? The way your world is organised is... strange."

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"I... don't know. The thing is, I think everywhere is in a similar state of war, not just the Elemental Nations, but I've never been anywhere else."

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"...yeah okay that's—at least suggestive."

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"I used to have a friend who had all these wild conspiracy theories, that somebody was somehow sabotaging peace, but... A simpler explanation is that something's wrong with shinobi, or at least with average or even just worst-case human nature when given that much power."

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"I'm not sure 'that much power' is the right metric, though? It doesn't look like this place's magic is less—powerful than yours—perhaps less versatile?"

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"I'd imagine the ley gets in the way of launching too many stupid wars, but yeah this place does look like it has some fairly powerful magic."

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"It'd be easier to draw conclusions if we had, like, history books or something."

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"Of this world? Or of mine?"

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"Yours, there probably is enough history here that we could compare and figure it out."

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"Yeah. Unfortunately the knowledge I have myself only goes back a few generations, plus some myths, and is pretty biased towards my clan."

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"This whole clan thing is also weird—or, rather, the insularity? It's like you're little nearly-noninteracting bubbles who only clash with each other when it would be much more productive to trade."

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"We do interact with each other some, and we trade with civilians all the time. There's allied clans, too, that inter-marry, come to each other's defense, that sort of thing. The rivalry between the Uchiha and Senju, and similar rivalries between other clans, drives a lot, but most of it's that the daimyo keep hiring us to fight, and there aren't exactly that many sources of income going around. You'd have to see why the daimyo are fighting, too, and I'm pretty sure that's almost entirely lust for power."

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Headshake. "Extremely silly."

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"I know! I'm not sure why everyone's so silly, though."

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Sigh. "Let's practise jutsu and figure that out later."

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Yeah, Tetsuma thinks that's a good course of action.

He can work on the transformation jutsu while Dayo works on genjutsu, which, since it involves untransforming repeatedly, is a fairly uncomfortable process. He offers Dayo a kiss for every genjutsu milestone, and solicits kisses for each improvement in the transformation.

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Kisses: continue to be great incentives for everything.

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Very much so!

Tetsuma also gets gradually more comfortable with resting hands on places, or playing with hair, or kissing a bit more enthusiastically. 

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Is that so. He will keep Tetsuma's pace—it's probably understood by now that he's perfectly comfortable with whatever Testuma wants to do.

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Yeah, it is, and Tetsuma appreciates that. He's just - still very much new at this, though really all things considered he's adjusting to the idea of kisses (and maybe more) pretty rapidly.

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Dayo is the model of nonpressuring.

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He really is! Tetsuma just wants to adjust quickly. Because Dayo's fun and kisses are super fun. And being shy is - frustrating. 

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Not having that character trait, Dayo cannot comment.

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It's like seeing a really tall tree you want to climb, and you know it's safe, but some part of your brain's going 'but that's high!' Like, yes, that's the point.

Though Tetsuma really appreciates how not-shy Dayo is. This would be just about impossible if they were both shy. (He expresses this sentiment with lots of kisses.)

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He's sure it wouldn't be impossible, surely shy people sometimes date other shy people?

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Possibly. He probably would've eventually approached Dayo on his own. Still, Tetsuma likes Dayo's not-shyness.

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They can continue not-shyly kissing and practising genjutsu, then.

(Wow genjutsu is fun he likes genjutsu.)

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Tetsuma manages to improve the transformation slightly, but it increases the chakra required kind of dramatically. Still. Progress.

Tetsuma also works on Dayo's language; he mostly does this by asking how to say things like 'kiss me' or 'you're very handsome.'

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...well that's adorable and he really really is as nonpressuring as he can be but gosh those are some longing looks he's sometimes letting through.

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Tetsuma blushes when he notices the looks.

...He still needs to think, but that look is definitely going in the 'pros' column. 

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Good.

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Tetsuma is fully willing to keep this up until they're interrupted (by hunger or the captain).

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One of those, yes.

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Sarati wanders back up around lunch time. There's pretty much just dried fish and fruit on offer, plus their own supplies.

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Dayo's not super picky about food anyway.

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Tetsuma can see getting sick of this after a while, but for now it's fine.

More practice (and kisses) after lunch?

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Absolutely! And he probably won't get sick of this, magic practice and kissing are two of the best things in life.

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Tetsuma thoroughly agrees.

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Are architectural illusions simple enough that he'll be able to show his Sarati his world soon?

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...It depends on how detailed he wants to get, and how good he is at making the fiddly little details behave. He'll almost certainly be able to do a low-fidelity but good enough illusion by the second stop, though.

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She's really good at making the fiddly little details behave!

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"You're amazing," Tetsuma says with a kiss. "It took me a week to get this far." 

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She beams. "This is way more fun than the other parts of your magic and those are already very fun!"

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"You'll be completely terrifying once you figure out the other senses."

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"I won't be terrifying I'm nice."

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"The good kind of terrifying. Nicely terrifying? Terrifyingly nice?"

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"Terrifyingly nice, I like that."

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Kisses! That smile is just far too tempting.

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Eeeeeee!

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"We're going to get back to my world and everyone will turn over a new leaf and promptly make you Empress when they see how nice and amazing you are."

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She laughs. "If only it were that easy. Any judgmental crowns in your world, perhaps?"

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"Unfortunately not that I know of. Though being conspicuously nice and powerful might actually do something. There's - an idea among shinobi, that your philosophy affects your power, so powerful people must have correct philosophies."

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"...why."

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"I don't know! It might be true? It's - really powerful shinobi tend to have really strong convictions, and unless all our stories are wrong this has been part of our culture since the Sage of Six Paths."

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"That's just selection bias, though, when you're powerful enough it's easy to believe stuff and not be challenged on it."

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"I'm - not sure. Sometimes it seems like my world's set up as a - clash of philosophies. And people who have strong convictions tend to become powerful, though that might just be a motivation thing."

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"Then I'll just use my conviction that the best way to coexist is peacefully and respectfully and satisfying everyone's preferences to the best of our ability and win because I'm right."

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"And you'll be heralded as the strongest shinobi ever."

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"And you'll be regnant consort?"

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Ahhh Tetsuma really hadn't been thinking that far ahead on the relationship.

It sounds... Really tempting, though.

But - "If you're going to rule the Elemental Nations, you'll need a kage - that's what the head shinobi in the emperor's service used to be called. I think I'd rather be known as your loyal shadow."

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"Sounds reasonable. As long as I can kiss my loyal shadow every now and then."

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Kiss! "Definitely!"

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Kiss! "Oh good. And if I couldn't I'd change that law. Because I'd be the queen."

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"Usual title's Empress, or daimyo if you're ruling just one nation. But yes you can absolutely make the laws so much more sensible."

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"Supreme benevolent ruler, how's that?"

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"Sounds perfect." Kisses!

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And more practising.

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So much practicing! By dinnertime, Tetsuma manages to wrangle down the chakra requirement slightly by adding a seal. This transformation feels more stable, too.

Clearly such a breakthrough warrants kisses.

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Yes it does! Tetsuma is so talented and good and deserves all the kisses.

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So many kisses! 

...Tetsuma's managed to pretty thoroughly exhaust himself. He holds back enough chakra to maintain the most basic transformation, but he should probably stop working on development for a while. Kisses and language practice are great, too - he starts trying to convince Dayo that practicing genjutsu around kisses is totally a valid training method. Working with distractions and all that.

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She agrees!

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Tetsuma is rather creative about being distracting.

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Is that so. How creative, exactly.

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Still mostly kisses and hugs and lightly wandering hands, but Tetsuma is definitely applying all of his kunoichi training to this. 

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He is very rewarded for this.

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He's having so much fun.

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So is she!!!

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Good! 

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Eventually she'll be able to show her architecture, then.

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Possibly by the first stop, even, if she doesn't mind an illusion that wavers slightly, though definitely by the second stop.

The little fishing village at the first stop is situated amidst numerous lakes and rivers full of creatures that glow faintly in the starlight. They'll stay for what their internal clocks tell them is a day, while Sarati trades and does arcane things on the ship, though no sun rises and the bright stars wander in their own separate patterns.

Tetsuma offers to teach Dayo the beginning of water walking as long as they're there.

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"—you can walk on water?!"

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"...Yes? It's not all that different from the tree climbing technique, except instead of sticking to a flat surface so you can run up walls, you're pushing off from a moving surface."

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"Show me!"

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So Tetsuma does, starting with a nice, calm lake that has a reasonable temperature, having already double checked with the locals that it's safe to swim.

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Okay... what should she do?

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Tetsuma explains as best he can, but there's still going to be a lot of trial and error building off the 'channel chakra to your feet' lesson from tree climbing. But instead of focusing on a steady flow of chakra, she'll need to adjust to the water as it changes, and be trying to push off ever-so-slightly while also sticking.

...He'd also recommend not wearing anything that can't get wet. She's going to be falling in. A lot.

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She strips to her underwear, then.

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Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Okay Tetsuma's going to be teaching while blushing furiously.

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She will probably fall into the water a few times.

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Yeah 'a few' is a low estimate here. Still, for someone with decent chakra control and enough stubbornness, it's not ludicrously hard.

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She has at least one of those things!

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Her chakra control must also be pretty good to be so talented at genjutsu. Though it's still probably very fortunate that Tetsuma picked a shallow lake.

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Eh, she can swim, but yeah that could get old fast.

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Tetsuma meditates while Dayo practices, and works some on his wood manipulation. Practice shaping wood finely, mostly.

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This is extremely tiring.

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Yeah, it's pretty exhausting until you get good at it. Though Dayo will probably notice her control improving slightly as her chakra reserves run down. Tetsuma packed a large lunch, though, and they can take plenty of breaks.

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Breaks! Kissing!

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Definitely kissing during breaks!

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She'll probably be able to at least stay upright for a bit by the time they have to go.

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Almost certainly. (Tetsuma shows off a bit by running around, then picking up Dayo while standing on the lake, if she seems amenable.)

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"Show-off," she accuses, kissing him on the cheek.

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Eee!

"Maybe a little." He snorts. "Back home, showing off was unladylike." He gives a little twirl, kissing Dayo. "I find I like being unladylike. You, ma'am, have been a bad influence on me." More kisses!

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So many kisses! "I care so little about what is or isn't ladylike, you wouldn't even know."

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"I like that about you! Learning proper behavior is worse than math."

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She gasps in mock horror. "You dare insult math?"

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"Math is the bane of my existence."

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"I'm sorry Tetsuma but I think we must break up. I could not possibly date someone who dislikes math." She puts a hand in front of her mouth and looks around as if checking for anyone who might be overhearing such blasphemous words.

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He sets her down on the shore and dramatically clasps his hands to his breast. "But how can you favor math over me? How can there be a supreme benevolent ruler who actually likes math?"

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"Math is the supreme benevolent ruler language! Everything is math!"

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"Everything? Say it isn't so! How am I to function in a world of math?"

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"Same as always, it appears!"

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...He loses his composure and bends over, laughing and gasping for breath.

Between giggles: "Math needs to be dethroned, then!"

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"But then what's left? Chaos, I tell you! Only chaos! Is that what you want, Tetsuma? Were those words of making things better lies? Or worse—statistics?!"

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"Never statistics! They," giggle, "are a tyrant worse than math! Statistics come from math, and without math there will be no such lies!"

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"There will be nothing." She rests the back of her hand on her forehead. "Doomed! We'll all be doomed!"

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"It will be worth it, for a world without math or dreaded statistics!" 

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"I'm afraid I must stop you! We shall become... nemeses!"

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"You, the Supreme Ruler of Math, and me, the Kage of Common Sense!"

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"Math is Common Sense! You cannot have one without the other! It is law!"

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"Not if I have any say in it!"

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She giggles and hugs him.

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Hugs!

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"No banishing maths, though."

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Tetsuma giggles. "I suppose as your kage I'm bound to follow my supreme ruler's laws."

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"Thank you. Maths is good. I like it." She pets him.

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"Maybe as the Supreme Benevolent Ruler you can make math behave itself." He leans into pets.

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"It behaves itself! It's always the same, it's people that are so inconsistent." Pet pet pet.

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"But what's the point of being the supreme ruler if you can't make math easier?" He gives her a teasing kiss on the cheek.

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"I'm afraid even I, as the supreme ruler, have some powers I must bow to."

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He tries to say something but can't through the giggles. Kisses, though, kisses he can do while laughing.

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Heeeee.

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Eventually he gets his laughter under control a bit. Well, mostly. It's down to random giggles.

"You'll be the absolute best supreme ruler. Even if you support the regime of math." Kiss!

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Kiss! "I'm the best supreme ruler in part because of that!"

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Kisses! "We, my dear, will simply have to agree to disagree on that."

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"Pfah, I say. Pfah!"

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Giggle. "Perhaps you shall simply have to prove the supremacy of math to me, then, and I will give up my math-free ways."

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"...maybe."

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"Why maybe?"

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"Oh that 'maybe' was just a 'now I'm planning a detailed lesson plan from basic arithmetic to number theory' sort of thoughtful frown."

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"I've actually studied up to calculus - it is important for some jutsu theory, and you need math for sniping - I just really don't like it."

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"What do you not like about it?"

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"...It's hard, and not in a fun and challenging way? It's also boring and too - still."

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"...pretty sure no one taught you maths right."

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"I mean, we learned math pretty much the same way we learned everything, which was by rote. My older brother taught me jutsu differently, so I liked that, but basically the entirety of learning stuff was boring, even though some topics were interesting. Though I think I might also just not have a math-oriented brain."

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"Maybe you don't but teaching maths by rote is—can you imagine being taught music by rote?"

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"Yeah the clan education system's kinda horrible, but... It's not really meant to produce well-educated citizens, it's meant to produce... basically weapons. Like, I wasn't on a path to test for an academy or a bureaucratic job, I was learning what I needed for infiltration and assassination missions, healing, chores, raising the next generation - that sort of thing. Boys don't even get much schooling past, like, age ten, and most clans - including ours until recently - have boys entering a purely combat path even earlier than that. As far as the clan's concerned, math's mainly important for sniping and logistics, which you can learn by rote, and somewhat for fuinjutsu, which is handled with apprenticeships."

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"...ugh."

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"Education is one of the things I want to fix about my world."

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"I'm ughing about the part where you're training since you're children to become weapons."

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"...Yeah. You might actually be able to ally with my dad on that, he doesn't like it much, either. It's... considered inevitable, or necessary, to be a strong enough clan, and the elders support it, so all my dad could really do was push back the ages. We can be super strong and have only shinobi who've completed their full education and prove them wrong, though, and refuse to deal with anyone who hires children."

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"That sounds like a fantastic idea."

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"We'll probably have to not be trading with people for a while if we're holding to trade based on morals, and express willingness to forgive the past, but if we establish ourselves well enough it could work. At the very least kids in our nation would have better lives."

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"And hopefully become better shinobi for it."

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"Definitely. While we might still want to start chakra control training early, having longer to learn should help tremendously, and learning other stuff can't hurt. Teaching more than just clan kids should also make a difference."

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"Yeah, sheer variance."

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"There's so much wasted potential in my world - very few people can even read, so many die young - we could probably become the most powerful nation just by having minimum standards."

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"Do people literally not think of these things there?"

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"It's generally considered in the interest of those in power that those not in power remain unable to overthrow them. Like, it's illegal for most people to have weapons, even to hunt. Also I think part of the logic is that you don't need to know how to read to farm or fight."

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"...of course. Ugh."

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"Yeah most of the people in charge are kinda terrible."

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"We'll do better," she promises.

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He smiles widely. "I can't wait to see the world we build." He hums. "Though we'll have to think details through more once we're closer to a way back - maybe we can recruit some people from this realm, for one thing, to help us get started."

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"Yeah, and I'll probably need a way more detailed map of your world's politics, and to know more of your magic and whatever magic this realm has. And we can't very well found a country out of nowhere so we'll need to think how exactly to go about getting people."

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"The university the Captain mentioned might be a good place to start, or there's probably other similar places. They might also pay me to teach jutsu. Sarati will probably trade more stories of our worlds for detail on this one, too." He frowns. "She knows some of this world's magic, and seems fairly trustworthy. I wonder if we can trade her, magic for magic?"

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"If she has magic to offer, I don't see why not."

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"Yeah, we can at least offer."

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And she kisses him. Again. Because he's just that great.

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Kisses!

(And - is Dayo still in her underwear, because that's certainly. A data point. In certain considerations.)

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Yep.

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Ahhhh Tetsuma still needs to think but wow is that a data point.

He can totally do kisses while blushing though. It's probably fairly obvious what the blushing's about, too, given where his eyes keep flickering.

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Does she care? Nope. She does not. There is absolutely nothing out of the ordinary here. Just some kisses, yep.

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Definitely kisses!

Eventually he reluctantly pulls back. "It's getting kinda late. I think." It's hard to keep track of time what with the apparently eternal night here, but he's starting to get sleepy.

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"—right, yes, we should go back then."

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"Yeah. Though it'll be nice sleeping in a proper bed for a night rather than just the cabin."

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"Do we have that option? That'd be a good option to take."

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"I think the Captain pointed out an inn where she's staying?"

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"Ooh okay good idea!"

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The inn is at the edge of the village nearest the dock. The sign has no words, just a picture of a jellyfish holding a tankard, painted in a gently glowing purple and blue and green and gold, the same shades as the various animals and plants from the lakes. It's a cheery place, whitewashed and then painted with swirls of phosphorescence in the same colors, like many of the buildings. The windows aren't glass, but some sort of thin, translucent membrane. 

The proprietor is a tall, gruff woman with green hair and golden-green eyes with a slit pupil. The crowd is a mixture of probably-human and her apparent species, mostly locals, with a few clear strangers, likely other travelers - an individual of indistinct gender with scaled skin and a crest of horns instead of hair, a group of one-foot-tall winged humanoids colored purple and blue and pale cream, a few probably-humans in odd garb sitting off by themselves, and a talking cat loudly trouncing her table (which includes a laughing Sarati) at cards. 

A room and dinner and breakfast for two comes out to a fairly reasonable price, with some haggling.

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She can haggle! Or Tetsuma can if he feels he has more experience at it.

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Yeah Tetsuma will let Dayo handle the haggling.

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Haggling! Room!

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It's a nice room, about three times the size of the one on the ship, with two very comfortable beds, a desk, and a shared bathroom.

Tetsuma faceplants on one of the beds, because it's been forever since he slept on anything better than a cot and wow this is a comfy bed, then reluctantly says, "Dinner is probably also a thing."

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She has a better relationship with sleep. "It probably is. Is it a thing you want or do you think you can hold on 'til breakfast?"

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He groans and sits up. "A thing I want. Though I'll have to warn you, I think this bed is attempting to eat me."

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She walks over to him and pulls him up. "I am sure the bed means no harm and just wants to hug you." Kiss!

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Kiss! "I prefer your hugs, all things considered."

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Hug! Very hug! "But let's eat."

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Indeed! 

The place doesn't exactly have a menu. There's basically a pick-two-out-of-four deal: salad with dried jellyfish, fish, different fish, and weird-lake-creature soup, all served with some kind of unrecognizable grain and various lake plants. To drink is basically water or the house specialty alcohol, which glows.

Tetsuma gets soup and fish-the-second and a tankard of the glowy stuff. Because glowy alcohol. Definitely worth coming down here.

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She doesn't particularly enjoy alcohol and doesn't particularly care about food so she'll have some water with some whatever.

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Weird Glowy Alcohol is tart and sweet and not all that alcoholic, and after an initial offer to share a sip Tetsuma doesn't push it. All of the dishes are very good, at least.

The crowd's a bit noisy and, well, crowded, which has Tetsuma kind of on edge, but he's enjoying having a proper dinner with Dayo. It feels like a date. Which is. Nice. 

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"You're very cute. Have I mentioned that? Very cute."

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Eeee! And quick kiss. "You have! Why am I cute this time?"

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"You're squirming there about having a date with me and it's adorable."

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Kiss! "I like having a date with you! It's nice doing - civilian couply stuff. Maybe at the next stop we can spend some of it out on the town?"

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"Sounds like fun! It's—kinda endearing and kinda horrible that you think of certain things as 'civilian stuff.' For aforediscussed reasons."

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"Oh - yeah. I mean, I more meant that dates are something that commoners do. For the shinobi and noble clans, it's pretty much all arranged marriages. The common folk have more - freedom in that. The nobility is the military, so 'civilian' and 'non-civilian' is a reasonable split to make, in my mind. It's a class thing as much as a my-world-is-horrible thing." He shrugs. "Anyways, I think the Captain is familiar with the port, so we can maybe ask her for date locations?"

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"Sure, sounds good. And yeah, I got that, it's just that it's not nice. I'm glad you get to have the good things in life like this, though."

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Kiss! "I'm glad, too. And you are so many of the good things in life."

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"I know," she says, smugly, then giggles.

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Giggly kiss!

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Eventually they'll have eaten and should probably go back to their room.

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Yup!

When they get to the room, Tetsuma curls up in a nest of blankets, snuggling down into the bed. "I like seeing the different ley-islands," he says with a yawn. "Though I'm also really glad to be off the ship."

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So adorable.

"Yeah. We'll do a lot of both things, still."

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"Mmm-hmm. Night."

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And sleep.

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Tetsuma gets up early in the morning, before what would be dawn. He leaves a quick note and heads out, intending to go for a run, but spots what looks like a jeweler's. 

...Has he ever seen Dayo wearing jewelry, because the glowing jewelry is so cool and would be so pretty on her.

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Not wearing any per se but there definitely was jewellery amongst her stuff.

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Eh can't hurt. 

Tetsuma chats with the seller a bit (they're a blacksmith, too, apparently, so Tetsuma also gets a new whetstone for his knives), gets a pretty necklace that looks like stars caught in a mesh for Dayo and then hesitates over something for himself. He settles on hairsticks, eventually, fancy ones in dark wood with a gold-and-glowing-blue bead on the end. He then goes on his run, swinging back to pick up the gift (wrapped very nicely by the proprietor) and his own things on his way back. 

He'll loiter around the room if Dayo's still asleep when he returns. 

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Nah, she's up, reading something. "Oh, hello."

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"Hey!" He blushes slightly. "I, um, was walking through the village and saw a silversmith and I kinda got you a gift." The last comes out all in a rush. He holds the wrapped package out to her, feeling somewhat self-conscious.

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"—oh my god you're so amazing." And in lieu of accepting the gift she pounces him and kisses him.

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Ahhhhh!

Kisses! Very enthusiastic kisses! 

"Would you like to actually see the gift?" he asks. Eventually.

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"Yes!!!" She accepts the package and gently undoes it.

...and then kisses him again.

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Kiss!

He's really happy that she likes his gift.

...While he's thinking of it - "I also got something for myself" - he adjusts the transformation to lengthen his hair, then quickly twists it into a knot at the back of his head, securing it with the hair-sticks. Then back to kisses!

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"Oooh pretty!" Then yes back to those.

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Eventually, and somewhat reluctantly: "We should probably get breakfast, and find the captain."

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"Yeah we should. But first—" And she puts on the gorgeous necklace.

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Kiss! "You're beautiful."

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"And you're gorgeous."

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Eeee! Quick kisses!

Then: breakfast (yet more seafood) and finding Sarati?

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Sure! Sounds good.

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Sarati's in the almost empty main room, finishing her own breakfast when they come down. She meanders over to their table, asking how their stay's been, then saying, "I'd like to get an early start, preferably as soon as everyone finishes eating. No rush, but I'd rather not dawdle, either."

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"Sure thing." She won't take long to finish eating.

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Same for Tetsuma. Yet again he doesn't have much stuff to pack, though he makes more paper and charcoal and some small blocks of wood to use to practice shaping before they board.

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She's packing equally light. Back to the ship!

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And then it'll be just over four long, cramped days to Cloudshear. They're set to arrive around midday, then stay two nights.

Tetsuma spends the time working on his control with shaping wood finely, while going slowly stir crazy. 

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She'll do her best to soothe his stir craziness—and study a lot of genjutsu. Genjutsu is such fun!

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He really likes seeing her so enthusiastic. And having someone to excitedly chatter to about jutsu development is great

The stir craziness is mostly an energy thing - he's so going for a run when they get there - but he fully appreciates the soothing.

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She is so not going to make a joke about where he could spend his energy. Nope.

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He's been thinking about that on and off! Thinking really doesn't help with the restlessness thing.

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It doesn't, no.

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Ahhhhh

He's going to go for such a long run.

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Sure.

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And then they're at Cloudshear! The ley-island is a desert beneath an unbelievably blue sky and orange sun, with the city itself built into the sides towering cliffs carved by enormous rivers that thunder off the edge of the world in roaring waterfalls. The city clusters closest to the ley-port; wind shears across the top of the cliffs, leaving only the canyons protected from the scouring sand. It's survivable, but no one wants to live up there.

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Tetsuma pauses long enough to ask if Dayo wants to tag along, then sets out for the top of the canyon to run

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Nah he's fine but thanks.

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He very quickly finds the winds annoying, and drops down into an uninhabited canyon to explore at a slightly slower pace. 

He's back within an hour and a half, excess energy mostly worked through and now very much hungry. 

Lunch?

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Lunch!

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Tetsuma's mostly interested in getting street food from a stand while they wander around the city, but there's also taverns with proper food. (At Sarati's suggestion he exchanges some of his ryou for the local currency).

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He's not picky, street food's fine. He holds Tetsuma's hand while they walk.

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Eeee! Tetsuma really likes being on a date with Dayo!

Street food is mostly random things wrapped in sweet buns. The city's on the small side, but it's still fairly active. There's a distinct downtown, with small, stately homes over various shops. There's bridges between different sides of the canyon, and the street is built at a slant so the whole thing is essentially a ramp between levels, though there's also ladders and narrow stairs cutting across. The city's fairly brightly colored - red-orange roofs and whitewashed walls with flowers in a riot of colors in planters, cobblestones in shades of brown and orange formed into patterns, painted window shutters, and most people dressed in stiff cloth that's been heavily embroidered. 

Tetsuma's favorite we're-definitely-stopping-here is probably a fancy tea shop. They can rest from the heat of the day inside, and he buys a variety of flavors and a small, pretty ceramic teapot and cups for later. There's also a confectioner's that sells treats made with what's apparently frozen goat's milk or just ice flavored with fruit or herbs, which Tetsuma mostly finds weird.

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Tetsuma is so cute.

Dayo isn't really a very buy-things kind of person. He finds lots of things very interesting and very pretty but is mostly okay to just look at them. And also keep an eye for anything that catches Tetsuma's eye because he needs to reciprocate that gift.

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Tetsuma mostly is focusing on finding quiet little places. Partially for kisses, partially because crowds. So not a city person.

His eye is very caught by a white blouse embroidered with colorful flowers and vines and little birds, though unlike the tea set he doesn't promptly buy it for himself. Mostly because he's trying to be Responsible, and is used to not accumulating stuff. (Random foods and the tea set are the only things he buys; the food here's like nothing back home, to his delight.)

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Yeah okay so Dayo will go over there and not even pretend he's not purchasing that for Tetsuma.

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Eeeee! Tetsuma is very delighted, and slips the blouse on over his kosode, then kisses his rather wonderful boyfriend.

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Eeeeeeeee it is so good to make his boyfriend happy!

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Tetsuma is very, very happy. This is a wonderful date!

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Tetsuma is wonderful!

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Kisses!

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Kisses!

"So, were we going to get disguises?"

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"Oh, yeah. Though we might want to ask Sarati if she knows whether the style of dress is similar where we're going. Or the clothier might know."

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"Which of them is closer?"

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"Probably the clothier - I'm not actually sure where the captain is, we'd have to wait to meet her at the inn."

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"Then on we go."

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The clothier does, in fact, know the typical fashion of their destination (Chennet), and even has something similar enough in stock - plain blouses and brightly woven skirts (the two islands trade enough that Chennet mostly just uses Cloudshear's fabrics or homespun, but they're far less fond of embroidery, she informs them). They won't pass for peasants, but the fabric is fine for castle servants - she clearly assumes they're looking to apply for a position there.

She also enjoys chattering, and if not interrupted, talks at length about traders from Chennet who've come through, her opinion of the castle's lord (low; she recommends staying out of his way as new workers - her second cousin worked as a maid there for a time and got fired after what she assures them was really a minor mistake), the one time she visited Chennet on business, the meanings of the different patterns in embroidery, Dayo's necklace ("You've come through past Thyls, then? I like their jewelry, but can't stand the lack of a sun..."), or anything that comes to mind. 

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Dayo has a lot of fun chatting with the clothier!!!

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Tetsuma makes some effort to steer topics towards mission-useful information, though the clothier's volunteering a lot of it on her own. Which is mostly secondhand gossip type stuff, but is at least giving him an increasingly clear idea of where to start looking once they get to Chennet. 

(The clothier is clearly having fun chatting with Dayo, too.)

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Yeah sure mission-useful, he can steer topics that way, too, but he just enjoys talking to people.

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Other than asking a few leading questions, Tetsuma mostly stands back and stares at Dayo fondly. Because his boyfriend is utterly adorable.

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People are great!!! He wasn't going stir crazy but boy he missed some variety in his social interactions.

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Tetsuma's a lot more introverted than that, but yeah even he's appreciating being able to talk to more than one or two people.

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Introverted: so very much not what Dayo is.

But they should probably eventually purchase clothes yes?

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Yes eventually. Especially since the clothier does have other customers, though ones who're less amenable to chattering. 

Once they've bought everything: "Do you want to go ahead and get a room at an inn?" It's about mid-afternoon, and hot out; many of the stores are closing briefly. "We can go back out later, of course."

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"Yeah, sure, sounds like a good plan."

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The city has several inns, but the one the captain recommended is closest to the docks and at a middling price - nice but not fancy. It has a faded sign with what looks like a red, four-winged eagle. Mostly, it's cool inside, and the drink on offer is cold, sun-brewed sweet tea, which is sold in large pitchers that can be brought up to the rooms. 

As soon as they get to their room, Tetsuma ducks into the floor's bathroom to change into one of the lightweight skirts they'd gotten, plus the blouse from Dayo.

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"You're gorgeous," he says when Tetsuma emerges.

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Blush! And kisses, definitely kisses.

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So many! "So gorgeous."

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Eeeee!

So: spend the next few hours lazing around? They can talk about the mission if Dayo wants, but Tetsuma's more in the mood for silly stuff. Like board games.

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Ooh board games!

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Tetsuma has to make the board first, but he can teach Dayo some from his world? And/or Dayo can describe a board game for Tetsuma to make.

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Dayo does not actually know many board games. Or. Any.

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Games from Tetsuma's world it is then.

A Go set is easiest to make, but Go is ludicrously overcomplicated. Hm... Irensei is similar and uses the same pieces, but is simpler: you place down stones on a nineteen by nineteen grid, and try to get seven in a row, with some other rules in there. 

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Oooh sounds fun! He likes this.

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So Tetsuma creates the board and pieces (getting different wood colors so they can have a light and a dark set is finicky, but it's good practice), and then they can spend the next little while playing. 

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Dayo is pretty good for a beginner but is a beginner.

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Tetsuma's a fairly reckless player, so it balances out somewhat. But yes Dayo can definitely go first. He vaguely remembers game rules around different skill levels; he thinks Dayo gets two extra pieces? Which should help some.

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It does! He learns fast!

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Tetsuma is very impressed! Kisses can be put up as a reward for winning (either side; Tetsuma's also claiming kisses when he wins). This game's pretty fun, and it's been a while since he played, so he's really enjoying himself, too. 

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Kisses are a great reward, but if they're obtained no matter who wins then that rather fails to work as an incentive.

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Okay, point. Maybe kisses for removing one of Tetsuma's pieces from the board (a thing you can do if you surround it), and lots of kisses if Dayo wins?

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Ooohhhh yes those are good incentives!

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Tetsuma's experienced enough to have an edge on winning for now, but he's reckless enough that Dayo'll probably manage to remove plenty of pieces.

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So he'll get plenty of kisses!

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Tetsuma's rather happy with this!

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And he has an idea...

"It is rather hot here, isn't it."

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"...Yes?"

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"Doesn't usually get this hot where I'm from." And off goes the shirt.

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Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh

Dayo is really handsome.

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Distractingly so?

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Yeah Tetsuma's game noticeably suffers.

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Poor Tetsuma.

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"You are cheating." Said while staring determinedly at the board and nothing else. Plus blushing.

Dayo's going to get in way more captures like this, isn't he. Tetsuma doubles his efforts and starts actually putting a decent amount of thought into his moves.

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"Cheating? Me? Whatever did I do?"

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"You're distracting me!"

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"I'm just playing, see?" he says, stretching much more than he strictly needs to to make his next move.

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Agh

Tetsuma is not looking. Definitely not. (Maybe peeking some.)

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"So warm here." Off with the trousers. Next move.

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Cheater.

Tetsuma's even more determined to win, now. Let's see if he can play without ever looking up.

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Dayo is still owed kisses when he captures a piece which happens just... now.

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...Kisses can totally happen with eyes closed. 

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My this is such a long kiss.

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Tetsuma pulls back after an appropriate amount of time, because Dayo hasn't won yet. Though his eyes might flicker up briefly when he goes back to contemplating the board. 

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Dayo is a briefs guy.

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The foreign underwear is way tighter than Tetsuma's used to undergarments being. Like, he's seen clan boys swimming in fundoshi, but this is - more fascinating. (He's still not looking, though. But maybe blushing a bit extra.)

...Dayo's shameless enough that pulling the same thing probably won't distract him much, huh. 

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Oh it really won't. He'll appreciate Testuma fully and not become even slightly worse at the game.

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Yeah Tetsuma's going to have to work on this whole 'easily thrown off his game' thing. Not losing is a great motivator, though! (Not enough of one, unfortunately; he's visibly flustered, and making mistakes despite increased time spent on moves.)

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Is Dayo going to win? Perhaps. Who knows.

(He so is.)

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The game's going to drag out much longer than any of the others, but yep Dayo's gonna squeak by with a win when they're both almost out of stones.

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"It would appear I win."

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Argh.

Tetsuma flops backwards dramatically, flinging his arm over his eyes, then drags himself back up for kisses, which, hey, kind of a consolation prize for losing. (He's maybe a bit less cautious about not looking.)

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"Something the matter with your eyes?" he pulls away after a bit to ask.

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Tetsuma groans. "You know exactly what the matter is. You're - unfairly handsome is what you are."

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"Unfairly so? Goodness, how inconsiderate of me. Perhaps I should put clothes back on in spite of the heat."

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Ahhh Tetsuma is actually moderately torn! Though having trouble looking at his boyfriend is making kissing hard, so maybe just the pants? (They can see if there's somewhere safe to swim later? That'd be good for how hot it is, and Tetsuma thinks near-nudity in a familiar situation might help him get used to an unfamiliar situation like this.)

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Fine, trousers back on.

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Tetsuma's bolder with kisses when he's not determinedly not looking. Shirtless is still - interesting - but easier to adjust to.

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"You're adorable."

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Eeee! Kiss, then, "I think every time you say that I like hearing it more."

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"I like saying it a lot and you keep getting more adorable!"

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"Surely there must be some upper limit of adorableness."

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"You have not yet reached it, if so."

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Kiss! "Well, I'll simply have to try harder, then, won't I."

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"I wait with bated breath."

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Kiss! "You can hardly get more handsome, for what it's worth."

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"I can shapeshift," he points out.

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"I think I'll find you the same amount of handsome, to be honest."

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"Then I think your handsome-o-meter is broken and should not be trusted!"

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Giggle. 

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"Lucky for you I like how I look just fine."

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Tetsuma's eyes flick downwards. Accidentally.

His blush returns full-force.

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He smirks. "I'm wearing trousers now."

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"Your chest is - enough - as it is."

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"—you know I wasn't expecting it to be that distracting."

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"Boys normally aren't this distracting! I wouldn't have guessed it'd be this bad either, though maybe it's because I'm thinking about things. Since. I do still remember what I saw. Earlier."

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"What you saw? You'll perhaps need to be more specific, I'm sure I don't know."

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Ahhhhh he's doing this on purpose.

"You with your trousers off is eminently distracting. Transcendentally distracting. Eternally distracting. Also your culture's underwear is odd and I didn't mean to say that." Tetsuma is achieving new and never before seen shades of red. 

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"—my underwear? What's odd about it?"

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"Um." He buries his flaming red face in his hands. "It's - tighter? Than I'm used to. Like, men's underwear is usually fundoshi, which is a strip of cloth wound about the legs, and unless you're exercising the end of it's worn hanging down in front, and even if you tuck the ends in, it covers more in front, though I think less in back."

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He rubs his chin. "Having a hard time imagining that, perhaps you could show me?"

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Ahhhhhhhhh

"I'll wear it to swim. It's normal swimwear." 

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"Okay!" he says brightly.

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He unburies his face. Still bright red, though less 'about to spontaneously combust'. "So, um, tomorrow for swimming? I can find a good place on my morning run."

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"Sounds like a good idea!" Kiss!

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Kiss! 

Then: more games? Or they can do something else.

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Board games! He wants to try that harder one Tetsuma mentioned.

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The game's called Go, and the rules are actually fairly straightforward (the strategies are where it gets ludicrous), and there's a lot of similarities to what they've been playing. You place the stones on where the grid lines intersect, and the goal here is to surround more territory than your opponent. Stones in a horizontal or vertical line are treated as one stone. Surrounding an enemy stone so it has no adjacent free spaces means you capture it. You get points for intersections under your control and for stones captured.

You can't make a move that essentially resets the board - like, if Tetsuma captures Dayo's piece, Dayo can't immediately capture the piece Tetsuma used by putting his piece back where it was (Tetsuma demonstrates what this would look like). Though you can have two situations set up like that and get stuck in an eternal loop.

The game doesn't have a set end; instead it goes until they decide to call it quits.

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...he can totally think of a variant of this game's scoring rules but Tetsuma will probably spontaneously combust if they play it.

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Almost certainly.

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They can play Go, then. Shirtless.

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Tetsuma keeps his shirt on! And becomes gradually less - awkward - about Dayo's shirtlessness.

Same rule of kiss-per-captured-piece, lots for a win?

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Yep!

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He's getting back in the swing of the game.

They may or may not get into a ko fight (the eternal capturing loop mentioned earlier) at some point. Which is fine.

Tetsuma's definitely at an experience advantage, even with the distraction.

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Yeah he's mostly just learning the game at the moment.

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They'll probably only have time for one or two rounds before dinner, which isn't served until dusk. (If they want to eat earlier, there's small finger-foods they can take up to the room.)

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He doesn't feel particularly peckish so up to Tetsuma.

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Yeah he's fine waiting until dinnertime. Which is fluffy, buttery grain with raisins, cactus salad, and/or aforementioned finger foods. Drinks are mostly teas. There's a buffet set up in the courtyard, and people are mingling amiably.

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Tasty! And people! He wants to meet people!

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People are happy to meet him! The patronage is mostly travelers like them, or sailors like the captain. He can probably very easily end up with a little circle interested in swapping stories. There's a couple of other first generations, who have variously odd tales of where they first ended up, and how they got lost. (Tetsuma's mostly content to hang at the edge of the crowd and smile sappily at his boyfriend, but he's fine with trading some stories from his homeworld.)

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Eeeeeee this is fun! And interesting!

Any other cool magic systems?

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Stories of them, pretty much. Magic's rare, most realms, and none of the other first generations here can actually use their native realm's magic. Someone traveling from Madeza mentions that the nation as far as she can tell has a semi-unique system, though she's not well versed beyond, like, luck charms. 

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What's it like?

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Where she was from, lots of charms and other persistent magical items-slash-effects, fewer immediately effective spells. Shapeshifting is also a thing, but it's a different thing - she's unclear on the details, but witches can turn into a single animal, and don't do the buzzing thing that standard shapeshifters do. Remote viewing seems to be possible? Somehow. There's also ritual magic, which she's participated in because just about everyone does, but other than vague 'it protects the realm' and 'it brings luck to the household' she couldn't tell you what it does.

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That's interesting! And. Kinda really varied.

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Yeah, she's pretty sure there were multiple magic systems that met and blended. Or there might be some unifying underlying principle that she's missing.

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Weird. But cool.

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She thinks much the same of ravelry!

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Meeting new people is great.

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Tetsuma kisses his boyfriend's cheek. "You're adorable."

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"I might get used to being called that."

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"Then I'll just have to keep calling you 'adorable' until you're adjusted, won't I." Quick kiss. "Adorable."

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Eeeeee!

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"Doubly adorable."

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"How does that work?"

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"You're just generally adorable, and you're even more adorable when happy. You're currently around double baseline adorableness."

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"Ah, I see. That makes sense." Kiss!

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Kisses!

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And after dinner they can return to their room.

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Yup! It's getting kinda late for Tetsuma, but they can play another round of Go and chat or something before bed?

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Sure!

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Tetsuma's still going to be at a fairly wide experience advantage, especially since he's focusing better than earlier. He starts yawning about half an hour in, though.

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So perhaps they should continue in the morning?

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Or they can wrap up sooner, game length's basically arbitrary. Tetsuma's fine with either, though.

He gives Dayo a nice long, lingering kiss before going to bed.

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Nah he wants to continue and see exactly how he's gonna lose. Tomorrow!

And bed.

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That's fine, then.

Bed!

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The next morning Tetsuma wakes up, stretches, and realizes that for the first time in a week her skin isn't crawling. She grins to herself, then gets up to dress lightly and go on a run. The sun's still considering whether to come up, so it's nice and cool out.

She's back a bit after dawn.

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And Dayo's up!

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Kiss! "Morning, lovely. Want to get breakfast?"

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"I'd love to! And then go swimming."

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"I found a nice place on my run, it's not that far but it doesn't look like people frequent it a lot."

Breakfast is down in the courtyard. People here apparently go for light breakfasts - there's pretty much only fruit, a few varieties of bread-and-preserves, and tea. Almost no one's awake yet, but there's a few other early risers sitting on cushions or benches.

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Dayo has a good relationship with her sleeping patterns and has long since gotten them to match Tetsuma's so she's pretty awake.

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Tetsuma tends to wake up around or before dawn no matter when she went to sleep. Which is somewhat annoying after staying up.

Eat and then head pool-wards? (Tetsuma talks to the serving girl, and they can also take a basket of finger foods and a jug of tea with them for a small charge, if they want to bring snacks or have lunch out.)

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Those sound like good ideas, then they don't need to worry about coming back for food.

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Yeah, that's what Tetsuma was thinking.

The pool's about a bit over a thirty minutes' hike away, and why it's unfrequented becomes kinda obvious - there's some not-quite stairs, and the hike's annoying enough that most people probably try to find closer pools. The pool itself is cool and clear. It's not quite still - a creek feeds into it on one end, and water exits in a series of small falls on the other, making it more of a temporary pause in the river. It's nice and wide, only coming up to a bit over their waists at the deepest point.

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She strips down to her underwear and gets into the water.

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Tetsuma sets her stuff down, then takes off her shirt and skirt. There's not really underwear for women beyond like an underskirt (which she's so not wearing to swim), so she's just wearing the fundoshi, which is pretty much a loincloth. She undoes the sarashi she's using as breast-bindings - they're fine for exercising in, but they don't do well wet.

It doesn't seem to have occurred to her yet that she's half-naked, and she's less embarrassed about Dayo's state of undress than she was earlier. (Context. Context is everything. And not being surprised helps.)

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"—that's a fundoshi? That's basically being naked with a bit of cloth in front of your privates!"

And, well, the top can come off, too, if that's the case.

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"It covers more in the front! And is looser." Tetsuma had mostly been embarrassed about tightness, not amount of skin. "The style for wearing under armor also covers a bit more and is looser than this. And the normal undergarment's a short robe for men or a shirt and skirt for women, though, and there isn't - casual being-in-underwear."

She is conspicuously not looking at Dayo's body. And is blushing some. (Okay a lot.)

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"Looser also means the faintest breeze will lift it up!"

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"There's something under it, too! The cloth's just - an apron in front."

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"What's it for then?"

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"...I mean, it's the tail end of the rest of the thing? It's all just one strip of cloth, wrapped around - everything. You can tuck longer ones in more so there's not much hanging down, but it's typical to have the end of the cloth in front."

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"Aha. Makes sense, I guess."

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Tetsuma got wrapped up in the quasi-argument enough that she forgot that they're both shirtless.

She promptly makes the mistake of looking at her girlfriend, turns bright red, attempts to get back into the 'this is totally fine we're just swimming' mindset, half fails, then sort of slinks into the water.

Swimming's fun, though!

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She laughs, but swims, yes.

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Tetsuma has a good bit of fun swimming around looking for interesting pebbles. There's a lot with bits of shiny embedded in them.

...She then has an absolutely terrible idea. 

The next time Dayo's facing away from her, she flashes through three handseals in quick succession, causing a thin whip of water to rise from the surface behind her girlfriend's back and then splash over her head.

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She eeps and whirls around and blinks in confusion at the distance between them. "You used magic!" she accuses.

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Tetsuma giggles. "I'm a shinobi, of course I cheated." She's mostly looking skyward, but keeping half an eye on Dayo in case she retaliates with a water bullet or wave or something.

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Nope, she'll retaliate by modifying her hands and feet so they're webbed and swimming very fast towards Testuma to splash her!

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Different cheating! Tetsuma jumps on top of the water, then forms a handsign and kicks the surface, sending out a far-too-large wave. (This is complicated by constant giggles, and having trouble looking at her girlfriend without nearly melting.)

She doesn't exactly dodge, so she'll likely still get splashed.

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Sure, and Dayo can go underwater and splash Testuma from below.

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Yeah if Dayo surfaces right under her Tetsuma's going to lose her footing. She recovers, catching herself on her hands before flipping back to her feet, eeps when she accidentally looks, then closes her eyes and shoots a weakened water bullet. It'll make a decently sized splash, even if it misses.

(Okay, play-fighting without looking at your opponent is hard.)

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Isn't it just? Especially when the opponent has no such qualms and will in fact grapple her.

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Eek! 

Tetsuma fortunately knows a truly ludicrous number of ways to break holds, and moves to throw Dayo to the center of the pool. 

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Well, Dayo is pretty helpless then isn't she?

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It's a soft throw, but yes. Tetsuma flashes through another three hand-seals, forming a whip of water from her hand to try and grab Dayo with. (Mostly trying to locate her by sound, given the risk of spontaneous combustion from blushing if she looks.)

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She is grabbed!

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The whip wraps around her waist and lifts her in the air, somewhat tenuously. Tetsuma's clearly concentrating fairly hard. 

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She claps!

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"I win!" She's pretty much bouncing in the water - fighting's fun.

The water whip gently lowers Dayo back into the pool and then collapses. 

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"You do! Should I reward you with kisses?"

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"Oh, definitely!" Tetsuma is very enthusiastic about the kisses. 

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Eeeeee! Kisses! Topless kisses!

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Tetsuma steps back for air after a bit, somehow flushes an even deeper red, and says, "I'd like to - look properly."

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"Hmm?"

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"Um. I've kind of been - not looking - and I'm getting annoyed at myself - and I keep thinking and would rather not be frustrated like this the next however long - so..." She opens her eyes and properly looks at her girlfriend.

...Her brain promptly goes offline.

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She waves a hand in front of Tetsuma's eyes.

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!!!

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"You're also topless!" she accuses.

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Brain nudges slightly. "I don't have a crush on myself! And I'm thinking about stuff."

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"I mean, you're probably used to seeing girls topless if they do that to swim where you're from! Come on they're just nipples!"

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"Girls aren't supposed to swim for fun - most of the Senju don't, it's not like we have a lake in the clan compound or anything. We'd be topless at the hot springs, but going to the baths with my cousins is different than - looking at my girlfriend. And - you're really pretty and you're you and I had a lot of fun fighting and my mind keeps producing images." She's babbling isn't she. 

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"Should I go get dressed?"

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"No!" Tetsuma's blush returns full-force. "I - want to stop being embarrassed. And kiss more. And things."

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"Okay. I don't really understand why you're embarrassed so I'm not sure how to help."

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"I think - challenging myself helps, as long as I've planned on it. It usually does." After all, she's been getting less embarrassed about just looking over the conversation, and she's way less embarrassed than the day before. "Like adjusting to cold water. And - I'm flustered because I'm really attracted to you and my brain's failing to handle it properly, and I don't know how to express - stuff."

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"I mean, what's it failing to handle, exactly? And you could try to express stuff one at a time, or stream-of-consciousness?"

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"Being attracted! And wanting things. I don't know what to do or say, and then I start thinking and get into - loops. In my head. I want to say stuff right and everything comes out wrong when I'm embarrassed so I get more flustered. It's - less of a problem around people I'm not attracted to, because I'm not thinking about - things." 

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"What does 'comes out wrong' mean?"

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"People don't understand me? And I don't explain things as well as they are in my head."

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"But in context?"

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"...Like the underwear thing? I kept saying stuff in the wrong order. And, like, not knowing how to flirt with you. And there's - stuff I want to talk about - that my brain's not cooperating on."

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"You don't need to flirt with me, we're already dating," she points out.

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"Before we got together! And I'd like to - more than kisses - and my brain's failing at the steps in between 'kisses' and 'more' but I think flirting's involved."

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"Doesn't need to have any flirting involved. It can evolve pretty naturally from kisses by just varying where exactly you're kissing."

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Ahhhhhhhh

"I want - varying kisses."

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"It's so good we have such symmetrical desires."

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!!!

Delighted kisses!

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Yep, those! She doesn't initiate wandering, though.

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Tetsuma's hands wander some, shyly, and she gets bolder whenever Dayo reacts well. Still above the waist, but they are topless. It does take a bit for her to get anywhere very interesting, though. Her kisses aren't wandering past shoulders and necks yet.

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Shoulders and necks are quite enough for Dayo to be vocally appreciative.

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Eee!

Tetsuma's unlikely to wander much more on her own initiative quite yet, though she'll be rather happy with any wandering Dayo does.

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Well then Dayo can be a bit more adventurous!

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!!!

Tetsuma blushes and giggles a lot, but is absolutely delighted, especially now that she's got some idea what she's doing.

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Dayo has all the ideas and delighting Tetsuma is her primary goal.

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Tetsuma occasionally has to bury her face in Dayo's shoulder and half-melt until she calms down a bit, but she's having so much fun. (Especially since it's hard for physical expressiveness like kisses to come out wrong. She's still unclear on expressing Certain Thoughts, but now she's more certain Dayo won't mind, either the thoughts or the stumbling towards them.)

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Oh good! How does she feel about hands?

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Eee!

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Very good reaction! She will keep this up.

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Then Tetsuma will keep being delighted! 

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She wonders how much exploring Tetsuma will let her do...

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A good bit. (Tetsuma's been so frustrated this whole week and is rather happy to let Dayo lead.)

Anything very adventurous will leave Dayo having to support her girlfriend's weight as she melts into a blushing, giggly mess.

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Yeah she's gonna be extremely adventurous here.

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Then she'll very quickly end up with an incoherent mess of a girlfriend. A happy incoherent mess.

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This whole swimming thing was a very good idea!

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Tetsuma sure approves of the outcome. She then starts trying to unscramble her brain enough to reciprocate properly. 

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Reciprocation is very welcome! Dayo can fill the time by making Tetsuma's job at unscrambling her brain harder.

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!!!

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Yep. Omnom delicious girlfriend.

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If Dayo starts nibbling she'll have to entirely support her girlfriend's weight, as she collapses in giggled accusations of cheating

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She will magnanimously admit to these accusations.

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Dayo is so unfairly pretty and amazing and kissable.

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And has a very good memory for which places and actions cause the most melting!

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Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

(Tetsuma's girlfriend is perfect and deserves lots of kisses. Kisses in somewhat adventurous places, even. Tetsuma expresses this opinion rather thoroughly the next time she regains higher brain functions.)

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Eeeeee! Dayo is very vocally appreciative!

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Good!

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She can keep at this for a rather long time.

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Eeee! Tetsuma is fully on board with that plan.

(Depending on how long, eventually it'll start getting close-ish to lunchtime. Tetsuma's stomach announces this with a rather loud grumble, provoking an impressively deep shade of red as she buried her face in Dayo's shoulder.)

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She giggles. "I suppose that's our cue to stop kissing and go eat."

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Tetsuma giggles a bit and blushes, but says, "Probably," and disengages to head for shore. 

They have: bread, olives, a few varieties of cheeses, two oranges, and a clay pitcher of cold tea. The pitcher is covered with runic symbols that the translation spell can't decipher.

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Oooh cool. She bets it's magic. Is it magic?

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Almost certainly, though Tetsuma forgot to ask for details when she got it. They can find someone to question when they return?

(Experimentation will reveal that the symbols are cold to the touch, and once they've drunk some of the tea, faint corresponding symbols become visible on the inside, which are ice-cold if poked. Small, less cold but still chilly lines radiate out from them.)

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Magic!! So cool!!!!

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Kiss! Dayo is so adorable when she's excited (not that Tetsuma isn't excited too; persistent magical effects are cool, but her girlfriend's too cute for words).

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Eeeeee! Magic and kiss!

"This world is great."

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"It's so - relaxing. And pretty. And - " kiss - "it dropped me in front of you, clearly it has very good taste in people."

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"I should say the same," she says, eyeing Tetsuma up and down.

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Eeee! 

Tetsuma flushes fairly deeply. "So," she tries and fails to say casually, "Um. We should probably talk about stuff. And things."

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"I believe we should!"

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"Um. I really liked everything we did. It was - fun. More than I was anticipating. I'm - probably still going to be nervous and easily flustered about stuff for a while, but I think my subconscious has calmed down some now that I have reference material." Very deep blush.

Then, a deep breath, and slowly: "I was actually - definitely interested - since the last stop, but I decided that I'd rather wait until I was female again to - approach things. Because the transformation doesn't handle arousal well yet, so I'm... probably until I manage to fix that going to have weird patterns of partial disinterest in the future. Especially since I sometimes have dysphoria when neither. I think though that waiting - built up my anxiety - so that was part of - " she waves her hand vaguely - "brain stuff getting bad."

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She nods. "Of course. We can go as fast or as slow as you want and we won't do anything you're not comfortable with."

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Kiss! "I wasn't worried, just - thought it should be said. And I think I'll be okay with decently fast? Just with - pauses." She makes a face. "Frustrating pauses."

Then blush, and: "There's actually - stuff - I want to try, too, that I'd like to talk about maybe doing? And I'd like to know what you're interested in, what's even - a thing to do, I'm really not well-calibrated on what's possible beyond what can be gotten from gossip."

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"You can assume the answer to the question 'what am I interested in?' is 'yes' for the purposes of this conversation."

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Ahhhhhh

"So. Um. I'd like to - Just." She blushes and buries her face in her hands. "Winning at the splash fight like that was - fun in a really... Kissing way. Once I'm - able to - stuff - without stammering, I'd be really interested in... Like, sparring, and whoever pins the other gets to decide - things, or chase games. While I was a boy I was also thinking about - stuff we could do - if I could get the transformation to handle arousal but not full everything, and - there's some things that'd maybe be fun with jutsu, especially wood release? That I'll probably manage sooner."

A pause.

"Maybe we can discuss more of what's - possible - once I'm comfortable to that point, though."

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She nods. "Those all sound like lovely ideas."

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Tetsuma nods and takes a few deep breaths until her blush fades. Dayo being so - calm about everything is really helping her uncertainty.

"So. Anything else to talk about?"

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"You're the captain, here. I'm interested in everything you're interested in and I probably have enough experience to show you all the ropes."

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Nod.

"So, what're we planning for the rest of the day? At least some of this area should be shady during the worst of the heat, so we can stay and swim some more - or spar or something - or head back to town?"

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"Up to you. I could nap, after this."

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"Heading back works fine for me, then." 

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She should kiss Tetsuma again though.

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Eeee! Tetsuma is very happy with stealing kisses while they pack up and get dressed. 

It's still a bit of a hike back to town, unfortunately, and it'll be getting into the hottest parts of the day by the time they reach the inn.

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But then they can nap, yes?

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Yup! Tetsuma's not quite tired yet (more energized), so instead she'll quietly work on the transformation jutsu for a bit, but she'll settle down to nap after working out the worst of her energy.

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Zzzzzzzz

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Zzzz. (Once Tetsuma's over her energy burst, she crashes, and will probably stay out until the evening or so if not woken.)

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She'll wake before that and work on jutsu herself while she waits for Tetsuma to wake up.

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Which Tetsuma does once it's properly evening, with a yawn and a long, languid stretch.

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"Morning, sleepyhead."

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"How long did I sleep?"

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"Few hours."

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Another yawn, and a glance out the window to gauge the time of day. "I'll go on a run before bedtime, then, so I don't have trouble sleeping. How'd you sleep?"

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"Fine, it was just a short nap, I've been practising genjutsu since."

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Tetsuma stands and stretches some. "Any progress? Also, I think we talked about finding someone to question over the runes on the pitcher. Still interested?"

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"Yeah, some progress, but it's incremental. I'm totally interested in more magic, though."

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"Yeah, working on jutsu's frustrating like that. At least genjutsu's not prone to false leads; half the problem with improving the transformation jutsu is I keep going in the wrong direction." Stretch. "Let me brush my hair and get dressed, before we go anywhere."

Then: downstairs? Tetsuma has no idea who to ask, but they can maybe find someone who doesn't look busy (or ask when they take the pitcher to the kitchens for a refill).

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Or just go to the kitchens specifically to ask.

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Yeah. Dinner's not until later, so they're probably not too busy right now?

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Probably not!

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So to the kitchens it is.

The kitchen is just off the courtyard, and actually decently busy, but not very. There's prep-work going on, things being cleaned, someone hauling water, and two servers loitering and talking quietly near the entryway, keeping an eye on the near-empty courtyard through the window. They'll politely intercept Tetsuma and Dayo before they can disrupt anything.

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"Hi! I was wondering about these magic runes." Gesture.

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One of the servers takes a look at the pitcher then shrugs and says, "I don't know much myself. We get them from a craftsman in town. Feid might know more, if she doesn't mind talking while she works. She's out by the pump getting water." He gestures to another door.

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"Thank you!"

To the other door.

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It leads to a courtyard/ alleyway between several buildings. There's two pumps, and a tall girl filling buckets at one of them.

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"Excuse me?"

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The girl sets her bucket down. "Hm? Does someone need me?"

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"Oh no, we were just informed we might be able to ask you about the runes in the pitcher."

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She eyes them. "Mind if I keep working, then? And I'd like some help carrying these back. But I can chat, sure."

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Tetsuma volunteers to carry the water buckets back, since shinobi strength.

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She may only have budding shinobi strength so not much of it! She can help though.

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There's only the two buckets at the moment, but she'll keep that they're both enhanced in mind if they're talking long enough for multiple trips. "What kinds of questions did you have?"

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"What is the magic and how does it work?"

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She goes back to pumping while she talks. "Runes, though it's as much a language as a standard runic system. Most runic magics are a couple dozen symbols, you know - this one's a thousand for fluency, thousands more for mastery."

"There's more than just the large runes; they're surrounded by smaller runes, barely visible - most write the auxiliary runes so they'll vanish, to preserve trade secrets. These define everything the pitcher's supposed to do, down to the temperature of each rune and that they should turn off when dry, to preserve energy. It's easiest to get the major runes themselves to do stuff, though you can impact what they're inscribed on, too. The system's so far unique to this island; most of us are descended from the same world, and it was native there."

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"Can anyone do it, or do you have to, like, in be blood-related to someone from your world or live here or something?"

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"It's fairly rare to pick up, but I think anyone? Nearly everyone I know who uses it is descended from my world, but that's probably just because we're prideful enough not to go with an easier system. Though this one's more flexible and - exact - than most, I think. Makes a fine niche for artifact creation."

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"It looks amazing and is so pretty and I wanna learn it."

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"...You can find an apprenticeship? Or I can sell you a copy of my notes from mine. And a dictionary, I can pick up a new one later. There's not really... Well, grammar books or formal classes, it's all apprenticeships and such. I can give you a discount on the notes, too, if you give feedback on them next time you're in town - I'm planning on publishing usable how-to books once I'm established."

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"Ooh yes I'd love to have notes!"

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She hands Tetsuma the full buckets (easier to balance with both) and starts leading the way inside. "They're not optimized for learning from scratch - I mostly sell them to apprentices - but I've also got some old drafts where I tried articulating basic grammar for a general audience, sort of starting on the book, that I'll throw in. How does ten Suns sound for a price for the notes?" (It's about half the normal cost of a book, in the local currency.) "And I'm not off work until after dinner, but I can give you a grammar lecture while working."

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"Ten Suns sounds like a very fair price, and I'd love to learn whatever you have to teach me."

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So they can chat, then, until Feid gets called away to help with dinner preparations. (She gets some light teasing from her coworkers over conscripting Dayo and Tetsuma into helping with the buckets. They need a lot of water, for drinks, cooking, washing, and such. She also turns down Tetsuma's offer to help with jutsu - too unknown.)

The runic system is basically a magical programming language. Each 'word' gets its own symbol, which is why there's so many. Effects need sentences formed of rune clusters defining parameters, which has such and such basic grammar rules. It's mostly useful for altering the nature of materials - Tetsuma's first thought is 'better weapons,' which Feid confirms that yes you can do, though almost no one bothers what with the ley making war a logistical headache. More common's stuff like temperature changes, or durable cloth and tools. Advanced practitioners can do complicated stuff, like a barrel that will keep its contents perfectly dry. 

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Can it do more obviously magical effects like making stuff float, emit light...?

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...Float, not easily. Gravity's very insistent, and you'd have to be careful with your parameters to not break whatever, or make it unsteady. Light, sure. Getting a rune to glow is about the most basic exercise, getting the object itself to glow is harder.

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She pays rapt attention and asks lots more questions.

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And Feid answers them, though she does have to go work in the kitchens after a while. At that point they still have a bit before dinner's served.

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She'll chatter excitedly at Tetsuma about More Magic!!!!!

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Tetsuma thinks her girlfriend is the most adorable, but is also excited about shareable magic.

"Looks a lot less complicated than kanji, too - fewer symbols, and they're nice and straightforward."

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"That's because kanji is absurd, love."

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"It's not that bad, especially if you're just going for basic fluency. There's patterns to them... I wonder if the runes have similar patterns? That'd be nice and convenient."

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Well do they?

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If they ask Feid after dinner: well, some. Less advanced runes are visually simpler, and more advanced runes sometimes contain smaller versions of related runes. Like, the 'darkness' rune (which is really complicated to use) is tripartite, and one of those parts is the 'light' rune.

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And light's simpler? Why?

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...Because darkness isn't actually a discrete thing and light is? And unlike some magics this particular runic system doesn't have Dark as an atomic concept. Also light and heat are both common waste products, you can produce them by accident, getting the runes to make them on purpose is easy. Making light go away though is fairly hard, you have to get the rune to absorb not just light hitting it but nearby light.

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Oooh a sensible magic system, this is cool.

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Yeah that's probably related to the increased precision thing, it's probably easier to have specific effects when you're not flagrantly violating physics. Though most usable magic systems have some kind of internal logic, at least enough to be studied.

So: head over to her apartment?

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Sure!

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It's pretty close to the inn - about a short block away and then up a few levels - and small. All of the walls are covered in either bookshelves or diagrams, and most of the surfaces are cluttered with writing supplies and various miscellaneous items. 

She pulls out a drawer in a narrow cabinet, which turns out to be full of paper, and produces a thick packet of loose papers tied together with a string. "Here's a copy of the notes, and - " some rummaging - "A draft on grammar. D'you want a dictionary, too? The bookstore sells them, but they don't open until the second quarter of the day." (About four hours after dawn - past when Sarati had wanted to leave.)

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"I'd like one, too, if it's no trouble."

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"No trouble at all. Twenty-five Suns sound good?" She pulls out (from the bottom of a stack) a very thick book with a faded cover and plain, unadorned lettering. There's scraps of cloth as bookmarks in a few places. "I need a new one that focuses more on the advanced runes, anyways, but this'll suffice just fine for everything up to intermediate level."

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"Sounds good, yes, thank you very much."

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"Anything else? Oh, I might've moved already next time you pass through - let me give you a permanent address for letters and stuff - I can answer questions, and I'd like feedback on the draft - " She scribbles something on a stray piece of paper, then tucks it into the front of the dictionary.

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"No, that should be all, thanks. I'll definitely write."

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"Thanks! It's been a pleasure talking with you."

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"You, too!"

Aaand back.

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Yup! Especially since it's getting pretty late.

"Even if it takes a while to learn, this'll at least be something to do on the ship. Practicing the transformation jutsu was getting kinda tedious." 

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"Yes, and learnable magic systems are the best. I wonder if we can combine it with jutsu somehow."

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"It might combine interestingly with fuinjutsu, though I only know the most absolute of basics for that. I'd actually expect the 'making advanced weapons' part to combine well, there's already a lot of uses for weapons in jutsu. I think this'll mostly be good for logistical type stuff, though..." A pause. "Jutsu might contribute well to the runes - like, if I get enough control I might be able to make structures with runes embedded - but I'm drawing a blank on the other way around, or direct combinations."

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"Yeah and I'm not super a fan of the whole 'weapons' thing."

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"Well, in general the runes should improve defensive options. And - having good weapons will probably be necessary, sooner or later, if we're trying to fix my world. For defense, if nothing else."

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"I know, I understand the need, I just don't love it."

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"Yeah, it sucks. There should be a lot less need once everything's more stable, though. Especially if we're careful about what we bring back - I'd be hesitant to introduce any magic with a lot of military applications, in case more power floating around makes things worse."

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"Yes, definitely. But there's enough here that we can probably pick and choose."

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"Hopefully!"

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Grin.

Pause.

"...do you wanna do anything tonight?"

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"...Like what? I'm not at all tired yet, so I'm fine staying up for stuff."

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"Oh, like the things we discussed today."

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"Oh - uh sure - I mean yes. Yes that sounds nice."

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Then she can be on Tetsuma's bed and kiss her.

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Eee!

Tetsuma is very enthusiastic about kissing back.

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Oh good! And Dayo can remove her shirt.

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Tetsuma can remove her outer robe, leaving her in a very thin under-robe that falls to her knees.

(And she can blush lightly and admire Dayo, too. Multitasking!)

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Mmhmm! And Dayo can remove the rest of her clothes, too.

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Eep! 

Tetsuma turns the brightest red she's managed yet, then shyly reciprocates (it helps that she's not wearing anything under the second robe, though the knot's a bit annoying to undo when she's this distracted). 

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Dayo can help?

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Tetsuma will very gladly accept help with the knot. 

Then: kisses?

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Many of those!

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Tetsuma's content to keep kissing for a while, but will follow Dayo's lead on any escalation.

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Is that so? Because Dayo: has hands. And there is no clothing at all here.

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Then Dayo will have a blushing, giggly, squirmy girlfriend on her hands! Who is, between giggles, very gamely trying out what she's learning on her girlfriend.

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It's very good that these things are symmetrical, then.

Another thing Dayo has: a mouth. And a tongue.

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Then Dayo will have an incoherently delighted girlfriend.

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That is entirely the purpose of this exercise.

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Mmhmm! And she's very determined to try and get Dayo just as incoherent, once she gathers enough of her brain.

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Dayo: is rather loudly appreciative.

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One of their neighbors bangs on the wall and yells for them to keep it down.

Tetsuma turns bright red, eeps, and sort of freezes, eyes wide.

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She dissolves into giggles and pulls Tetsuma up for kisses. Quiet kisses.

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Tetsuma unfreezes and starts giggling a bit nervously (but quietly) between kisses. 

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Yep, they can continue this less loudly.

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Definitely! Though with a bit more self-consciousness from Tetsuma at first; it takes her a while to get back into the rhythm of things.

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Dayo will do her best to help with that.

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Mmm yes, Tetsuma's very quickly getting back into the right frame of mind. Her girlfriend is so amazing, she feels like she hasn't expressed that enough today. 

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Well her girlfriend feels like there is a lot of expressing going on right now.

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Rather thorough and enthusiastic expressing, too.

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It is!!!

Then: snuggling?

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Happy snuggles!

...Tetsuma will probably start drifting off after a bit. Even with the nap, it's been a long day.

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Yes it has. Does she prefer they share a bed or not?

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...She's unsure either way, but she tosses and turns a lot, and these beds aren't exactly super wide, so it's really up to Dayo?

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Eh they can be on different beds, she doesn't have too strong a preference either way.

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Next inn they can get a room with a wider bed?

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Sure!

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Then: sleep.

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Sleep!

And the next morning Sarati wants to leave soon, right?

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Yup! (Tetsuma still wakes up early enough for a run, but a short one. She compensates by going faster).

They'll probably be able to find her down in the courtyard? 

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To the courtyard, then.

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Breakfast is already being served, and there's a couple of other sailors getting ready for an early departure, a few of them chatting idly with Sarati, who turns and waves when she notices she two of them.

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She walks over to the captain.

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"Morning. About ready to head out?"

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"Mmhm. This place was neat, though, I might come back someday. Especially due to the magic."

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"It's a fairly major hub, so you'll probably be able to find plenty of ships heading here. And, yeah, the runic magic here's pretty, and has interesting effects on the architecture - " She says her farewells to her tablemates, then gets them moving to the ship. She's fully willing to spend the time chatting about the impact of magic on the local architecture, though. (They're only a few hops from Shras, where Bajilda is, so she's passed through here plenty of times.)

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She is so interested in this! She hadn't paid much attention to local architecture, she hadn't known it was magic.

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The construction is, mostly - it's not something you can easily see, but runes are used to reinforce structures. Mostly against the winds and sand, but also against normal building stresses. (She wrote a paper on magic in architecture construction during her college days. She's surprised she still remembers so much, actually). 

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They got the best captain.

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She's not at all shy about agreeing!

When they get to the ship, she turns to the two of them and says wryly, "You'll probably be glad to know that the cabins are fairly sound-resistant, though try not to get too loud after-hours."

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"Oops."

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Tetsuma turns red and promises absolutely not to be disruptively loud. All quiet here.

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Yep, same.

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Good! (Sarati is clearly amused). Then they can settle in and be off.

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Off they go! To new lands!!!!

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The next stop, Fairmoor, is a bit over a day and a half away. They'll only be staying the afternoon and the night.

The stop's a small village, nestled in a wide expanse of grassy hills dotted with sheep. There's some bustle around the port - apparently it's a minor crossroads - but the town's otherwise a sleepy little place.

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Any new magic?

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Not shareable - there's a healer with bloodline-locked magic, and that's it, beyond some probably-superstition charms for luck or keeping away evil spirits.

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Oh well. Interesting anyway.

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Tetsuma's mostly interested in the wide expanse of not-many-people-at-all (good for running amok, if not other things), but there're sailors to chat with at the inn, and the locals are friendly. (When they're checking out local magic Tetsuma gets into a bit of a digression with the healer, comparing healing magics.)

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She can compare healing magics, too. Her world has two kinds of healers: acute and chronic. They work like such.

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Ooh! Tetsuma has healing magic, but it's almost entirely acute - handles injuries remarkably, disease horribly. Local healing magic is pretty much the other way around. The healer knows something about other healing magics, too, though not very much.

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Healing is actually one of the most common magics from her world, it being frequently offered and frequently chosen when offered.

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Yeah, that makes sense. Healing's rare in Tetsuma's world - shinobi are uncommon, and even though girls are encouraged to learn it, it's really hard to get beyond basic first aid. (Tetsuma's decent, but nowhere near the best, and she's been practicing for nearly five years now.)

(The healer bids them goodbye and goes back to her work, turning down any offers to help.)

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Why is that, the basic first aid thing?

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It takes really good chakra control - better than most people manage - and you need to know what you're doing at least somewhat. Tetsuma had to learn ordinary healing, anatomy, and general biology first. The 'basic first aid' part is that it's relatively easy to heal a shallow cut compared to bruising or organ damage, since less is going on. A proper education system would probably improve things, though.

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Yeah, probably. Their shinobi are going to be the best on so many levels.

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Definitely!

So: wander around town some more, or head out into the wide rolling hills? Tetsuma found a nice secluded dell when running earlier. They can practice jutsu there, or stuff.

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Stuff, huh? Sure, let's head out into the wide rolling hills.

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...It's a bit far. Like, will take ludicrously long to get there without enhanced speed. Probably why it's so secluded. Tetsuma can carry her, or Dayo can try the 'using chakra to run fast' trick?

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...being carried is tempting but the trick is exciting she'll try that.

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Okay so it's a lot like both the water-walking and the running-up trees, in that you channel chakra from your feet to push off the ground, basically jumping forward, but without channeling enough to send dirt flying everywhere or overbalance yourself. You can also enhance your muscles directly (Tetsuma has a fairly technical lecture on how to do that), though that's a good bit harder and requires more precision.

...They might want to wait to start running until they're past civilization, to a) not alarm people, and b) not risk causing damage.

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Okay! She totally wants to do the muscle thing eventually though.

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So chakra-enhanced running it is! Luckily it's not a far walk to the edge of where people are.

Tetsuma leads the way, though she keeps Dayo in her peripheral vision in case something goes wrong.

The dell really is nice and secluded, with a lazy stream meandering along it. The grass looks like sheep have been through recently, though there's no one there now.

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Oooh cosy.

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"Cool, huh? There wasn't anywhere like this in the Land of Fire - well, we have valleys, but they're wooded - the geography's all forests and rice fields. This place looks amazing for sparring."

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"Uh huh. Sparring," she says, looking Tetsuma up and down. "I have an idea for what the winner's reward should be."

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Eeee! Yeah Tetsuma's going to be distracted now. 

Light blush, and: "So, start over by the river? That'll give us water to work with for jutsu. Oh - speaking of jutsu, you might want to try putting me under a genjutsu at some point during. I feel you've advanced far enough it should help give you an edge, and there's nothing like a live-fire test for practice. We should also set rules - how about nothing dangerous, and nothing damaging to the landscape?"

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"Sounds good to me."

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So over to the river, where Tetsuma walks Dayo through the formal traditions around sparring - "It feels a bit silly to insist, but a lot of this stuff has some pretty deep meaning," - and then picks up a rock ("When this hits the ground, we start.")

And - go.

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Go!

Dayo: is not a good combatant. But she's clever and tricky and tries to be clever and tricky with genjutsu. Is that a rock? Nope, water. Is that Dayo? Nope, air.

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That's okay; Tetsuma's mostly focusing on a) playing, and b) helping Dayo get better, turning mistakes into learning moments instead of openings and dialing down the speed. When she notices genjutsu she doesn't jump straight to disrupting her chakra, instead breaking it by looking for flaws. (Like, Dayo's probably not remembering to mask sounds super well, and shadows are tricky.) She doesn't use her wood or earth manipulation, to avoid violating the 'leave the landscape alone' rule.

(Tetsuma's having fun, especially with the restrictions - it adds a nice layer of challenge.)

She's decided to try directly pinning her girlfriend, so as long as Dayo's good at being slippery she'll probably stay ahead of Tetsuma for a bit.

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Dayo's good at being slippery! And okay yes she has to admit that this is fun.

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Eventually Tetsuma will move to pin her properly.

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"Oh no I lose."

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Tetsuma beams.

"So, you mentioned a reward for the winner?"

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"Did I? It must've slipped my mind."

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Stern look. "Trying to go back on a promised reward is hardly honorable." It might be obvious that Tetsuma's valiantly fighting the urge to burst into giggles. 

"It was something about, hmm, let's see - " And she leans forward and kisses her girlfriend. 

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!!!!

Yeah no objections here.

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Kisses! (Tetsuma is very enthusiastic about her victory kisses.)

"You," she says between kisses, "are the best reward."

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"I protest this definition! I'm sure you'd be a better one!"

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"We can play Go with the same reward rules, then." Kiss. "Though you're still the best."

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She giggles. "I like this idea."

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"I seem to remember the reward being not just kisses, though."

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"Is that so? Please do refresh my memory."

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(Ahhh Dayo's going to make her say it, isn't she.)

"Hm," she leans back and taps her chin theatrically. "Now what was it? Must have been something rather adventurous..."

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"Hmmm..." She makes a show of thinking about it. "Nope, can't seem to recall."

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"Well then, I suppose we'll have to find something else to do if we can't remember what I was supposed to win. Like cloud-watching!" 

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"I suppose we will."

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Tetsuma grins, rolls off her girlfriend, stretches idly, and then crosses her hands behind her head.

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As does Dayo. Two can play this game.

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Tetsuma gets bored very quickly.

...Okay yeah Dayo wins this round.

She rolls back. "I," kiss, "hate cloud-watching. Hardly a proper reward. I think that my prize should be something a bit more... energetic."

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"Ooh, I do enjoy energetic."

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Kiss!

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Kissss! "Does this mean you got ideas for what you want your reward to be?"

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Blush! (She has a very tempting mental image involving wood manipulation and ahhhh why is her brain ahead of her confidence like this.) (That she's thinking Certain Thoughts is probably obvious from her face.)

Attempting (and failing at) nonchalance: "Oh, you know, kisses and other delightful things..."

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"Well, why don't you show me what you have in mind?"

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(Ahhhhhhhhh)

Somewhat forceful kiss. She considers a bit, then: "I'd like you to hold still, for one."

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"Yes, ma'am," she says, shuddering softly.

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...Okay that's a very. Nice reaction.

She kisses Dayo rather hungrily, then sits back and ponders for a few moments. She then starts slowly undressing her girlfriend, trying to hide her uncertainty about - everything - as teasing. (All of her infiltration training goes into that part. Unfortunately she is bad at not blushing.)

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She very resolutely does not move, other than biting her lip and shivering a bit.

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Then Tetsuma will do her level best to thoroughly delight her girlfriend. Taking her sweet time about it, because it's really nice to get a chance to do this without Dayo trying to distract her.

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Dayo will only be involuntarily distracting.

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That's still very distracting! But it's not the type that has Tetsuma melting and unable to reciprocate, so it's alright.

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Tetsuma is a delight.

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! (Dayo is so very wonderful. Best girlfriend. Who definitely has earned lots of kisses.)

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(Eeeeeeeee!)

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Tetsuma is not exactly practiced at this, but what she lacks in confidence and experience she generously makes up for with meticulousness. (She may or may not be building a mental map of what actions where get the best results.)

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Dayo is pretty eclectic honestly, it's more about focus and intensity than location.

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Well there's a lot of focusing going on, and a good helping of intensity.

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Then she will have a very appreciative girlfriend!

...who doesn't have to worry about being quiet.

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The hills have absolutely no comment on any noise!

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Then noise there will be!

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Tetsuma blushes some and occasionally giggles at noise, but mostly does her best to get Dayo as loud as possible. She also very strongly appreciates how good the feedback on delighting her girlfriend is.

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It is very good and very detailed!

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Best kind of feedback. Allows Tetsuma to be extra thorough.

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Best. Girlfriend.

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Happy blush. Though, no, Dayo's the best girlfriend.

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This is probably one of those symmetrical things.

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Definitely.

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Eventually they'll both be tired, though.

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Yup! And it's nice and cool here, so Tetsuma can stretch out and sun herself a bit without baking. 

(Tetsuma is very pleased with herself.)

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Dayo is so pleased with Tetsuma.

"I love you," she sighs.

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Eep!

Shyly: "I love you, too."

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Eeeeee kisses! "That's good, would've been kinda awkward otherwise."

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Kisses! "Very."

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"No, not very, just kinda. I'm good with awkward."

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"I'm not. At all."

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"Well, didn't need to be in the end, so that's a win." Kissss!

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Kisses! "Everything since coming here's just been - so amazing. I can't even be nervous about the future. We're going to do so much good the worlds won't know what's hit them."

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She giggles. "But first we need to deal with a stolen jewel or two."

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"And find out what's up with Reim! Though if my life has prepared me for anything, it's liberating stolen goods."

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"Yeah, I suppose it has."

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"You'd think it'd have prepared me better for talking to people, but apparently there's not much even the best infiltration training can do to overcome having all the social graces of a snail."

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"You're not that awkward!"

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"You haven't seen me trying to lie properly! I can do minor lies I've thought about ahead of time, like giving a fake name, but I get horribly tongue-tied with anything complex. I also get really exhausted chatting with most people - not you, you're a wonderful exception, though I still need some time alone to fully relax and recharge - which isn't really a good trait to have when spying... And you didn't know me as a kid, I was absolutely horrid."

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"...great, now I have a picture of small you running around and she must've been so adorable."

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"I was a massive brat. In terms of awkwardness, my - not getting words out properly thing - was way worse, I've actually had to work on it a lot. Usually I'd just kind of melt every time I tripped over my tongue, though once when I was super little I bit a teacher after she kept misinterpreting everything I tried to say."

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She starts giggling helplessly.

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"She told me I should've been born an Inuzuka - they work alongside nin-dogs - and I said that'd be better than looking at her stupid face, which I'm impressed I managed to get out. I got in so much trouble, but for a bit I was the popular kid in the clan. All the kids hated her."

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Yep. Lots of giggling.

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Tetsuma breaks down into giggles, too. "The punishment wasn't even that bad, all things considered. Mostly just extra chores. My father was actually impressed I managed to bite her - I was pretty fast even then, but she was a retired kunoichi - which was kinda awesome, he's hard to impress."

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"You are the most adorable thing in the universe."

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Eee! She blushes and pecks her girlfriend on the cheek. Teasingly, "Just the universe? So there's someone more adorable in another universe, is what you're saying?"

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"Multiverse!"

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Kiss! "Well you're the most beautiful, wonderful person in all of space and time."

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"Ah but which space and time?"

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"All space and time everywhere, in every possible dimension, obviously."

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"Obviously."

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Giggles.

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And snuggles.

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Lots of snuggles!

Though eventually it'll start getting close to time to head back.

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Yeah, eventually. They can run again though!

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Yup! (Tetsuma really loves running, and there's a nice lack of anything to hit out here. She might be laughing.)

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Eeeeeeee gorgeous happy girlfriend~

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And back to the village! (The one tiny inn is tiny. They might have to share a bed. Oh noes.)

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Oh noes indeed. So terrible.

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They might end up cuddling.

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Oh no! So terrible! They might even snuggle!

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There could be kissing involved!

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Goodness, truly? Such wickedness!

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They'll scandalize the neighbors!

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They can be very quiet.

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The quietest.

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...perhaps not that quiet.

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Luckily the walls here are thicker than the last place!

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Oh she's sure they can be quiet enough it's just that the quietest might be too high a bar.

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Well they can make it a competition of sorts? Whoever makes an unmuffled noise first loses. 

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...she's on.

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Then they can compete. (Cheating allowed?)

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What's the point of cheating if it's allowed?

(Yes.)

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Then Tetsuma will cheat to the best of her kunoichi abilities, using everything she learned while delighting her girlfriend earlier.

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But Dayo's no longer pinned so she can be very distracting.

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Tetsuma is really fighting giggles. And the urge to melt. 

...Do slightly unconventional applications of medical jutsu (making the area under her hands warm and extra sensitive and pleasantly tingly) have any effect on Dayo's self-control? (And wow she'd never thought that little bit of gossip would come in handy.)

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...well they certainly count as cheating.

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Good!

...If Tetsuma doesn't win this soon, she's probably going to end up losing. She doubles her efforts (cheating included). 

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Dayo is in fact at a disadvantage. She loses with a cry that's cut off into a whimper.

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(Oh good Tetsuma can stop biting her lip.)

She kisses Dayo while giggling slightly. "I guess we found something else being a kunoichi prepared me for."

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"Oh shut up and kiss me."

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She laughs and then obeys.

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Such a good girlfriend!

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(Tetsuma squirms a bit and blushes if Dayo says that out loud.)

Kisses! Aiming for as many kisses as there's skin to kiss. 

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That's so many!

They should sleep soon though.

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Yeah probably. Sleep is good.

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And the next morning...

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...this is better, yes.

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Tetsuma: is a very clingy sleeper.

She wakes around the same time as Dayo, kisses her boyfriend once she's fully awake, then starts getting ready for another run before they have to leave.

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Kiss! He's not gonna run though, Tetsuma can go have fun.

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She does! She runs fast once she's gotten out past where she'd be alarming shepherds - not having anything to run into is fun, since she can pretty carelessly fling herself forward with chakra.

She returns sweaty and nicely exhausted and thoroughly flushed. 

They can head out now, then?

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They can!

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It's two days to the next stop, which is much the same as the last one - small village surrounded by orchards and then wilderness; good for practicing jutsu, but no shareable or notable magic, and the trade's only interesting to Sarati. 

After this stop is their destination, Chennet. 

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Finally.

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Yeah it's been only two-ish weeks but it feels like longer. Ships: definitely not Tetsuma's preferred method of travel.

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"So, you're the trained spy here, what do we do next?"

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"...I think at least one of us should pretend to be a potential new hire. From talking to people in Cloudshear, it sounds like there's a decent turnover, and a castle always needs staff. We should also try and see what the townspeople think of him - a cover as a job-seeker would be good for that. I can also spy with jutsu, especially if he has trees on the property, but that might be foiled by magical protections, and might alert him that we're trying something. There's no warding against gossip."

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"I can probably pretend to be the new hire, I don't even need to wear this face."

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"We can also under different faces pretend to be passing through and curious about the local lord, see if we get different answers that way - luckily the town itself is populated enough people should be mostly incurious. I can probe at the edges of his castle with my wood-sense - that shouldn't set off any alarms - and I think I should be able to send wood clones through trees undetectably, but that'll require a bit of practice."

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"Do you expect us to get different answers?"

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"Well, different subsets of information - more on his history as curious tourists, more on his behavior around the common folk and how he runs things as potential hires, for instance - and the information will be filtered and biased differently."

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"Aha. Yes, makes sense."

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"I'd suggest being tourists as ourselves basically, at most with cosmetic changes, and then have the job-seeker persona ostensibly be from the same ship, to simplify the lie. The two of us can then pretend to leave when Sarati does. I can do 'new arrival' for a short time while only coming off as a bit shy, and have a wood clone play myself, for the brief times when we'll all three need to be seen together."

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"Can you do two clones?"

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"Yeah, especially if they don't have enough chakra for jutsu."

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"Then might be a good idea to do one of the other me, as well."

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"...Good point. Just for until we pretend to leave?"

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"Yeah."

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"Which gender should our prospective servant be? We can probably change that later, or I can try to do two servants, one of each, though that might get complicated to maintain..."

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"I don't think it matters much. I change more often than you do but either way we'll probably be dysphoric there at one point or another."

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"Okay, then. Do you have a face in mind?"

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"How's this?"

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She copies him and smiles, before dropping the transformation. "Works for me."

So: start getting ready?

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Yyyyep!

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Tetsuma creates two simple, insubstantial clones, then transforms again into the servant character, this time with her improved jutsu. It's tiring, but not badly so. She takes a deep breath, reminds herself of her infiltration lessons, and shifts her posture. 

"I'll switch these to wood clones once we're somewhere outside and secluded. These are pretty much projections under my control; the wood clones will be less creative than me, and worse at plan-making, but they're smart overall. I won't be getting back any memories from them, so we'll have to find time for them to report to me at some point."

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"Should they actually do anything much? I'm thinking we should limit their interactions with anyone else to a minimum so it's not too suspicious when we're them."

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"The wood clones are me, pretty much. And they can, knowing what questions to ask, pretend to go shopping in different areas and chat with the shopkeepers. Though the you-clone should probably not be chatting with as many people at the inn, or anyone you're likely to come into contact with. Mostly to avoid taxing my acting skills."

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"Hmm, would it be very difficult for me to learn this clone jutsu, now that you've developed it?"

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"The insubstantial one, sure, especially since you're so good at genjutsu, or a water clone, but water clones aren't advanced and can't go too far from their creators. The advanced clones though are reliant on my wood jutsu, so unless you can copy my bloodline it'd be impossible. "

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"...well, perhaps we could test just how accurate the term 'bloodline' is."

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"I'm not sure of any wood jutsu you could learn quickly enough to be proper proof of concept - maybe the wood sense, it mostly branches off from meditation."

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"May not be useful to see if my magic can cheat that right now, then, if it'd take too long to learn."

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"Yeah, though it's something to keep in mind for when we have more time."

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"Shoulda thought of that earlier. Oh well. Let's hash this plan out in more detail, shall we?"

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So: planning.

Tetsuma's thinking that they should head out at a non-busy time, to minimize the risk of the clones bumping into anyone. Dayo does all the talking, gets a room on the ground floor. She can then replace the simple clones with wood clones. (She's also realized that they need to name the servant character.)

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Is the servant character also going to be an offworlder?

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Would probably be easiest, since they might not know enough about this realm to fake being from it, but that's Dayo's call.

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Yeah, probably. Probably not their worlds, though, right?

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Yeah, they can just go with something generic. Maybe pretend to be from basically Dayo's world sans magic? 

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Sure, sounds plausible.

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That'll allow Dayo to fill in details pretty easily, without being too interesting. And Tetsuma's fine doing very little of the talking. 

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Off they go, then, right?

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Yup! 

Sarati says bye to them in case they don't see her before she leaves, and then that she'll be swinging back through Cloudsheer in about a month, if they're having trouble finding transportation past that. (There's a lot of trade between this island and Cloudsheer, so that part shouldn't be a problem.)

Tetsuma thanks her, then leads the way (being careful that the clones don't bump into anyone. Hopefully no one notices that they lack shadows) to somewhere nice and isolated, where she can swap the ordinary clones out for wood clones.

Then to the inn?

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Yep, to the inn!

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Where Tetsuma lets Dayo do the talking. (They can all 'four' get a room together for the first night, to make logistics easier. And cheaper.) The wood clones help keep up basic, innocuous conversation, but don't interact much with other people. 

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Dayo does the talking! Dayo is good at doing the talking. He does a lot of it.

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Then they can get to their room (two large beds) and properly coordinate asking for rumors.

Tetsuma's main idea is going on a shopping trip, each of them taking a different section, and chatting up the shopkeepers. Or they can leave the wood clones in the room; they'll cover less ground, but probably run less risk of gathering suspicion.

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They're not pressed for time, better to do the second thing.

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Okay! 

Also this way Dayo can play the prospective servant while Tetsuma plays herself, if they want to keep the character more consistent for later?

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That works! He should find a name for the character though.

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Tetsuma can suggest things? She still remembers a lot of the names they've run across, so they can pick something that doesn't stand out much. Or Dayo can pick something from his world, or just invent a name.

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Hmm. He likes the sound of 'Sadde.' Reminds him a bit of his real name but is interestingly different.

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That sounds good to her.

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So the prospective servant should go do some prospective servanting, right?

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Sure, and Tetsuma can do touristing.

Chatting with the bar-keeper reveals that there's multiple markets, though one's more touristy than the others. Tetsuma heads to that one, after soliciting some gossip (she might be awkward and bad at lying, but she knows what questions to ask). The bar-keep doesn't have much of an opinion about the local lord - he mostly stays out of day-to-day life, and the heavier taxes are on trade, cloth, and produce, not on inns.

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That's interesting.

He doesn't stay and chat, though. Does barkeep know anything about how to become a servant?

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Not in detail. She thinks you probably just go to the castle and talk to the head of staff though.

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Huh. Okay. To the castle.

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It's a good ways away, though it's clearly visible from the edge of town, rising from the heath on a tall hill. Some people are coming and going, mostly through a side door.

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Oh good he can ask one of those about it then.

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They can point him towards the seneschal's secretary, then (the seneschal oversees the entire household, but you don't approach him directly). The castle's big, and the interior doesn't quite make sense, but luckily the secretary's office is within the first ring, near-ish the side door. They describe the procedure for visiting - announce yourself to the secretary's valet, then wait in the antechamber to be called in - and wish him luck.

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Huh. Okay, he'll do that.

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The hallway beyond is wide and decorated with fairly simple tapestries. All of the light comes from heatless lamps on the walls. The secretary's office is only a short walk down the hall.

The valet is at a small desk in the antechamber, looking through papers. He looks up when Sadde enters, then says, "State your business."

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"I, um, would like to, um, work here?"

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"I'll put you in the schedule for a job application. Take a seat in the meantime. He should be with you shortly."

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"Th-thank you."

He scurries away.

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And after a bit, during which a few people go in and out of the office, he's informed that the secretary will see him now. 

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In he goes.

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The secretary's a middle-aged, gruff-looking man. "You're looking to apply for a post here?"

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"Y-yes, sir."

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"What are your skills? Can you scribe? Do arithmetic? Do you have a trade? And speak up, boy."

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"I can scribe, I'm very good at maths, I don't have a trade," he says quickly, trying to be careful not to stammer any words while still getting all the information out.

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He takes out three pieces of paper, then puts all three on the desk facing Sadde along with a quill pen and ink. One is blank, one has a short paragraph, and another has a few equations of varying difficulty. He gestures to the chair. "Sit, copy the paragraph, and then solve the equations."

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...sure, he does that. He is in fact amazing at maths.

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The secretary appears to be timing him. When Sadde finishes, he pears at the paper for a few minutes. "What's your name, boy?"

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"Sadde."

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He asks a few more questions, mostly about where Sadde's from, how long he's been in the realm, etc.

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He has a backstory all worked out! It's pretty similar to his real one minus magic.

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"Come back tomorrow, at the second quarter past dawn, and I'll see about an assignment. We have openings for clerks, and the royal astronomers especially need those skilled in arithmetic. Pay is two silvers a week, plus room and board."

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"Thank you very much!" he says brightly, and off he goes cheerfully.

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Tetsuma gets back to the inn a bit after he does, and asks how his day's gone so far. 

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He tells Tetsuma all about it!

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"That's great! I learned a good bit from my wanderings - managed to find someone who wanted to ramble about the place's history. Apparently the lord's from a longer lived species or has somehow made himself unaging. Or various other conspiracy theories, but the lord's been there for as long as living memory goes back. No heirs, either, as far as the gossip networks can tell. Mostly keeps to himself, but maintains a surprisingly large court for the lord of an only medium-sized island. He pays well, taxes are mostly fair - except on the weavers, he's unpopular with them - and no one I talked to knows how he can afford to support such a large household."

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"Curiouser and curiouser."

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"It's not all necessarily suspicious. I'm guessing magic has a lot to do with - everything. Also the 'maintaining a household above his station' thing was pretty common back home, and you could reliably draw conclusions from it - usually that someone is vain and prone to showing off - but I don't know what it says about his personality here. There's not many other nobles to impress, the way the islands are set up. Maybe he used to have a higher station and is holding onto the trappings out of vanity."

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"It's not necessarily suspicious," he agrees, "but I'm curious nonetheless."

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"Yeah, same."

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"What are your plans for tomorrow?"

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"I was thinking we check out, pretending to leave when Sarati does, though in reality I'll spend some more time in the markets under a different face - the city's busy enough no one should notice we didn't actually leave - and then just move out into the wilderness somewhere. From there I'll work on spying on the castle at a distance."

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"Cool. The castle's weird on the inside, though."

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"How weird?"

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"Like—spatially weird? The places I visited were alright but it was not directly the same as you'd expect from the outside."

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"I'm not sure how that'd interfere with spying jutsu, if it even would. It might throw off my wood-sense, though, and it might make things like traveling through the ground harder."

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"Your wood-sense might be able to provide a more accurate map of the interior than my memory could, though."

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"Yeah. It doesn't do non-living materials well, but I'd be honestly surprised if there aren't at least weeds and moss most places. It'd be nice if I could get an idea of how distorted the space is, too."

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"Yeah. I hope it works."

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"Same. Especially since if it does work, and if I can get the wood-traveling jutsu working, you'll be able to have backup easily if something goes catastrophically wrong."

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"Yeah, and you would heroically save me."

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"You'll make a wonderful damsel."

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"I'll be so distressed."

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"Don't worry, I'll catch you when you swoon into my arms."

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He puts the back of his hand on his forehead, closes his eyes, and looks as if he's about to fall.

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She wraps an arm around his waist and pecks him on the cheek. 

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"My heroine!"

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"My love, you shall not want for protection as long as I draw breath," she says gravely, with the air of a quote.

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"...that's beautiful."

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"It's from an incredibly melodramatic play, though there were a few good lines."

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He giggles. "I can deal with melodrama. I love you."

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Kiss! "Love you too. So much. When we've fixed my world we can go see all the melodramatic romances."

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Kiss!

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The next day he has to return to the palace.

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This time he doesn't have to wait quite as long before being waved into the secretary's office.

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And there he is!

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The secretary gruffly informs him there's a position open, as a low-level calculator for the astronomers. He'll have to show them he knows his arithmetic, of course. The directions to get there are as so; he's to introduce himself to Koltherna. 

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He thanks the secretary and starts following the directions.

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The castle's pretty easy to get lost in. The passages are the servants', and they're windy and often narrow. Luckily people are pretty generous about directions if he does get lost.

The destination is a long hall, dominated in the middle by a massive mechanical contraption, which looks as if an orrery had been repurposed to show arcane concepts rather than planets. Various maps dominate the walls. A decent number of desks are lined up in the wings of the hall, and a woman sits at a larger desk near the entrance - probably the person he was told to talk to.

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He waits until she doesn't look busy then walks up to her. "Excuse me?"

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She looks over at him. "You the new hire?"

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"Yes. My name's Sadde."

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She smiles back. "I'll give you work, and you can return it to me as it's completed, how's that sound. Let me know if it's too hard or too easy. That desk over there hasn't been claimed by anyone in particular."

She hands him a small packet of papers with equations to solve, a stack of blank papers, and a writing set. "The desks should also be stocked with more paper and writing supplies, and you can come ask me for more if you run out."

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"Sounds good!"

And he's very curious about what this department actually does.

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It's not entirely obvious from the equations, which are stripped of context, though he'll quickly get up to this realm's version of celestial mechanics and downright weird physics equations if he's good at advanced math. Non-Euclidean geometry seems to be the standard. He's not close enough to the group of researchers at the center to overhear their conversations, though from what they're writing on a handful of large boards, the central problem of the day seems related to the ley-lines. Possibly. 

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Oooh.

But how does celestial mechanics even exist, it's not like this place has, like, space...

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The equations don't have enough context for that to be obvious, but it seems to have something to do with the movements of stars, the ley-lines themselves, and the islands. 

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Huh. Cool. And yes, "Sadde" is very good at advanced maths, he's going through these fairly quickly.

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Eventually it'll be the end of the day. Koltherna smiles at him, lets him know he's been working long enough - "We've found there's a point where people tend to start making more mistakes." It seems to be the end of her work day, too, as she's packing up her things.

"You've done very well today, it's a lucky break when we actually get sent someone who knows what they're doing. Of course we'll have someone else check your work for a little bit, but that's standard. Do you have any questions about the work?"

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"So many! What's it all about—" and all the other things he's been burning to ask about all of this.

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"We're calculating the movements of the ley-lines. Affects some types of magic. It's good that you're interested in all this - most science types end up going to the universities, though I guess that's harder to swing if you're first generation. We mostly have to rely on apprentices - we have the best apprenticeship system for mathematics, if I do say so myself. None of that standardized classroom stuff that Bajilda is pushing... Anyways, I can write you an introduction to the librarian, so you can find something on the physics of the ley? That'd probably answer your questions better than I can just chatting."

She packs up a few more things, scribbles a letter that she hands to him, then turns to go. "Here, I can walk you to the library, I'm heading that way anyways."

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"Thank you!"

He follows.

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The library is big, taking up a space larger than most buildings. Koltherna points out one of the assistant librarians, then takes her leave. There's a good number of people among the stacks, most of them in the tunic uniform but several clearly from the town; apparently this doubles as the public library.

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Ooh, awesome.

Hi librarian!

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The librarian is rather brusk, but directs him to a section that has several books on physics and recommends one. The books aren't to be taken from the building, but there's plenty of desks and tables.

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Books! Physics!

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The realm's gotten far in terms of physics, mostly because navigating, let alone understanding, the ley requires it. It'll be late before he's made even a small dent in all there is to read; this library's mostly books on math, physics, and engineering. 

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Heh.

Well. Tomorrow he can come back and start Asking Questions, then.

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He can!

(He might notice as he's walking back that there's several distinct uniforms, and the cleaners are treated as if they're invisible. The uniforms are simple tunics and leggings, with only color differences between them.)

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Uh huh. He definitely makes note of this.

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He can go find housing for the night, since they checked out of the inn - this place is big enough there might be longer-term options available - or he can try and find Tetsuma, or wander around for a bit, or something.

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Probably wander around for a bit until he runs into her.

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He finds one of her clones, sitting on a bench off the main road and reading. She stands up when she sees him - she's got Tetsuma's face, though less distinctive hair and clothes - and walks over to him, saying "Hey Sadde! How's your day been?"

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"It was fun! I'm in their astronomy dept."

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"That's cool! So you're getting to work with plenty of math?" She starts walking, leading him towards the edge of town. 

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"Yeah and it's so bizarre it makes no sense and I love it."

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"It's great that you're having fun!" And similar light chatter about her day, the weather, and so on.

Eventually the road will take them out of the village, and along a dirt road across the heath, until they pass a medium-sized copse of trees. She veers off the road onto a small game trail, leading him into the center. Tetsuma drops down from the branches once they're out of sight of the road, smiling. 

"I found this great area for me to hide out in, and there's a path towards another village and the castle - you can stay here with me if you'd like, and from the perspective of the castle it'll look like you're housing in the village, or taking the long way to the town. How was your day?"

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He retells the story!

"How about yours?"

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"That's great! I didn't learn as much wandering around the market, I think in the future I'll just send my clones in when I want food or something and focus on jutsu development. I'm a lot closer to getting clones to merge with trees than I'd thought, which is great, and after that is getting them to travel through the root systems.

"I also meditated for a bit, tried to get a sense of the castle. They definitely have trees, and the space is definitely distorted, but I haven't yet managed anything more than that - I think my wood-sense also isn't going to trip any alarms, too, it wasn't interacting with the magic at all. Makes sense, since it's almost entirely passive, I'm just sensing the chakra that plants are already putting off."

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He nods. "People in town have no relevant info on the lord? Also maybe now we have some time I could try to see if I can mimic your bloodline, it'd be useful for both of us to have it."

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"Not much that wasn't said yesterday. Most people only have an opinion on what directly affects them. So, like, I learned that some of the supervisors of the help are known for being mean, and a lot about people's opinions on taxes, and some about the education system, but that's about it. I haven't found someone who's old enough to remember when he moved in, though I can put more effort into that."

"And, yeah, we should definitely see if you can copy me entirely. ...For that matter, you might also be able to mimic my chakra capacity, or at least the physical side of it. That'd be useful, building up chakra capacity can easily take years, and my jutsu are mostly chakra-intensive."

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"Awesome. You're sure we're not being watched, yeah?"

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"As much as I can be! Someone might be scrying on us with a method I can't detect, though that's really unlikely."

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"Alright, then."

And he switches his body to... well, girl Tetsuma. He knows a lot about what Tetsuma's body's like.

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And she walks him through the basics of wood sense.

It's pretty similar to the meditation to sense your own chakra, though you have to be still and focused outward, since part of what you're sensing is the echoes of nature chakra. (Tetsuma can't directly sense nature chakra yet, but the wood-sense allows for cheating.) You tune your own chakra to the chakra around you, then interpret the perturbations. If it works, he should feel something, like a vibration just under the threshold of hearing.

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...nope, nothing. But maybe he can try to copy the... "physical portion" of her chakra...?

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He'll suddenly feel stronger, and a lot more energetic. Like, no wonder Tetsuma's constantly running about levels of energetic. 

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"—oh wow so that's why you never stand still."

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"You managed to copy my chakra capacity? That's great! Though it'll probably throw off your control, especially if you only copied the physical portion. And, yeah, being energetic is usually a sign of naturally high chakra capacity."

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"Wow, wow, I wanna run, I wanna go swimming, I wanna—do things—do you feel like this all the time?"

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"Pretty much if I haven't exhausted myself! It's why I was going so stir-crazy on the ship. Though I'm also used to it, I think it's just the initial rush you're feeling?"

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"Yeah. Just. Wow." He runs around a bit, and bounces, and jumps—"Woooowwwwwww!"

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If he pushes off with chakra, he'll leave a small crater in the ground. Tetsuma wasn't joking about the 'suddenly poor chakra control' part.

She giggles while watching him.

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He'll bounce around for a bit and when it becomes clear this extra energy is not going away he'll just force himself to stand still.

"Okay, so, lemme see if I got the wood thing..." Pause. "I totally got the wood thing."

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"Eee!" She hugs him. "You're amazing."

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"You're amazing! This is awesome! I wonder if I can keep the magic while shaped like—anything else."

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"That would be ludicrously overpowered. Especially if you can collect multiple bloodlines at once. ...You might be able to manage the chakra capacity but not the bloodline, though, depending on how the transformations work."

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"Should I want the chakra capacity? I don't think I'll ever be able to sleep like this!"

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Giggle. "Maybe you can just have it during the day? Or thoroughly exhaust yourself before bed."

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He looks Tetsuma up and down. "I wonder what I could possibly do to exhaust myself that much."

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"Oh, I don't know. Maybe go for a run?"

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"That's an option, but we do need to lay low."

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"Hm..." She taps her chin, clearly trying not to giggle. "We could spar, that can be low-key." 

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"Can't, I'd probably destroy a tree or two like this."

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"Jutsu practice would have the same problem... Well, I suppose there's no solution, then. So unfortunate."

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"No solution at all, you say? Because I'm thinking of a thing or two."

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"Oh, really? What solution could there possibly be?"

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"Well, you see, I have this gorgeous girlfriend—whose body I'm currently inhabiting, even!—who might be able to help. There are some things boyfriends and girlfriends can do that spend a lot of energy."

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"What sorts of things?"

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"Well..." He doesn't want to be girl-shaped for this, back to his regular face. "Sometimes boyfriends and girlfriends..." He looks around to make sure no one's watching then stage-whispers, "kiss."

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She giggles, then pecks him on the cheek. "Like this?" (Also: glad he shifted back, kissing a her-shaped Dayo would've been kinda weird.)

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"Maaaybe. But maybe somewhere else."

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"Hm... Here?" And she kisses him on the forehead. 

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Giggle. "Further down."

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"Oh, I see!" And she leans in... And kisses the tip of his nose.

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"Lower!"

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...She's tempted to keep teasing, but nah.

"How about here?" And she kisses him on the mouth.

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!!!!

Yep, very good, watch his arms wrap around her and him respond enthusiastically.

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Kisses!

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Now there are certain other things boyfriends and girlfriends do that are very energy-intensive and that they haven't actually tried because last time they were girlfriend and girlfriend instead.

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Well, they can certainly experiment and see if that's sufficiently exhausting, then. For science.

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There will be so much science done today.

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They should be really thorough. To make sure they test all possibilities.

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And there are so many of those. They might not even get to test all of them before they both get exhausted, who knows.

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Probably not! They'll just have to experiment more than once, then, won't they.

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Probably!

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They can spend the next while experimenting, then, if Dayo'd like. 

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Only until they have to go sleep; he has to return to the castle the next day.

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Works for her.

The next day she prepares breakfast, then wishes Dayo luck at the castle and goes to continue developing her traveling-through-wood jutsu (...which really needs a name). 

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The next day... Dayo is a girl.

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Which makes becoming Sadde kind of annoying. But she'll deal.

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The work's much the same, though a bit harder - pretty much as close to the top of her abilities as work at this level will get.

After the work day's done, one of the other calculators catches her eye and comes over. 

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"Hi, there," she greets.

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"Hey! I'm Alfradr, one of the apprentices. You must be the new guy?"

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"Y-yeah, I'm Sadde. Nice to meet you."

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He smiles. "Enjoying the work so far?"

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"Mmhm. It's fun."

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"That's good! Has anyone had a chance to show you around yet?"

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"Not really. I saw the library?"

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"The library's rather nice, but that's hardly everything. Well, everything we're allowed to see. C'mon, let me give you the full tour."

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"O-okay! Thanks."

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The 'full tour' mostly involves the public spaces (they don't go into the central keep, and they stay out of the way of the busier places and the towers, though he does point out the way to the kitchens and such). There's an enormous set of gardens surrounding the keep, with winding paths, benches, a long reflecting pool, and orange trees for shade, that they're allowed to pick from. If Sadde squints, it really shouldn't fit inside the space it's in - the warping effect is somewhat blatant, here.

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She does squint.

"So I'm kinda curious—why is there an astronomy department here?"

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"The lord has his own theories about the ley, and how to traverse past its bounds. I think it's something to do with his native realm's magic, though he might have recently gotten something - an artifact probably - that he expects to help. At least, that's what I've pieced together - my desk's pretty close to the center, and I overhear conversations sometimes, plus I've seen the boards. Us calculators don't really get much information, though."

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"Yeah, I'm getting that impression. Why's he interested at all, though?"

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He shrugs. "Why's anyone interested? I mean, my guess is that he's a first gen, trying to get back home - that's fairly common."

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"Yeah that'd make sense. It's just that where I'm from aristocracy doesn't tend to... want to know things, much."

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"Really? Huh. Most countries around here, the aristocracy's driving a lot of the research being done, though the merchants are starting to take over some of that, especially engineering."

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"Is it because most aristocracy is first gens or what?"

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"Nah, almost all of their families have been here for centuries or longer. It's just what they do? Might be a competition thing, how they've decided to show each other up what with the ley making warfare difficult. Though most research at the universities is into stuff like medicine or architecture, practical things, this is somewhat - niche. But if it works it'd be huge, you could go to farther islands, control territory better, have faster shipping. Probably why Bajilda's so into it."

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"But wouldn't explain why other people aren't into it, if it's that rare."

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"It's expensive, the way most people are trying - in both materials cost and lives, experimental ley-ships get lost a lot, and no matter how you do it you'll need a lot of calculators, and most places don't have a very well-educated populace. You're pretty much looking at just the big countries with solid education for a proper ley-program, and Madeza's still recovering from their civil war - they're researching it some I think, just not as much - and Frisland's spending most of their attention on faster ships. Bajilda's got, like, nearly everyone literate, and they invented universities, so they have - momentum."

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"Invented?"

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"Yeah, it wasn't really an idea that had occurred to people, I guess? And the two oldest universities - Elgadzhi and Khamar - are both in Bajilda. Though I'm not too sure of the history there."

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"And people didn't have universities in other worlds? They're a thing where I'm from."

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"Well, no one near power had had them. And if I remember right, most of the worlds haven't invented writing yet, let alone higher education."

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"What, really? That's terrible."

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"I mean, I'm pretty sure writing hasn't existed all that long anywhere, and if you select a person from all of history at random, chances are they've never even heard of writing. It's just - statistics."

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"It's been around for at least a couple thousand years in my world, I think..."

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"Well, yeah, but how long has sapient life been around? There was this big thing a bit back, the university at Elgadhzi found two people at time extremes from the same world, discovered that there was nearly a hundred thousand years between them. And that world had other earlier species, going back like a million years, but it'd had writing for, like, only a couple thousand years of that. And writing takes a long while to get widespread to the point where random people would be likely to know it."

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"—wait this place picks people at different times too?"

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"...Yes? It's - out of sync with everywhere else, I guess."

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"...weird. And kinda terrifying. I'd hoped—"

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"...Hm? Why terrifying?"

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"Because I wanted to come back—I had people—"

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"...I mean, the way our calculations are going, it should be possible to return at any point - possibly any point that won't violate causality, depending..."

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"—okay that's more reassuring."

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"Yeah, the math is weird but - it looks like different parts of the ley are - connected in a regular fashion. So people from the same world tend to appear on the same island, nearish each other. It probably works that way for time, too."

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"Oh. It's hard to interpret that, I just got—equations—"

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"I've studied this a lot on my own, too - I'm hoping to work on ley-theory once I finish my apprenticeship, probably at the Elgadhzi university. There's some books in the library that go into it more than just the equations."

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"Ooh I'm gonna look at those."

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He can recommend books! He doesn't remember every title he's ever read, but a few stand out, and he knows the more advanced ones he's read more recently. "And of course most recently published books have lists of references in the back - that's the universities' influence - so you can look through those. Unfortunately the library here isn't really complete..."

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"Where can I find a more complete one?"

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"One of the universities. The Elgadhzi university in Bajilda's famous for just about everything, or Khamar has a more engineering and math-focused course, and the Huicoa university in Madeza is known for magic. There's also a university in Frisland, in Holmsford I think."

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"—I should make a list."

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"There's a place that sells scrap paper, journals, and writing supplies in town, and the library has atlases, if you want to take notes on geography and stuff. I admit it's probably easier growing up here - I can't imagine keeping track of where everything is if I was new."

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"It's—a bit strange to be somewhere that's not entirely made of geography."

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"It's kinda technically bits of geography connected to each other? There's actually a pattern to it, I think - though I don't know, I'm not a cartographer or a navigator. Though I'll agree that the space warping is weird. The castle always gives me the creeps, and I've heard there's some fox-lands that're worse."

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"I didn't see anything properly creepy—I guess some of it can be unsettling but it's mostly pretty cool."

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He shrugs. "To each their own. I don't like the distortions, at all."

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"Why not?"

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"They're just disturbing, is all. Make me a bit dizzy, and I don't like looking at a place and realizing that the inside doesn't match the dimensions of the walls."

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"Huh. Okay."

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"So, anyways, is there anything else you're curious about in the castle? I think we've explored everywhere public... I can show you a few of the shortcuts, maybe."

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"Ooh, shortcuts!"

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There are shortcuts! It's mostly stuff like 'turn here to get to the kitchens/ gardens/ exit faster than the main path, especially when the main path's full of people,' though there's also a lot of servant's entrances and back passages (which you're really supposed to avoid using if you're not in a horrible rush, so you don't clog them up). Most of the shortcuts he knows trace from either the side entrance or their work space.

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This is cool anyway.

"Do you know what's in the other parts of the castle? The ones we're not supposed to go to?"

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"The outer walls are mostly offices, so for there it's pretty much mostly the higher ups who don't want to be bothered by noise. For the keep, I'm not sure. Not a lot of the servants have clearance. Though I'd guess a lot of it's defensive, and the lord probably has his own study and library and such. The keep does have a great hall we're allowed into on feast days, which is enormous."

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"Bigger-on-the-inside enormous?"

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"I think regular enormous, too - it looks like it fits in the space it's in, it's just improbably big."

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"I want to see it someday."

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"I think the next feast day is sometime in the next few weeks, though I don't really keep track of that kind of thing as much."

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She grins.

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"Anything else? Or it's getting kinda late, we can keep talking tomorrow or something."

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"Yeah, tomorrow's better, probably."

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"Want me to walk you out?"

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"I'd love that, thank you."

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Then they can go to the entrance. When they're at the sidedoor, he says he'll see her tomorrow, then heads down the lane towards the port town. 

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And after she's far enough away she gets rid of that face with a shiver and goes to find her girlfriend.

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Who drops out of the canopy once Dayo's a bit inside the grove. 

"Hey! How was your day?"

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"I did not miss dysphoria," she says, shuddering a bit. "Otherwise, though, it was good, I got a tour—" She tells Tetsuma about her whole day, particularly the part where her guide mentioned the lord might've recently gotten an artefact of some kind that might help with the ley.

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Hug! "Yeah, I can imagine. Thank you for doing this, though."

"It's great that you managed to swing a tour. Any ideas about the artifact? I'm thinking that if we can find where it's stored, it's likely that other artifacts are stored with it - like Reim's jewel - since it's easier to maintain high security on one room than on multiple."

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"No ideas yet but I'm betting that that artefact is Reim's jewel."

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"The timing's about right, if so. ...Clients who don't give full information are so annoying, if this thing's magical that would've been helpful to know."

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"I wonder if we can get Reim by calling again..."

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"That's a good idea! Maybe. Reim?"

Nothing happens immediately. 

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"Yo Reim, we'd love to talk about our mission."

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Still nothing!

"Maybe since we're farther it takes him longer? Or he can't hear us outside of the island. Anyways, we should probably think about dinner, it'll be sundown soon..."

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"Yeah, probably. What are the options?"

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"We still have some bread and cheese from town, plus I gathered some berries and nuts earlier. There's also various roots about if we feel like cooking."

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"Do we feel like cooking?"

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"I don't, particularly."

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"Me neither. Let's go with the other things."

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"Is there anything you'd like me to try and pick up from town tomorrow?" she asks as she gets stuff down from her tree (she's been building a platform sort of hidden in the branches). 

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"Nothing in particular. Surprise me."

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"Okay, then."

Dinner is prepared fairly quickly.

Tetsuma chats about her day some as they eat - "I started a new angle on the wood clones. I think I can get them to sync their experiences with me, so I don't have to just have them report back. Losing memories from them is one of the big weaknesses involved in sending clones out of my sight..."

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"Oh? How do you do that?"

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"Pretty sure the trick's in how I distribute the yin chakra, and in setting up a - sort of loop of chakra moving back and forth. Similar concept to the conscious control exerted over water clones, but coming from the clone itself. It might end up limiting their range, though if that's the case I can just have two versions of the jutsu."

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She nods and kisses Tetsuma because she is so smart!!!

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Eee!

(Tetsuma is surprised - because really who expects kisses when they're in geek mode - but very enthusiastic about kissing back. Because best girlfriend.)

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Well Tetsuma should expect them because she is so hot when she's geeking out.

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She gets focused, okay! 

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Hot. So many kisses.

But also dinner.

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Yes. That.

"It's interesting how many plants and other foods are similar to ones I'm familiar with, you know. I still double checked the berries for poison, but I was able to fairly reliably guess which ones are safe to eat..."

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"Were there false positives and negatives, then?"

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"Not from the double checking! And the ones I was certain I knew I didn't get wrong, there were just a few that looked vaguely similar. I didn't serve you anything I'd been uncertain of, too."

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"Oh good, I'd rather not die poisoned."

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"That'd be a bit of a silly way to die, wouldn't it? Though I am trained as a medic, so I could manage most common poisons. If it came up."

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"But we're in another woooorld, there are all sorts of poisons you wouldn't knooooow," she says, sighing dramatically. "And in a horrible, silly accident: poof, dead."

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"I think it'd actually work even on unfamiliar poisons! Though, yes, best not to test it." She fights the urge to giggle. "One benefit of all this testing though is that I think I might've found a nice paralytic. This world's definitely weird - paralytics are usually animal derived, not berries. Though I suspect that plant may've been slightly predatory..."

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"...how does it work, exactly?"

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"It's actually based on a medical jutsu that identifies toxins, though I altered it for my wood manipulation so it's easier and does a more thorough analysis. It - essentially looks at the chemical structure of all the plant's parts, and at a basic level identifies known toxins, which have a distinct signature. The advanced version is for when you run into an unknown substance, and is a bit more thorough - it actually involves carefully introducing some of what you're testing's chakra to your own and tracking how your system reacts, then, if that checks out, introducing some of the actual substance in very small quantities and - pretty much seeing what happens."

"My version's a lot more thorough and safer, since the analysis happens in the plant itself - I introduce my chakra instead of the other way around, basically. But it only works on plants, I won't get enough feedback from other sources."

"Or did you mean how does the plant that tried to eat me work?"

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"I meant that but this explanation is really cool too."

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Slightly sheepish grin. "I'm pretty sure the plant waits for animals to eat the berries, then fall paralyzed. Its roots seem to spread a good bit around it, and seem to be slightly mobile. I think it then wraps up paralyzed animals and then - sort of digests them, there was a half-dissolved deer-thing next to the plant, wrapped up in slowly shifting roots. It's a cool plant, has a more active chakra system than most, and I analyzed it a bit with my wood manipulation, I think it gets some feedback from its surroundings. Which has massive implications for my jutsu, if I could replicate that I could make living structures that'll react to their surroundings..."

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She giggles. "You are the cutest nerd."

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She laughs. "I just find jutsu really interesting! And plants and animals, and somewhat medicine."

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"How does the paralytic work?"

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"Well, I don't know about this one exactly, but most paralytics are neurotoxins - they attack the spine and brain. We don't know much about the mechanisms, since things haven't been peaceful enough to establish hospitals or anything, but from testimony of survivors they seem to block the brain's ability to command the body." A pause. "This world's so advanced in many ways, maybe their medicine's better, too. When we finish with this mission I'd like to go to one of the universities, see if we can't get access to the libraries..."

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"Ooh that would be fun."

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"I'm not a book person - though admittedly I haven't had much of a chance to be one - but all that knowledge is just there - and so much of it can help my people. We really don't have public libraries, too. I'd - like to bring back books if we can, maybe have the first proper public library on the continent for our little nation."

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"Honestly our nation is going to be the best."

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"Definitely! Even if we can't do much about the wars, better medicine and agriculture will do so much."

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Giggle and kiss.

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Kisses! 

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And food!

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Yup! Food that is very tasty after spending most of the day experimenting with jutsu.

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(Dayo thinks the food is not the only very tasty thing here.)

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Tetsuma will remain somewhat oblivious unless Dayo says something! Though she does sit leaning against her as they eat, chatting about her day (this includes a lot of digressions into Geek Mode).

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Yeah she's not interrupting Geek Mode, it's so adorable and hot and amazing. She does hug her girlfriend and sometimes kiss her though.

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Tetsuma is very delighted about the kisses!

"You know, we'll need to think up a more detailed plan at some point... You said earlier that you want to try and talk to him before stealing the jewel?"

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"I wanna understand what his deal is, exactly. Why he got the jewel, what exactly it does."

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"One of us might be able to approach him openly... Well, under a transformation, so we don't wind up suspected if we do steal it, but we might be able to get an audience as a new arrival with strange magic."

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"My transformation's probably the most resistant to detection, right?"

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"Yeah. You're also a better actor than me, I'm terrible at infiltration stuff. Still, there might be some way he'd be able to tell you're the same person as Sadde - anyone who can sense chakra would be able to do that back home - so that's something to be leery of."

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"Different genders to assuage suspicion... I wonder if I can't somehow disguise my chakra."

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"Usually I'd say no, but copying my yang chakra - the physical portion you copied earlier, to get the wood manipulation - might do the trick, for some types of chakra sensors at least."

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She nods. "Okay so I'm thinking that next one of us should pretend to be one of the servants—I don't know if I told you but they're basically invisible there—to get a better internal map of the place. Maybe I should stay a while as Sadde and get as much as I can then claim I'm going to the university and infiltrate again as a servant... But if you think you can do the acting we can parallelise."

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"Well, Sadde can hardly be expected to work everyday, can he? What days do you get off? I'd be worried for me mostly about the transformation being noticed..."

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"Well, not every day, no, but I probably can't swing being both things at the same time unless I use a clone but then it might be noticeable..."

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"I was thinking you could just visit once or twice, get an appointment on one of Sadde's days off. Though I can go in if you'd rather that, especially if we draw up a list of questions to ask beforehand."

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"No, I think you're right about the disguising magic, I just think that being a servant for a few days there would give me access to more parts of the castle than I currently have."

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"Sure, that makes sense."

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"What do you think we should do?"

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"I'm not entirely sure. Waiting a bit and just doing recon would be a good idea either way, so we can get a better idea of the situation."

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"Yeah, probably."

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"I should have an angle for spying remotely soon, which will help. Ideally the merge-with-wood jutsu will be undetectable, especially if performed by a clone."

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"Wouldn't a clone be more detectable?"

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"Not if I make it right, so that it matches the natural chakra."

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"Cool."

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"Masking a chakra signature is usually not possible with clones, but the wood clones - sync better."

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"I can't wait to learn how to make them." Pause. "...I just had the most terrible idea."

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"What?"

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"Well. Clones presumably don't feel dysphoria. How would you feel about kissing two of me?"

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Eee! (The blush and faraway look probably speak for themselves.)

"I actually have no idea if the smarter clones feel dysphoria, but that sounds - very nice. ...Especially once I get the experiences syncing properly."

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She giggles and kisses her girlfriend.

"Anyway, alright, let's lay low and collect more information for now and come up with a more solid plan later."

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Kisses! 

"Yeah, sounds good to me."

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Sleep!

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And sleep!

-

The next morning they wake up groggily, and ugh. Dysphoria's not bad enough for a transformation, but they still make a face and take care to bind their breasts properly before their morning run.

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And Sadde goes back to the castle.

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The castle is still there! A slightly different crowd is present today; most people work in the afternoons, after lessons.

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She has Work To Do and People To Talk To and Information To Gather. She'll have a busy day.

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Most of the people here this early are older adults who stayed on after finishing their apprenticeships. They're happy to chat over lunch and after work, especially the older folk - the program's changed a lot over the decades, she's informed. It's always magic of some sort, of course, typically runes or charts of some sort, though the focus on the ley's more recent - about four or five years ago, give or take. The lord went away for a holiday, came back with some new artifact and a new field catching his eye. Interesting work, though, and potentially game-changing. Nice to be part of something big like this. 

(No one seems to quite know why the ley and why now, or what the artifact might've been.)

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And what does Tetsuma find/develop in the meantime?

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They reach a breakthrough with the experience-syncing with the clones eventually, though it's mildly distracting. They solve this by upgrading the clones so they have much more autonomy, so they can choose to alert Tetsuma to problems. (An off-branch of this is the Transmission Jutsu - Tetsuma can turn a clone into a seed, then attach it to something and track that something's location, though they can't get any other feedback while the clone's transformed.)

They also figure out the merge-with-wood jutsu! It's ridiculous. Completely ridiculous. Tetsuma can't manage it, but their clones can merge with a tree or the ground and travel quickly through the network of underground organic matter. The submerged clones are undetectable to Tetsuma's chakra-sensing abilities, only slightly detectable to the wood-sense, though they have no idea if anyone in all the realms would be able to detect them. They name it the Mayfly Jutsu. 

...They also figure out how to make wooden spikes launch out of their body, because why not. (In the time before the feast day Tetsuma might get slightly bored while Dayo's away.) More usefully, they improve the making-shelter jutsu, and create a nice little house in a clearing in the woods (they were getting tired of being rained on), with mild genjutsu around it to misdirect anyone who wanders by.

They don't really find out much during their excursions into town, or from their from-a-distance spying on the castle, other than general information about when the castle's emptiest, and that the people in this village over here really don't like the lord (they're mostly weavers, and the tax on cloth is Unfair. Apparently there was a decades-old dispute between the weaver's guild and the lord, where they figure the higher cloth tax came from).

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Why can't Tetsuma do the merge-with-wood jutsu?

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Tetsuma's body is not made of wood, so it's a good bit harder for them, but they'll probably figure it out eventually (they're basically cheating with the wood clones).

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That makes sense.

In that time, Dayo himself gets better with genjutsu, and helps shore Tetsuma's up. He also starts practising some more serious jutsu, and borrowing Tetsuma's physical chakra to use the kekkei genkai.

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Copying Tetsuma's chakra means he'll have to do the control exercises all over again since it ruins his control, and unless he can figure out how to reduce the amount of chakra he won't have nearly as good control as he does typically. The wood jutsu are hard, too - Tetsuma suggests that he can maybe try and master controlling just water and earth separately before attempting to master the wood manipulation - although the sensing is a lot easier.

Tetsuma teaches him how to make earth and water clones, then how they combine into wood clones. He'll have their affinity for earth while he has their kekkei genkai, so they also teach him various earth jutsu - mostly forming walls and moving the ground around.

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Clone!

Solid clone!

...who as soon as he's made goes "Wait shit I'm a person."

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"...Yes, wood clones are one of the intelligent types?" Both Dayos might notice an optional sense of what's-going-on-with-the-other. It isn't enough for telepathy or sharing a field of view real-time, but they can definitely get raw information and memories.

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    "Yes but there's 'intelligent' and there's 'I'm literally still me!'" says the clone.

"...but I'm getting your feedback and you're getting mine, right?" asks the original.

    "Uh... yeah..." he says, understanding dawning.

"So there's presumably nothing to worry about—we'll share continuity of experience after you're gone—right...?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Sorry I didn't warn you properly; I guess growing up with clones being a thing, I didn't think so much of what about them might surprise you. And, yeah, sharing memories has been my experience so far."

Permalink Mark Unread

    "What's surprising is that from my point of view I was him and then I was—here and looking at him," says the clone. "—and yeah I definitely feel dysphoria so uh. That plan is not a go."

"Au contraire," says original, who promptly starts making out with his clone.

Permalink Mark Unread

Giggle. Appreciative giggle.

Permalink Mark Unread

"I stand corrected," says clone after a while of that.

Permalink Mark Unread

"So how are we doing this? Should I make a clone, too? ...You know, I think I could swing a boy body right now for the clone. If you'd like."

Permalink Mark Unread

    "Is that so," says clone, eyeing them.

"I'd like," says original, eyeing them with an identical expression.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yes so. Currently in between, so either works." They summon a single clone, already in boy shape. "I can manage more clones, but I'm thinking we should keep logistics simple for now."

Permalink Mark Unread

...words. Who needs words when they can make out. One Tetsuma to each Dayo.

Permalink Mark Unread

Both Tetsuma's are appreciative! (Being in two different bodies is weird. Good weird, though.)

Permalink Mark Unread

Good and Dayo is extremely curious about boy!Tetsuma's body, since, you know. They haven't actually done much there, so far.

Permalink Mark Unread

And this body is not under a transformation, so there's plenty of experimenting to do.

(Original Tetsuma does not want their breasts' existence acknowledged, but the clone has no such problems.)

Permalink Mark Unread

Their breasts' existence can remain unremarked upon.

Permalink Mark Unread

Both Tetsuma's are having lots of fun. And being very enthusiastic about experimenting with Dayo. (Original Tetsuma occasionally gets mildly distracted by the feedback from their clone.)

Permalink Mark Unread

Oh good being distracting is one of their goals here.

Permalink Mark Unread

They are eminently distracting!

Permalink Mark Unread

Clones are awesome. At one point Dayo wants to switch it up a little and explore himself because it's different to have a third-person view.

Permalink Mark Unread

Tetsuma's fine with that, since they're now vaguely interested in exploring their clone. They'll end up spending more time watching Dayo or bursting into giggles than properly exploring, though.

Permalink Mark Unread

Dayo explores himself very thoroughly with many different body parts!

Permalink Mark Unread

Tetsuma gets into an argument with their clone over what to do next, which turns into a wrestling match, which turns into a light spar, which naturally devolves into trying to bind each other with wood manipulation. 

"I am pretty tied up," Original!Tetsuma says, having won. They then kiss their clone and then burst into giggles, to their clone's frustration.

Permalink Mark Unread

"I can think of a thing or two to do to a tied-up you," says one of the Dayos, who never actually won a wrestling match with Tetsuma. It's no longer super clear which one is the original.

Permalink Mark Unread

"That sounds like fun. I like ideas."

Permalink Mark Unread

Ideas can be implemented. So many ideas.

Permalink Mark Unread

And much fun can be had!

Permalink Mark Unread

So much!

Permalink Mark Unread

But soon Sadde has a feast to attend.

Permalink Mark Unread

The feast hall is enormous, but it doesn't look space-warped.

'Sadde' gets assigned a set on one of the side tables, near the far end from the head, with the other calculators. There's a chance to mingle before the feast is actually called, and while most people are keeping to their groups, not everyone is. There's some important-looking folk, the guards, the various groups of servants, the calculators, the higher-level mathematicians, the scribes, and a group with uniforms that Sadde hasn't seen yet.

Permalink Mark Unread

He pokes one of his colleagues. "Who're those?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Oh, them? They're the magic types. Practical applications, you know."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Oooh. A-are they, like, super exclusive and elite and don't want to talk to anyone or can I meet them—"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Haven't ever really talked to them myself, but I suppose there's no harm in trying."

Permalink Mark Unread

"There could be, if they h-have the power to have me, erm, fired or something."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I really doubt they do... Other than the ability that anyone our level has to get you in trouble, I guess."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Okay!" he says brightly and goes over there.

Permalink Mark Unread

They don't react much to him just approaching. There's only about six people in the group, and after a bit there's a lull in conversation. One notices Sadde then, and asks "Can I help you?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Hi! Maybe! I-I'm new and—generally curious."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Welcome, then. Good luck with work. What were you curious about?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Oh, m-magic in general, and what you guys work with here—there isn't any magic back home."

Permalink Mark Unread

"We mostly test the theories that the mathematicians put out, really. There's also a bit of experimenting with ritual and runic magic - we think the right combination of runes can strengthen the ships some, with all the advantages attendant on that... And ritual magic is seriously underused. You know Madeza's never been successfully invaded, or suffered a natural disaster? They're the only ones using ritual magic at any scale, and they're not stretching it."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I didn't know that! That's really interesting. What's ritual magic like?" He's gonna get to the point eventually but seriously he just has to nerd.

Permalink Mark Unread

"It's - a fairly broad category. Structured magic that isn't written is the best quick explanation. Stuff that involves chants, mostly, though there's some that involves movements or herbs or what-have-you. Pretty common type, but most of it's origin-locked. Madezan ritual magic is grand-scale - it's part of their religion, see, and participating in the largest rituals is a citizenship requirement unless you get an exemption. Their ritual magic usually invokes their gods, though it's a matter of continued debate whether anyone's actually listening. An example is Madeza's nation-wide protections, which are applied every fifty-two years, and that involves dowsing all the fires in the nation, magically relighting a central fire at the oldest temple, then relighting the other temple fires with branches from that fire, then relighting people's hearths from the temple fires. I'm not sure why having magical fires protects the nation - 'there's a deity with an interesting sense of aesthetics' seems to be as good an explanation as any."

Permalink Mark Unread

"...wow. Does it work anywhere else?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Theirs has - cultural momentum. You wouldn't be able to convince everyone in a nation to not have so much as a lit candle elsewhere. The rituals will also annoyingly fail to work if you're doing them for scientific reasons, presumably because being analyzed annoys the deities in question. But the smaller rituals work just fine for converts, and there's Madezan rituals that don't call on assorted spirits that work for anyone. And the deities appear to be able to listen outside of Madeza's island."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Do people invent rituals? How do they work?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"We do, some. The universities do. And... That'd be an entire university class. Or several. Many rituals work on the wider flow of magic in the world, or call on more powerful spirits to intercede and do magic on your behalf. Many affect probability in some way."

Permalink Mark Unread

He nods. "Maybe I'll go to a university someday..."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I'd recommend it, if you want to get serious about studying magic. There's scholarships for most of them, if you can't afford it, and working here would look good when applying to a program."

Permalink Mark Unread

He grins. "So do you know the lord well...?" 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Not very, though he's more involved in our work than the other divisions. He's a reclusive sort, doesn't talk about himself much. Genius at magic, though, especially rituals."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Is it common where he's from?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Not sure. Don't know where he's from originally."

Permalink Mark Unread

He nods. "Do you know why he's become so interested in this stuff lately, this... leyline stuff? It's fascinating, nothing like anything I'd ever seen..."

Permalink Mark Unread

Shrug. "He has his moods. Though ley-research has been big lately, and Bajilda's gotten a few breakthroughs, even if they're mostly unrelated to our angle."

Permalink Mark Unread

"They are?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"They're mostly focusing just on better materials for the hulls of ships, somewhat on navigation; we're focusing more on ritual solutions."

Permalink Mark Unread

"That makes sense," he nods. "I heard he had a magic artefact of some sort that helped with that but no one's mentioned anything like that to me to calculate stuff with..."

Permalink Mark Unread

"He has so many artifacts... If you're talking about the one I think you are, it's more of a power source. So, helpful only in the whole 'we require a rather ridiculous energy output' arena - if you're not familiar with magical theory you probably wouldn't have noticed that the numbers you're handling are larger than normal. Although he seems to think it should be able to do more, we're having trouble with it. Typical, though. Artifacts can be choosy about who they work for."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yeah I wasn't familiar at all. Artefacts are—people? They choose things?"

Permalink Mark Unread

She hums. "They can be clever, certainly, but I've never seen or heard of an artifact that was a person per se. A big thing - and this is actually a problem - is that they can't meaningfully change in nature the way people can. The choosiness works differently between artifacts, but a common way is that the artifact simply checks traits against a list, or requires some form of unique magic to activate."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Huh. Can it be any sorts of traits? Are there patterns?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"As far as I know, yes. There aren't any inherent patterns; the only patterns are from similarities in the artifacts' makers. Some sort of moral component isn't uncommon."

Permalink Mark Unread

Nod. "And the lord's is not like that?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"We don't think there's a moral component, though who knows. It's hard to tell what an artifact's looking for definitively."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Well if it works for him then whatever it is he probably has it."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Possibly. It's possible that it's only working partially, though. Slightly odd behavior, but it is an odd artifact."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Odd how?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"No known origin - to us at least - and its shape is odd. Most artifacts are weapons, or boxes, or rings, or necklaces - that sort of thing. This is a small, white glowing ball. Its energy is also - strange. Different from any artifact I've handled."

Permalink Mark Unread

"—huh. That sounds really weird. Where'd he get it?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Not sure."

Permalink Mark Unread

Shrug. "Weird."

Permalink Mark Unread

"It's really annoying how little we know about it, too. Hard to find out more, though."

Permalink Mark Unread

"He doesn't know where he got it, either?" he asks, sounding bewildered.

Permalink Mark Unread

"He hasn't said."

Permalink Mark Unread

"...sounds a bit counterproductive to figuring out how it works but I guess he must know what he's doing."

Permalink Mark Unread

"He said it's not really relevant, since he just knows who he got it from, not its proper origins."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Oh. That makes sense, I guess. I wonder who it could be..."

Permalink Mark Unread

"No clue. Could be from a collector, or an old friend, or one of his contacts..."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Hmm. He wouldn't... talk to a commoner like me, would he...?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"You'd have to talk to the secretary about that, or catch him on one of his walks, though that's likely to annoy him. Unless you have some sort of unique insight, I'm guessing it's unlikely you'll get in to see him."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Hmm. Okay, I guess there's no harm in t-trying..." he says, slipping into the character's nervousness at the prospect.

Permalink Mark Unread

Wryly: "Well, if you interrupt him on a walk, you could lose your job if you annoy him. Though you're right, there won't really be consequences just for talking to the secretary."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Right, yes, t-that's what I meant. The, er, secretary thing."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Good luck, then. Did you have any other questions?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"N-not specific ones. Just general curiosity."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Well, I'm not sure where to start then. Are you hoping to apply to the magic department in the future? You'd probably want a degree, but there's always positions open. Pays well, too."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Maybe. I'd definitely want a degree, I—I just arrived."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I studied at the university at Huicoa, in Madeza - most people go to Elgadzhi, in Bajilda, but I like Huicoa better. It's great for ritual magic."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I heard Elgadzhi was more well-rounded?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"They're much larger, that's for sure. Not as good for specialization, probably your best bet for becoming a polymath."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I don't know if I wanna be a polymath... but I don't know if I don't. Why'd you pick ritual magic?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"It's incredibly fascinating! There's just so much that can go into it - it's like if you crossed chemistry with music."

Permalink Mark Unread

"But aren't other bits of magic like that?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Native magic isn't - it's more like exercise - and most shareable magic styles are runic."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Exercise?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Hmm... I'm no lecturer, but - there's... veins of magic, similar to the ley lines, that run within people. Native magic involves flexing those veins, usually to alter your own body. Sufficiently skilled practitioners can tug on the ley and alter the world around them, too."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Ooh, that sounds interesting."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I guess it's more interesting if you didn't grow up with it. It's mostly useful for small stuff - making your muscles work better, that type of thing. Exhausts you like exercise, too."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Okay, I guess I understand how it's maybe less useful."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yeah. Frustratingly, most of the very nice magic systems are origin-locked."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Like what?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Occasionally someone with a ludicrously powerful magic system will show up, though those tend to die out fairly quickly. I don't know a lot of examples, but there's a few origin-locked systems that make their users immortal, or allow them to read and edit minds, or permit teleportation, or let you bring back the dead..."

Permalink Mark Unread

"—wow. Can't they be—combined? That sounds—wow."

Permalink Mark Unread

"No one's managed. And they're rare, and most don't pass on well. Unfortunately we've yet to crack all that with shareable magic..."

Permalink Mark Unread

He nods and sighs.

Permalink Mark Unread

"It'd be nice if we could get enough for a proper population, but - well, I'm not sure if the realm just dislikes arbitrarily powerful magic, or if it really is that rare across the multiverse."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yeah, I suppose we can't collect reliable statistics if the multiversal collection method itself might be biased."

Permalink Mark Unread

"It's seriously annoying! I think there's almost certainly a selection effect for - what's best called interestingness. Though plenty of uninteresting people get scooped up, too. That you have to get lost first is also its own selection bias; not a lot of all-powerful wizards getting lost in the woods."

Permalink Mark Unread

"You do have to get lost? It won't fetch you from, like, your backyard or something?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Not that's been reported. Frisland was a bit of an exception - the entire island popped over, we think because someone botched a ritual to return home."

Permalink Mark Unread

"...that's a very unusual and novel way of botching something. Huh."

Permalink Mark Unread

Small laugh. "Ritual magic can be strangely unpredictable sometimes, especially if you're messing with the ley."

Permalink Mark Unread

Nod.

Permalink Mark Unread

"So how are you liking it here?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"It's—I mean, I miss home a bit but not anyone there, I didn't have family and such—and I like it here, magic is so good."

Permalink Mark Unread

"It really is! It's great that you're settling in nicely, first gens often have a bit of trouble." She's fully willing to let the conversation wind down after that; her group's drifted off a bit.

Permalink Mark Unread

Yeah and he got what he wanted. He's not sure there's anything more interesting to do before the lord shows up and banquet commences but he looks around for anything that catches his eye anyway.

Permalink Mark Unread

There's not much. People are starting to file over to their seats, which are assigned by job. Even the servants are sitting, and there doesn't seem to be any evidence of actual servers. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Well then. To his seat.

Permalink Mark Unread

After a bit, the lord arrives. There's a sense of presence about him, almost like static across nerves but not quite. The air shimmers around him.

The lord takes his seat in silence, then claps his hands. With a shimmer, drinks appear at every setting, and food fills the platters in the middle of the table. There's a tremendous variety of things, clearly from multiple cultures. He gestures, and people begin to eat while he turns and converses with those seated near him.

Permalink Mark Unread

...oooooh. Wow he's so sorry Tetsuma isn't here for this, they'd love it.

Permalink Mark Unread

They probably would!

The banquet lasts a while. People start trickling out after about an hour and a half; some people stand up and move around and start socializing some.

Permalink Mark Unread

He'll socialise, too, without a clear goal this time.

Permalink Mark Unread

People are fairly sociable! 

Permalink Mark Unread

So is he! Even his shy character!

Permalink Mark Unread

The banquet will go well into the night, but it does eventually wind down.

Permalink Mark Unread

And back home he goes, extremely exhausted.

Permalink Mark Unread

Tetsuma greets him with a hug. "Hey. How'd it go?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"It went pretty well! I got about as much as I think I could about the artefact—" He relays the conversation to Tetsuma.

Permalink Mark Unread

"...Okay, either that's a bizarre coincidence - which I wouldn't put past this realm, it's already weird enough that most places have humans - or Reim and his mom are from my world. That 'softly glowing white ball' sounds a lot like a fox spirit's star-jewel."

Permalink Mark Unread

"—a what now."

Permalink Mark Unread

"...Keeping in mind that Reim's the first fox-spirit I've ever actually met - not counting the guardian spirits at shrines - there's stories about fox spirits. And in some of those stories, they have a small, glowing ball that they carry in their mouth or on their tail, that if you steal they'll do anything to get back. Nobody agrees about why - common theories are that they contain the fox's power or soul - but you can definitely extort them in exchange for the ball."

Permalink Mark Unread

"...well, then. That's. Interesting. And slightly unethical but it makes me wonder about the lord."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Very unethical, and also usually a bad idea, since foxes are tricksters. But, yeah, if it is a star-jewel, I wonder what he's doing with it?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Powering his magic, apparently. Do your stories not explain what these jewels do?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Not really, no, beyond speculation."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I kinda really want to talk to Reim again, now."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I can see how he wouldn't mention it to start with - this can probably be used against him - but yeah."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yeah. Hmm... Oi Reim! Reeeeeeim!" he calls again.

Permalink Mark Unread

Still nothing.

Permalink Mark Unread

"How are we even going to find him to give him the jewel back?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"...I mean, presumably he's still on the same island we met him on? I think Sarati said it's called Telmiln. We can find a ride back there."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I guess. Will be a hassle but I can't thank him enough for the translation magic."

Permalink Mark Unread

"It's been a major help! Hopefully whatever he rewards us with will be just as good, if not better."

Permalink Mark Unread

He grins. "Yeah, hopefully. ...so I was thinking, while it seems more likely than ever that this jewel has in fact been stolen, I'm not seeing much of a downside to acting like a character from your world and wanting to talk to the lord about it."

Permalink Mark Unread

They hum. "Yeah, that makes sense to me; I can try and keep watch from a distance in case something goes wrong. Though I'd feel more comfortable if you practiced a bit more at breaking illusions, since Reim said he uses them."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yeah, good idea. But they're—not the same kind so I don't know how much the skill will transfer."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I'm not really clear on how local illusions work. Though from a brief description of local magic, disrupting your chakra probably can't hurt for dismissing illusions."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yeah, it's worth being good at."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Definitely! Though maybe not tonight."

Permalink Mark Unread

"No, I'm exhausted and way too full of food and want to sleep."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Then let's get to bed."

Sleep can be had (and cuddles. Tetsuma's a bit like a limpet in their sleep.)

Permalink Mark Unread

D'awwwwww.

The next few days return to their easy routine, with Dayo working more and more on illusion breakage.

Permalink Mark Unread

Tetsuma helps as much they can - they're pretty good at breaking illusions, no matter how little skill they have in casting them.

"I'd strongly recommend going in with the wood manipulation active, and paying attention to your wood sense. It's really hard to fake a sense you don't have, so that'll be your most reliable metric of the outside world while under an illusion, unless local illusions work really differently from genjutsu," they say during one of the practice sessions. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"I'll keep that in mind. I think I'll wear the face of someone with a similar ethnicity to yours, to sell it better."

Permalink Mark Unread

"That makes sense. I can illusion a variety of faces if you need more references?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Sure, that works."

Permalink Mark Unread

And a variety of faces can be illusioned! Mostly Tetsuma's family members, past clients, the occasional enemy (she idly points out who's who as she illusions; she leaves out the dead family members, as showing all of them would be kinda depressing).

Permalink Mark Unread

After seeing enough of them she shifts—" How about this one?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Pretty! You'd fit right in in my world."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Great, then. I should find a name for this character..."

Permalink Mark Unread

Tetsuma can suggest a list, or translate something.

Permalink Mark Unread

"'Kaede', I like Kaede. Is it a both genders name?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yup! I think I know more girls named Kaede, but not by much."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Kaede it is, then!" she giggles.

Permalink Mark Unread

"It's a pretty name! And luckily you don't really need to pick a clan name; refusing to give one's pretty common, and a lot of civilians don't belong to a clan at all."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Oh but I'm not a civilian, I'm gonna claim I have relevant magic to catch his attention."

Permalink Mark Unread

"And the clan wars aren't exactly relevant here... Still, though, I can't imagine he'd know much at all about my world - though I suppose he might know some if Reim is from it - and I've noticed that people here don't tend to give surnames." After a pause, "If you want, 'Tanaka' is a very common surname, and the one I usually use when hiding my clan, or you can just use the Senju name." Teasingly, "You'd fit right in, with a name like Kaede. I think I have three cousins named that! We do like our tree names."

Permalink Mark Unread

She giggles. "If he asks I might say that but I'll start without giving him a name and just saying I know stuff."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yeah, that sounds best to me."

Permalink Mark Unread

And a few days later when she has a girl day on a day off for Sadde she goes to the lord's secretary. "Hello."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Hello. What business are you here on?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"I have heard rumours about the lord's new artefact and after looking into it have determined it's from my world, and I think he might be interested in discussing it with me."

Permalink Mark Unread

He blinks. "Well, then. I assume you wish to make an appointment?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Indeed."

Permalink Mark Unread

"He has an opening this afternoon, after the sixth bell."

Permalink Mark Unread

"That's a good time. I'll be there."

Permalink Mark Unread

He gives her directions on where to go.

Permalink Mark Unread

She is very punctual.

Permalink Mark Unread

And the lord is waiting for her in his office. He gestures for her to sit when she enters his office.

Wryly: "I don't think my secretary managed to catch your name. I am the Lord Lingormr." 

The feeling of presence is much more up close. It's also now rather similar to the sense of static electricity Reim gave off while transformed.

Permalink Mark Unread

Not his real form, then? Hmm.

"I'm Kaede. It's a pleasure."

Permalink Mark Unread

"The pleasure's all mine. Now, what brings you here today?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Should I assume your secretary didn't elaborate? It's about your artefact and the fact I expect it may be from my world."

Permalink Mark Unread

"What leads you to say that?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Fox spirits are known to carry jewels—glowing balls, usually—and are said to be willing to do anything to retrieve them," she says mildly.

Permalink Mark Unread

"And what is your interest in my artifact?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Academic. Are you from my world?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"I don't know which world you're from."

Permalink Mark Unread

"The same world the artefact's from, keep up. Are you from that world? You'd recognise it."

Permalink Mark Unread

"There are common themes across worlds. I will believe you've somehow narrowed the possibilities down, but that doesn't answer my question. And no, I am not from the artifact's world. I inherited it from an old friend, who came to this realm when she was still young."

Permalink Mark Unread

She raises an eyebrow. "Inherited it? So she's dead?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Unfortunately, yes. And you still haven't answered my question."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I have, it was academic. I hear of an artefact that looks a lot like magic from my world, it's in the hands of this powerful guy who's doing heavy duty magic with coincidental timing, I know a lot about magic from my world, a girl gets curious."

Permalink Mark Unread

"And what do you intend to do with your knowledge about my artifact?"

Permalink Mark Unread

She blinks. "I don't want to do anything about it, I just want to know. That's the whole point."

Permalink Mark Unread

Wryly: "Somehow I doubt that 'curiosity' is the entirety of your motivation."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Well, I may use any new knowledge I get to build a jutsu or two," she says, waving a hand dismissively. "But mostly, fox spirits—and their jewels—well, they're mysterious where I'm from. There are stories about them, and rumours about what the jewels can actually do and it would be incredibly exciting to figure out more about them, find out who's right."

Permalink Mark Unread

"And what reason do I have to indulge your curiosity?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Well, I'd been kinda hoping you don't know much about the artefact yourself so my being from its world and knowing its world's magic could prove a useful asset in figuring it out. That's... less likely, now, if you've inherited it."

Permalink Mark Unread

"She didn't exactly teach me her magic system, so I do not know the underlying mechanism. Perhaps you can be a help to me. But first, tell me, have you by any chance met a fox by the name of Reim?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"...no?" She peers at him, a bit suspiciously. "Why?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"He seems to think his status as Yuuyake's son overrides her stated will, and has been a - problem - over the issue of inheritance. If you haven't met him, though, then that's no matter."

Permalink Mark Unread

She becomes suddenly interested. "So there is a fox that's interested in getting the jewel back! I've never met one! I don't suppose—well, if he's been a problem you probably aren't in the best of terms, are you..."

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"He never had it in the first place. And, no, we are not on good terms. An introduction from me would be quite amiss. If you haven't met a fox, why do you think you'd have any unique insights?"

(He seems to find her wording mildly suspicious.)

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"I don't think I'd have any unique insights on the fox himself," she explains as if trying to avoid sounding like she's doing so to a small child. "I know about the magic and the jewel, being presumably a part of the same magic system, is also presumably analysable by same. But like I said, the stories say these foxes would do anything to get the jewel back, and, well." She smiles a bit apologetically. "I am ever so curious to find out why."

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"Why don't you make an appointment to come see it, for a day when my mages aren't busy with it themselves."

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"Sounds wonderful! When are such days?"

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He names a date a few days out. "Of course, some of them will want to be there anyways, to talk to you."

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"Great, they probably have a lot more information about it from very different perspectives."

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"I'm sure."

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"I think that's all, then. It's been a veritable pleasure talking with you," she says, standing up and bowing in the same way Tetsuma does.

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"The pleasure has been all mine." He inclines his head in something almost like a return bow.

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Off she goes, then.

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The secretary confirms time for the appointment, then writes her in.

When she gets back to the forest, Tetsuma's waiting for her, only a bit anxiously. They smile when they see her, and, after a quick hug, ask, "How'd it go?"

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"Pretty well! And I think I was right to think Reim was hiding a lot of the whole story. The lord said that Reim's mother left the jewel for him in her will..." She relays the whole conversation to Tetsuma.

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"...How does inheritance even work here? Back home you'd either give things away during your life, or it would all go towards your named heir on your death. By that system, Reim would have inherited it, as her son... We really should've brought Reim with us, he could've hidden out with me. And then answered questions."

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"Yeah. I think I'm gonna have Sadde resign in a couple of days, and after Kaede examines the jewel it might be a good idea for us to go talk to Reim. I want to get this story straight, the lord gave me the heebie jeebies but so did Reim."

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"That's an annoyingly long trip, too. I wonder if there's any way to convince the lord to return with us, have this arbitrated properly."

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"Mmmmnot my read on him. I don't think he'd want that at all—he already has the jewel, he has no reason to come with us and risk losing it."

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Sigh. "Yeah. I'd still like to know more about how local law even works. I suppose I can try to find a library or ask around discreetly or something."

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"I could make a clone to help you with that. In my country there's a document people write in the event of their deaths that explains how their assets are to be distributed, but other places are not exactly the same."

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"Yeah, that'd probably be best. I'm thinking of having a clone hop over to a nearby island, too, so more blatant questions are less likely to get back to the lord. Like, ideally I'd find someone with actual experience and ask them about what laws apply to the case."

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Nod. "Makes sense."

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"Cloudshear was the biggest place we passed through. It's seven days even without rests, though, which is over time. But we're three days from Laelora, I should be able to find plenty there, and I can send a clone to both places easily. There might also be closer islands, I can check with any captains passing through."

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Nodnod. "And maybe one of them will know of a place that has stuff specifically about local law."

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"Though for all we know law varies by island, and the lord is the local law. Which will make this significantly more of a headache."

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"Yes, it will," she sighs.

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"Should I go ahead and send out clones? They should be efficient enough to last the whole time... For that matter, we might be able to just send clones all the way back to the original island, save on the return trip. It'd be costly chakra-wise, but not impossible."

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"Yeah, sounds good."

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They make four wood clones - one for Laelora, one for Cloudshear, one for assorted miscellaneous islands, and one to send all the way back. All four then shift to look unexceptional. 

"You want to send any out?"

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"Yeah but I'm not sure I should send that many; if the lord suspects anything and it becomes a fight I don't want to be handicapped."

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"Maybe just the one? To return to the island. Though unless you shift to my chakra capacity - which might mess up your control - it'll still be a drain."

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"I have been training it a bit but yeah."

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"Up to you. I can relay questions to Reim, and basically loop you into the conversation from here even without you being physically present?"

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"Yeah that might be best."

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"Sounds like a plan." She gives the clones some money, and with a thought, they disperse. They'll arrive in the port town at different times from different directions, then try and find a ride.

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"Is there any particular magic I should work on, do you think?"

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"If I was you, I'd focus on isolating how to shift physical chakra levels, so you can change yours an arbitrary amount, then work it up in increments as you work on control and improve your spiritual chakra levels. I'm not sure of any specific jutsu that would help as much and can be learned quickly, though."

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"Yeah, that's a good idea. Then I can have as high a level as I can control by the time I meet with the lord again."

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So to practice?

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Indeed!

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A few days later, Sadde has to resign.

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They'll miss him! His coworkers wish him well; they seem to be assuming he's going to the university. He's given the last of his pay and dismissed.

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He'll miss them too! He implies but does not outright say that this is exactly what he's gonna do.

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And now that character's retired.

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The day before the Kaede character is due to return, Tetsuma returns from one of their trips into town and says, "So I think I have a decent-ish idea of local law. Somewhat. The clone bound for Cloudsheer still isn't there, but the other two have found some things, including a small legal library - apparently one of the neighboring islands is big on self-advocacy. I also bugged the magistrate's assistant in Laelora a bit."

"Apparently, jurisdiction is a complicated mess, since the ley makes maintaining a multiple-island empire really, really difficult, and most islands aren't in a jurisdiction. So if you're a citizen of a nation, you can drag someone into their civil courts no matter where the offence occurred. Some nations allow anyone to bring a case to them. Theoretically, you could judge this, since you're a prince and all, and the nations around here would acknowledge the outcome, as long as at least one of the parties asks you to sit in judgement. So since Reim is accusing Lingormr of stealing the jewel, he could pick a nation - probably Bajilda, this area's in their sphere - present his case there, and they'd rule. Though if Lingormr chooses to ignore them, there's not much they can do since he's a local lord, short of outright war."

"As far as inheritance goes, most places it's similar to my world - your land and belongings either go to a single heir or are occasionally split up among your children. Most places allow verbal wills, for people who're childless or who've disowned their kids. Bajilda has wills more like your world. Here, and in neighboring islands, if a verbal will is given before witnesses by a childless person, and then a child is born, the verbal will is considered obsolete, and inheritance defaults to the child unless the will's given again. Wills can also be retracted or changed. So legally it matters if Reim was born before or after his mom promised Lingormr the jewel, and if she ever changed her mind. Though apparently it's really atypical to leave things to multiple people - verbal wills are usually just stating a single heir."

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"...yeah we really need to extract the real story out of Reim. And I'm curious about what the lord will try to extract of me tomorrow, I don't expect him to just trust my stated motives."

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"From your account, he does seem kinda paranoid."

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"Justifiably so. I'm a good actor and good at improvising, though."

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Snort. "Yeah, I'd be pretty paranoid too if I'd stolen from a fox spirit. They're known for using all kinds of creative ways to get back at people... I seriously wonder why Reim didn't try this himself, or at least tag along. And why he hired us."

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"...maybe he can't come here."

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"...I wonder why? And how?"

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"I have no idea. We'll need to ask, if that's really the case."

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"Yeah, I'll add that to my list of questions for Reim... I should probably write them down so I don't forget any."

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Nod.

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Tetsuma finds paper and charcoal. "So questions about the full story with regards to inheritance, what the jewel even is, and why he's still on the island? Any others?"

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"We should ask him for the actual whole story, start to finish, no missing pieces, no lying."

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Scribble. "Yeah. I seriously wish clients wouldn't lie, it never helps anything..."

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"...it occurs to me Reim might've lied—or misled—about the lord's true abilities."

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"...He gave a really long list. If he left things off, I think I'll be both impressed at the extent of Lingormr's abilities and furious at Reim."

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"Yeah. Worth checking, anyway."

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"Yup. I wonder how Reim knows so much about his abilities if he's such a mysterious figure that not even the locals know where he came from..."

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"Well apparently he knew Reim's mother so they're probably acquainted enough for that."

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"...They also might have fought at some point, I should bug Reim for details on his actual style in case it comes down to a fight."

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"Yeah. If Reim is stuck it might be because Lingormr did it."

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"But how. If he can set - wards or something - that'd impact our ability to get the jewel. If he can make someone incapable of entering the ley - I don't even know what that says about his power."

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"Exactly."

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"Ugh. Hopefully Reim will be forthcoming with useful details."

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"Here's to hoping."

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"Well, I've updated my clone on everything we discussed. You still remember the list of his potential abilities? I think it was wards on the walls, space warping - that one's confirmed, illusions - less than the worst of my world's which I'm going to interpret as 'still pretty bad' because my world's illusions can get horrifying, minor fire control, and minor water control. Plus the shapeshifting. Anything I'm missing?"

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"It was impossible to go over his walls, I think Reim said, and he can also shapeshift, is strong, fast, and is good at local magic."

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"From what I've heard about local magic, I think chakra-enhanced strength and speed might beat it for me, but you haven't had as long to learn taijutsu... I'd still rather not test it, of course."

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"Yeah. Also, he was probably transformed while we were talking, I had the same—feeling from him I got from Reim when Reim was human."

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"And we have no idea what his true form could be... Reim said that shapeshifting is energy-intensive, he probably has massive stores if he goes around shapeshifted all the time."

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"But one of the things Reim's jewel does apparently do is provide lots of energy..."

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"Yeah. So if we get it away from him, we can potentially reduce his power by a lot."

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"Which I'm at this point not sure I want to do, I don't know if he actually did anything wrong. But yeah."

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"The clone's about eight to ten days out from the island - they're making slightly better time than we did, since they're jumping between ships and not taking rest days, though they're paying more, and there's always a chance they won't be able to find a connection. We'll know more once they get there, though."

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"And meanwhile I have a meeting with the lord tomorrow."

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"Yeah. Want a tracker-clone-seed? I've gotten it to where it shouldn't stand out against your own energy, but if he's paying close attention he might notice it. It'll allow me to travel more quickly and directly to you, though. And the clone can now transform back, that'll give you some immediate backup."

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"I think it would be rather hypocritical of him to complain of me having unidentified magic."

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"Point! And it'll feel like a particularly vibrant plant, not another person, so it shouldn't set off any alarm bells."

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Nodnod.

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"So tomorrow, you go in with the tracker-seed in your pocket, I keep watch from just out of sight of the castle and with my wood-sense, you stare at the artifact and make vague pronouncements, and hopefully don't alarm the local lord? Anything I'm missing?"

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"I'm gonna actually genuinely try to figure stuff out about the artefact so something interesting might come up but yeah pretty much."

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"How good are you at chakra-sensing? I'm fairly average, my wood-sense is much better... I don't think you could get much off the jewel with the wood-sense alone, is the problem."

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"I'm not sure how to measure it?"

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"Hmm. Let's see if you can tell which direction I'm in with your eyes closed? At different distances and when I'm suppressing or flaring my chakra. I can leave a wood clone with you to identify properly where I am."

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"Okay!"

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Tetsuma makes a wood clone, then asks Dayo to close his eyes and then suppresses their chakra and sneaks around quietly to a bit behind him. If Dayo can't find them, they'll try normal chakra, then flaring.

"Can you tell where they are?" the clone asks.

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"Yeah," he points, "but only barely, and I don't think I could identify them."

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"Hmm. That's about what I'd get, though I'd have a shot at identifying a familiar signature."

They can test a couple of other distances next, in irregular increments - how far Tetsuma can accurately throw a knife, understandable shouting distance (which isn't that far, given the landscape), the edge of Tetsuma's range, the edge of Tetsuma's plant-sense, the edge of where Tetsuma can use wood manipulation (quite far), out of the forest entirely. (Tetsuma's using these distances as threat-gauges.)

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It'll turn out Dayo's slightly below average in chakra sensing.

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That's sensing Tetsuma at normal levels out to shouting distance, flaring mildly to the edge of Tetsuma's plant-sense range. (Tetsuma isn't entirely comfortable flaring massively, lest someone unintended sense them.)

"So you'll have a bit of warning on all but the most ridiculously long distance attacks, if you get ambushed."

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He nods. "And I'll have you as my backup."

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"Yup! With any luck this'll all be unnecessary, though if needed we'll do fine."

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"Hopefully."

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"Want to run through potential scenarios? To plan better. I'd at least like to look at a map of the castle again, in case I can't get in through the ground..."

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"Yeah, absolutely."

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"Well, what if he catches you in a lie? And you can't convince him otherwise. Like if he's been spying on us somehow, or if he has lie-detecting magic."

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"I make a habit of not actually lying much. I'm generally good at misdirecting with the truth. If he's been spying on us somehow I think it's safe to say we're doomed, he'll have time to develop measures against us we cannot plan for; otherwise, I wouldn't break character and would make something up to cover for the lie."

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"Yeah, there's a lot we just can't plan for. If he becomes aggressive, and I'm unable to travel quickly through the ground and have to fight my way to you? What should I do in that scenario, are you confident in your ability to hold him off - especially if he gets backup from guards?"

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"I think I'm most confident in my ability to run, actually—I'm very good with genjutsu, and my shapeshifting is barely detectable. If I'm cornered I can probably hold my own for long enough, but my first idea would be running."

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"And I should be able to track you - especially if you keep hold of the transmission seed - let's look at the layout of the castle and think about routes..."

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"The completely spatially weird layout, yes," he says wryly.

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"...Yeah. Though is it at least internally consistent?"

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"Seemed to be but I'm not sure we can assume that's not just for convenience."

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"Yeah, that makes it tough. Still, can you do a quick first-person perspective walk-through of how to get from the gate to the inner keep? It'll at least be something, and should help me contextualize directional weirdness from the transmissions."

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"Yeah, sure." Genjutsu.

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Tetsuma memorizes the route.

"Any other ideas?"

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"Well, we should probably come up with patches for all possible holes in this plan. Suppose I arrive there as normal tomorrow. What goes wrong now...?"

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Tetsuma dregs up their memories of ways missions can conceivably go Horribly Wrong, adds in what they've learned of local magic, and generates ideas. (Tetsuma has a lot of stories about missions gone wrong.)

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...um, yikes. Some of those are. Wow. He's pretty creative but he'd expect those to be... less... probable somehow. Um.

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It's very unlikely! Tetsuma's pretty sure their world is just weird. Also, like, the Senju take a lot of missions, so this isn't a big percent of them. Though yeah they also have this one cousin who has the bizarrest luck.

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Here's to hoping he is not as unlucky as cousin.

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Yes. Definitely. Though who knows what kind of weird this realm can produce...

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Yeah.

The following day, Kaede's there five minutes early.

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There's an unusually small number of people moving about in the hallways.

She gets to wait about fifteen minutes before Lingormr emerges from his office. "The study room is a bit of a walk from here," he says, then leads her through a winding, maze-like mess of narrow corridors with thin slits in the walls that Kaede can't see through. At the end is a heavy door flanked by two guards. Lingormr steps up to it, and something happens - the quality of the air changes slightly, and then the door swings open as if of its own accord.

Beyond is a decent-sized room. In the middle is what must be the jewel - a softly glowing ball the size of Kaede's thumbnail, on a string of painted wooden beads. The jewel is held in a light clasp. Kaede can feel it from here; it's like the sensation of Tetsuma flaring their chakra, but more. Like a fire held in a too small a container.

There are workstations about the room, and three of the mages are busy at work.

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"...ooh," she gasps, taking a few tentative steps towards it.

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He steps in as well, and the door swings shut behind them. 

"Here is the artifact we discussed. No danger has been observed from handling it, though I would ask you to be careful."

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"It's—it's so—ooooh." She walks over to it and hovers, not quite touching the jewel.

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The jewel's chakra is more apparent from up close. It's strongly fire-natured, enough that even a non-sensor like Kaede can feel the difference. The feel of the chakra is heavy, though, like anger, and small wisps of flame move within the jewel like whirlpools. There's a faint spiral apparent on the front, now, traced into the surface. 

There's a sensation, almost like genjutsu, tugging at Kaede's mind if she looks at the spiral too long.

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...almost like genjutsu how, exactly? Is it trying to make her see things, or...

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It doesn't really seem to be aimed, there's just something of a familiar fogginess trying to settle over her mind. Like it's trying to hypnotize her. Not very hard, though.

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Well what if she lets it?

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Yeah it's trying to hypnotize her. She can start to faintly hear extremely faint sounds discordant to her surroundings, something like leaves rustling and perhaps a flute.

It's still easy to look away. The jewel doesn't seemed to be interested in doing anything else for now.

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Hmm can she use her own genjutsu to—amplify it, somehow? See more of what it's trying to show her, give it more detail, more oomph?

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Not really. The jewel doesn't seem to precisely have the right sort of awareness to work genjutsu on. And if Kaede concentrates too hard, the jewel's illusion breaks.

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And can't she illusion herself to make it better somehow?

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No exactly how genjutsu works. She can interact with her own illusions, and take over or influence the jewel's illusion if she wants, but she can't just straightforwardly make it stronger, short of just duplicating the effects she can already feel on herself.

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Blehh. Okay, what about the other things, can she get any more detail?

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The wooden beads seem to be just that; there's no apparent markings on them, and if they have any chakra it can't be felt over the jewel.

The fire's whirling, on closer inspection, seems to be oriented behind the spiral, swirling with it. There's faint hints of what might be a bright red in the groves of the spiral and in the white flame.

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And any hints of what this is for?

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Not visually. 

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Okay.

...she touches it.

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It's humming, sort of. The sensation almost hurts. The surface is cool, hard, and smooth to the touch, like polished stone, except the spiral, which is slightly indented.

The maelstrom inside swirls faster and seems redder. 

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And does the illusion change at all?

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It becomes a bit stronger, but there's no new details.

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Okay... Suppose she infuses it with a bit more chakra.

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That gets a reaction! 

The humming sensation increases, and now it feels like little pinpricks across her fingertips. The chakra inside the ball, after some examination, feels like it's mostly the mental quality of chakra, with only a small amount of the physical quality, somehow kept from mixing together. The chakra's charged, too, like static electricity.

It's pushing back against her intrusion noticeably.  

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She does more of it.

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It pushes back even more, and seems agitated. 

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"...do you have any sort of magic thing like a ward or something that will prevent this place from being blown up in case this jewel decides to act up?" she pipes up for the first time since starting to study it. "Because I'm feeling like it might do that."

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"Yes. Though I would prefer no explosions."

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"I, too, would prefer no explosions. But I am warning you of this possibility."

Okay she resumes pushing chakra and readies herself for an explosion.

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There isn't quite an explosion, but - 

Her hand is now very warm and getting warmer.

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She lets go immediately.

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The jewel's colors start to settle. 

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...can she dump chakra on it remotely?

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Not easily - it requires a lot of control - though she can try. A lot of the chakra will end up elsewhere, and she needs to hold her hand decently close, but she can with some effort form a thin strand of chakra funneling into the jewel. It's easier the closer her hand is. 

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But she's good at this, and a side effect of working a lot on genjutsu is working on chakra control. She's by no means an expert but she tries anyway.

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It gets slightly easier the longer she does it; the trick seems to be keeping her chakra focused in a tight point like a beam - at a distance, it's easier to control it out of her fingers than unformed out of her palm, though up close it's easier to control it with her entire hand.

This is definitely agitating the jewel. The area around it shimmers a bit, and her hand's still warm, just less so. 

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Less so is good, she just doesn't wanna burn it.

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Whatever's in it seems to be slowly adapting to her chakra; it's definitely lashing out, apparently in the direction her intrusion's coming from. There's a lot more red in the maelstrom, and the area around the jewel's getting increasingly hot. 

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Okay but what's it for, what's it doing.

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Apparently not much aimed; it backs off whenever she drops the chakra she's putting into it. 

Little tongues of blue-green flame start licking around it after a bit, centered on the spiral. 

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Oooh. She continues pouring. Did anything else change?

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The flames get thicker, and start slooowwwlyyy inching along her chakra strings.

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Fascinating. What if she uses her other hand too?

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The flames start licking towards her other hand, too. 

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Is the illusion thing any different?

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Not really. It's mostly faded out.

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She'll keep at it for a bit to see whether it does anything more interesting than try to consume her with flames.

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The flames start to speed up a bit. They'll be at her hand before anything else happens.

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She stops and squints at it.

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It's definitely agitated. The flames have gone back to swirling around the spiral; they start to calm down as she watches.

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And the chakra is all just—there?

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It's moving and flaring some, but it's not really doing anything, no.

If she squints long enough something like a pattern to the flares emerges - the strength of the chakra varies in a wave-like pattern, though the amplitude as frequency are slowly changing.

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...and is there a pattern to how they're changing?

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They're decreasing, at a fairly steady rate. The flames start to fade out after a point. 

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...huh. That's interesting.

Okay now the other way around: can she draw chakra from it?

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Not from a distance.

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...she waits until it's cold and touches it again to try.

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It's really hard. 

She eventually manages somewhat, and almost immediately gets a handful of flames - they're cool to the touch - and the surface starts heating up rapidly.

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She stops immediately.

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The jewel starts to calm back down, but more slowly than before.

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Huh! And are the flames when she gives it chakra also cool? She'd been assuming they were hot but if it's just the surface of it that's hot...

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It's hard to tell what with the jewel radiating heat, but if she starts feeding it chakra again, the flames do seem to be vaguely cool. (It heats up and the flames appear much faster than the previous time). 

The flames are enchanting, especially once they touch her. It'd be pleasant, certainly, to stare into them...

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Oh yes it would. She does that.

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A feeling of peacefulness settles over her mind like a curtain being drawn. The musical illusion from earlier returns, the flute louder and now joined by a gentle clacking sound. 

(She might notice that her chakra's draining faster than she was intending.)

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Does the illusion seem to change at all over time?

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The music does change, instruments slowly being added as the real world gradually fades out.

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—she stops.

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The illusion tries to persist, and the flames are still feeding on her chakra even though she's not actively pushing any in.

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Uh nope nope nope she takes a few steps back—

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The illusion is clingy, but the flames dissipate as she gets distance.

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She tries to break it with a burst of chakra.

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That works.

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She blinks and looks around at the room, looking somewhat bleary like she just woke up.

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"Are you alright?"

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"Yeah. I'm—definitely more informed, if not significantly more enlightened. This is very—very curious."

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"Have you come to any conclusions about it?"

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"More or less. It does illusions and I'm not sure I trust it far enough to just let it show me, because it was draining my chakra—that's the sort of energy my magic system feeds on—faster than I wanted to give it and even after I stopped to want it to—and that fire was cool even though the jewel itself was hot—tentative guess is actually 'battery' but it's a very elaborate one if it is one—"

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"Do you have any idea why the illusion?"

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"Not really! Maybe it's trying to show me something but I definitely don't trust it when it's doing that while draining my chakra, I need to figure out a way to study the illusion without going all chakra-deprived."

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"Describe the sequence of events from your perspective. What were you trying to do when each thing happened?"

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"I was mostly exploring it to see what it did do with some basic interactions. First thing was just trying to sense its chakra..." And she outlines the steps she took and what she perceived, being completely honest about all of them—and extremely excited about everything.

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"Hm. Is it possible that the hypnotism, the heating up, or the chakra drain are a defense mechanism?"

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"First two, yes, likely even, but the third? Mmm, less sure. It didn't try to drain my chakra until I started giving it, and that's by all accounts not exactly a hostile action, giving it more magic."

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"Point. How would you go about extracting energy from it directly without triggering the reaction?"

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"Not sure yet. I need to come up with a few more exploratory tests, I only have tentative ideas about what it's even for and if I'm wrong and we do something like that to it it might decide to just self-destruct or something."

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"Yes, proper precautions are often a good idea. How long will it take you to come up with new tests?"

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"Say a week, to be on the safe side?"

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"Will you need access to the jewel during that time?"

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"Not right now, I just wanna check my notes and think a bit and run some tests on jutsu, and I'll get distracted if I have this around."

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"Very well, then. I'll have someone escort you out, and we'll see you a week from now, at the same time as today."

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"Perfect!" she says with a glimmer of excitement in her eyes.

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He gestures to one of the mages to lead her out, and turns to the jewel. The mages start talking quietly, and the door cuts off their conversation before she can hear anything.

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And back she goes!

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"How'd it go?" Tetsuma asks, after greeting Dayo with a hug.

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"It went well! That jewel is so cool" because not all of Kaede's nerdy enthusiasm was faked "and so weird, I don't understand it at all—" She explains the same things she did to the Lord, in more technical detail since Tetsuma knows how this all works.

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"Cool! And yeah, a defense mechanism is totally possible. I'd guess that the jewel was made or altered with fuinjutsu somehow, that's the type of thing it can do, though unfortunately I don't know much. Just storage scrolls and explosive tags."

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"But if all fox spirits have it wouldn't it be an inherent part of their nature or some such?"

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"Yeah. I'm not really too sure how it works, fuinjutsu is just my best guess, and it might be the best thing to use to analyze the jewel. Could be something else going on, of course. ...I wonder if those runes we picked up would help? I've had my clone learning them."

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"Ooh maybe! Honestly I think if we figure out what it's for everything will be so much easier. It's just baffling."

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"Well, at least my clone will be to Reim soonish, we can ask him then, but I'd like to figure it out for ourselves of course in case he lies again..."

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"When's the clone getting there?"

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"Should be a day or two before you're due to go back to the lord, assuming there's no delays."

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"So in the meantime we ought to come up with new ways to figure out just what the heck that is."

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"Yeah. Any ideas?"

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"I'm wary of dropping more chakra into it in case it has some critical point past which it does something unexpected, but on the other hand I kinda want to see how deep that rabbit hole goes and what's on the other side..."

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"You'll have to be extremely careful about chakra exhaustion, if it's also draining you, but yeah, that's one idea. Also it's probably possible to use fuinjutsu to draw chakra out of it from a distance, but I wouldn't know how."

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"Yeah I'm wary of trying to develop or learn altogether new techniques for this, we only have a week and I'm posing as an expert."

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"Yeah. Hmm... You could try resonating your chakra to it - basically instead of pushing or pulling, line them up side-by-side and sort of try to match your chakra signature. I'm probably explaining that poorly, but it's what I do when I disguise my clones' chakra signatures."

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"Oh, yeah, I think I know what you mean, that makes sense..."

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"You can try practicing it on me, if you want."

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"Okay..." She closes her eyes and starts trying, paying attention to Tetsuma's chakra.

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Tetsuma flares their chakra slightly to help.

It's hard - Tetsuma's clearly there, but getting patterns beyond that is difficult. Still, gradually something starts to come through, a gentle wave like a tree branch quivering in the wind.

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And she can try to—wave with—music metaphors work probably—

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Getting her own chakra to sync is even harder; it really doesn't seem to want to leave its current pattern.

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No see she's not asking it's hers and it'll do whatever the duck she wants it to.

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Changing emotions seem to change the resonance of her chakra, but not much, and not towards Tetsuma's.

"Maybe trying to sync our breathing and heartbeats would help?" Tetsuma suggests.

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She nods and starts paying attention to that.

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Breathing's pretty easy, and helps a lot. It's not intuitively obvious how to sync their heartbeats.

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When has something like that ever stopped Dayo?

(Never, is the answer. It never has.)

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Trying harder doesn't seem to particularly help in this case. Might even harm things, if Dayo's heart rate goes up from frustration; Tetsuma's is beating fairly slow.

"You might have more success with trying while meditating - that's how I learned to control mine - though moving meditation won't help as much with this."

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She sighs. "Right. Meditation."

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"Yeah. Natural rhythms are annoyingly hard to control, though. I can try to walk you through the visualization exercise I did?"

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"Please?"

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So Tetsuma does. It involves concentrating solely on your measured breathing and heart rate until they fill your senses, then visualizing yourself falling deeper into the meditation and imagining another sound at the same pace as your heartbeat; Tetsuma uses the clacking of a deer chaser fountain. (You can also visualize your heart physically beating, if that's easier.) Then slightly change the thing you're visualizing to be slower, and if you're deep enough in the meditation your heart should slow down, too. It's easier to do this within normal human ranges of heart rates.

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But possible to do it outside these ranges?

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Yup. Just really hard the farther you go.

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Huh. Cool. She practises.

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This'll take a while to get down, but she can make some progress. Her chakra resonance is definitely changing some with her heartbeat, too.

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And are there any other ideas for things they could do to study that jewel?

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Hmm... There's medical jutsu that can do basic diagnostics on a chakra network? Tetsuma has no idea if they'll work on the jewel, but they're certainly an option.

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Ooh yes good idea too!

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So Tetsuma can explain the basics of medical ninjutsu, and how to run a diagnostic. Most techniques require putting your chakra into the patient's system, but you can also check noninvasively if you're practiced at sensing.

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And they can keep iterating through ideas and practising until Tetsuma's clone reaches Reim.

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She lets Dayo know when her clone gets close, and settles down to relay Dayo's questions to Reim and Reim's answers back to Dayo.

When her clone gets there - "Reim?"

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After a bit, he appears from the same apparently nowhere as before. "Yes?"

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"We found the jewel, but we have some questions about the situation - and the jewel itself - we didn't know to ask earlier."

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He settles back on his haunches. "Ask away."

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Tetsuma lets Dayo know to start listing off questions.

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"What does it do?"

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"So you've come into contact with it?"

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"I'll answer your question when you answer mine."

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"I need to know your knowledge base to explain properly."

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"Assume I know nothing, then, other than it's a jewel you asked me to retrieve for you from a very magical someone else."

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And he launches into an explanation of the Basic Tenets of Life Force Magic. Not, really, anything related to what the jewel does.

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"This is in fact needed to understand what the jewel does, yes?" he interrupts to ask.

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"That depends on what level you're trying to understand it. For a thorough understanding, it's needed."

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"And for a direct, practical, superficial understanding?"

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"It stores energy."

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"What for?"

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"Magic."

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"What kinds?"

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"Primarily life force magic."

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"I saw the jewel. Fiddled with it a little. It wanted to burn me."

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"It has its defenses against intrusion, yes."

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"Okay. So can you give me a more tailored answer knowing that I did in fact see the jewel?"

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"It can only be used effectively by someone of my mother's blood, it'll resist anyone else. It has - parts of her, imbued in it."

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"—parts?"

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"A pattern based on her lifeforce, which imbues the jewel with a limited version of her will."

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"...I see. Do you suppose I could convince it to cooperate with me into fooling the Lord that I'm making progress?"

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"...I could give you a fragment of my own power, but I would need to be able to trust that you wouldn't use it against me."

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"Do you have a proposal for a verification method? I don't want to use it against you, but my word is not necessarily enough."

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"My usual verification method is 'my wrath if you break your promise,' which doesn't really apply here," he points out. "...Only thing I can think of is a long-delay curse that I could later remove. I don't have lie-detecting magic."

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"...long-delay curse could work if we had a way to verify you had actually removed it..."

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"Someone with soul-sense would be able to spot it. Probably. If they were any good."

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"Could you not make it—feel like something, so we'd know when it was lifted ourselves?"

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"Yes. Though I could also put it on like that and then change it so the feeling but not the curse went away," he points out. "I won't, but some spirits would."

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"And there's no way to make it so that the only way for the feeling to go away is for the curse to go away also?"

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"...Theoretically, but unless you're a sensor yourself and familiar with spirit-magic, you likely wouldn't be able to verify which I'd done."

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"Fair enough. ...it would be nice if we could just straightforwardly trust each other."

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"Yes, that would be convenient."

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"Well, regardless of trust—can you tell us the whole story, now? Start to finish, how your mother came to be here and meet Lingormr and what you know about where he's from and what he wants..."

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"My mother was a first generation - well, immigrant's the best word - from another realm. She arrived on this island, and established her home here, though she traveled fairly widely. She met Lingormr while at the university in Elgadzhi; they were both researching magical theory. They worked together for a while. Eventually they parted ways. Lingormr was a first-gen like my mother, and I believe his main motivation is returning home. Or perhaps the untold riches he'll get if he's the first to crack travel between worlds. I don't know which world he's from, only that he's not human. Most here would probably consider him a spirit, but that's a rather uselessly broad category."

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"How'd they meet again?—and for that matter how'd your mother produce you, presumably there aren't many other fox spirits around..."

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"I believe they kept some contact through letters, and the occasional visit when their schedules coincided. And that question is personal."

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"Okay. Sorry. But if it was just some contact and the occasional visit how come there's this dispute about the jewel?"

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"He's greedy, and a thief."

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Why can't he rely on body language ugh.

"That doesn't help me have a good enough model of the situation."

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"He probably thinks he helped her figure out how to make it. He didn't."

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"Make it?"

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"Yes. She formed it."

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"Why does he think he helped?"

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"I don't know. Probably because he helped her with magical theory at one point."

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"He seems to think he lawfully inherited it, and that you have no right to the jewel."

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"My mother didn't leave a will," he points out. "I'm her son. Her possessions go to me."

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"...useful. So why can't you—I don't know, move a motion against him or something? Why'd you even have to stay in this island?"

 

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"He trapped me here. With magic. I can't leave, because my life-force is tied here now, though I'd be able to use the jewel to break that. Here isn't in anyone's jurisdiction except maybe mine, and his lands are in his jurisdiction, so obviously he'd win any motion there."

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"And how'd he get his hands on the jewel in the first place?"

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"He stole it."

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"From you, or your mother?"

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"From me."

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"When you hired us you said he was unlikely to lie. Why'd he lie about this?"

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"I don't know."

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"And no hypotheses or theories?"

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"Perhaps he's deluded himself, too."

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"You think that's the most likely possibility?"

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"From my perspective, yes."

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"When did this happen, and how?"

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"The theft? A bit over two years ago. He came to my island, said he had a matter to discuss with me related to my mother, and then attacked me, quite unprovoked." Well, mostly. Attacking was definitely an overreaction. "I retreated, and he took the opportunity to grab my jewel and flee, but not before casting a ritual to tie me to the island."

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Lying liar who lies.

"I'm gonna talk to Tetsuma for a bit, if that's okay?"

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"Alright."

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"He is a lying liar who lies," Dayo says then.

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"Yeah. What specifically do you think he was lying about? I was having a bit of trouble with that..."

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"I don't know, but he isn't working in good faith and even though I may even believe him that Lingormr has no right to the jewel Reim is not coming off as too trustworthy or sympathetic."

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"Ugh. Do you think he'd use the jewel for - something nefarious?"

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"I don't even know. Maybe. The problem with someone who can't be straightforward is that you can't model them straightforwardly, I don't know what he'd actually want to do with the jewel, I don't know why he won't simply tell the whole truth proactively and informatively. I guess if he wanted hired muscle who would just do as told for payment he barked up the wrong tree."

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"He actually reminds me of a lot of shinobi. It's possible telling the full truth would reveal some weakness of his? We usually keep even our names secret for just that reason."

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"Mostly. I'm not sure what to do."

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"...It'd be nice to know how powerful this thing actually is, and what Lingormr intends to do with it - if he's malicious, it might be a bad idea to leave the jewel with him."

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"Reim seems to think he either wants to go home or get rich and he doesn't strike me as committing errors of the type to be overly charitable towards the lord."

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"Reim's account of how he got the jewel sounded somewhat malicious to me, but you have a point."

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"Yeah, malicious, but malicious in interpreting the lord as malicious, not malicious in interpreting him as benign, so if Reim isn't worried about him using it for any... nefarious purposes... then I guess maybe we shouldn't be?"

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"Yeah, that's one point."

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"What else should I ask, do you think?"

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"Maybe what he intends to do with the jewel?"

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"I suppose that's useful, I'd been assuming it was just about it being an heirloom and such but..."

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"Yeah. That's probably it. Or - I don't know."

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"Do you think either of them would be more forthcoming with things resembling the truth if we held the jewel hostage?"

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"...Maybe. Or one or both of them might try to kill us."

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"Reim can't leave that island and the Lord... could send a lot of people after us even if he didn't want to personally go which he also might, yeah."

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"Also wouldn't put it past Reim to find someone else to bribe, though that might be difficult for him with how few people come to the island in the first place."

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"Right. Ugh, this is hard."

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"It'd be nice if we could find someone who knows Reim, who doesn't have a reason to hold a grudge."