[Netsu Midori]

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Missing Mascots
Mission Rank: D
NPC Required: NPC[Optional]
Random Mission Scenario: Enabled
Participants:
Netsu Midori tokonatsu yukari

Description:

While not very much a mascot in the eyes of certain people, the lizard by the name of Snape, rumored to be part of Lord Ryu's summon, has always been seen at a shop within the established village of Fake Takigakure. There have been reports that he has not been seen there as of late and has gone missing. The shopkeeper fears that his absence will affect his business, find the creature and see exactly what happened to him...

Midori groans vocally as she stands outside of the shop that the lizard had previously been living in. To be totally honest, lizards somewhat creep the genin out, despite the fact that their Village Lord seems quite fond of them himself. She didn't want to start the investigation until the other person that was coming along was also there; as this was her first official mission for Takigakure and Team 1 currently didn't have a Jounin to lead them, someone named Yukari was meant to be her escort to make sure she didn't get into trouble during this mission, especially as she was only recently coming off of a long and tedious training excursion with her sensei within her clan, and now had to interact with people who were part of the decoy village that keeps the real Takigakure safe. This wasn't really a combat mission, so the young Netsu would need to use her charismatic charm on the villagers...

That said, Midori's most common form of charisma would be intimidation, fear, and threats of violence, so perhaps a helpful hand was absolutely going to be needed. Of course, on such a basic mission, anyone else in the village could conceivably join, so it didn't necessarily mean that only this Yukari person was going to show up to be her chaperone, if they decided more eyes were needed to assess her ability to complete missions. Really, Midori could have realistically completed the mission on her own, but not before making enemies in the fake village, and that was certainly not something Lord Ryu would have been happy with.

"I don't have all day... Get a move on..."

In actuality, Midori hadn't been waiting very long at all. But with the way her clan prioritizes the young, particularly due to the fact that their chakra cores can essentially die over the course of several decades, Midori was understandably impatient with any form of waiting. Her black and green outfit that covers her body from her neck to her feet was certainly eye-catching, as was the loosely-tied Takigakure headband that hung from her neck, but even more so, her shockingly green eyes that were looking this way and that while she was tapping her foot with impatience. She also flips her long, wavy black hair over her shoulder, smacking some passerby in the face, but one glance from Midori is enough that the man decides not to say anything about it.

[tokonatsu yukari]

DON'T THINK ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES

Yukari, in her estimation, had far better things to be doing with her time than babysitting a genin. Samples needed cataloging and testing, there was always administrative work to be done in the lab, and she had been experimenting with different lighting structures and watering schedules for the herbs in the hospital greenhouse that she was very eager to get back to. But an assignment was an assignment, and she knew better than to argue with a direct order, so she was in Fake Taki, looking for a shop and a genin. The saving grace, she supposed, was that Netsu Midori was in her early twenties, and so Yukari wouldn’t be subjected to wrangling a teenager. Most people under the age of twenty were children in her estimation; perhaps fair from her perspective, given that she had given birth when she was younger even than Midori was, but most teenagers tended to chafe against the condescension that Yukari seemed physically incapable of concealing. Midori was hard to miss. Her vivid green-and-black palette made her look more like a court jester than a shinobi, and Yukari’s pale complexion and straw-yellow hair made her look desaturated in comparison, as though someone had laid a colorblind filter over her figure. Her heels clicked authoritatively on stone streets and her red-lipsticked mouth pursed into a thin, unimpressed line as she approached the young woman. Remember that this is her first mission back, Kyuusai murmured. Be kind. "Netsu-san,” Yukari said by way of greeting, ever-polite and terminally chilly. "Tokonatsu Yukari. Have you spoken with the shop owner?” Straight to business, uninterested in wasting time. She had a clinic to get back to.

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[Netsu Midori]

Midori turns towards the sounds of heels clicking against the paved, smoothed stone that signaled another person actually directly approaching her, which was actually fairly uncommon for the scowling young woman. Despite her furrowed brow, she's actually not that upset over having to wait a while for the other shinobi. It gave her some time to think about what course of action might be best taken. She gives the blonde, taller ninja a quick glance up and down, taking in the dark outfit and blonde hair, with the golden hair and red lips being the more eye-popping because they're set against somewhat more contrasting tones. That said, she almost jumps in surprise when the ninja actually says her name aloud, even adding an honorific at the end, which she still isn't used to, after coming from a clan that prized youth so much; most of the younger generations had slowly moved away from using formal honorifics at the ends of names and mostly referred to one another with first names instead. Midori resists the urge to scoff, and she has to mentally tell herself to soften her expression; she was often told that her face was often scowling when she relaxed it, and she didn't need the more senior chaperone to think she was scowling at her in particular.

"Midori, if it's all the same to you. Nah- er, no, Tokonatsu-san. I haven't spoken with the shopkeep yet, I figured it'd be rude to get the mission started without you, and I'd have probably missed some important piece of info that you'd probably catch."

With that explanation made, Midori quickly turns and opens the door into the scene, rapidly approaching the counter that the shopkeep is standing behind and interrupting him in the middle of his greeting so she can ask him when was the last time he saw this "Snape" person that they're trying to find. When she notices that his eyes are starting to get wide, she grits her teeth for a moment before going on to explain that she's working on finding him by flashing the Takigakure headband upwards towards him.

"So just tell us what we wanna know, alright? We gotta get this guy found fast, so don't waste time."

[tokonatsu yukari]

DON'T THINK ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES

Though Midori requested that Yukari use only her given name, sans honorifics, Yukari did not extend the same courtesy in return, preferring the chilly distance imposed by implicitly requiring the genin to address her with relatively formality. Yukari accepted Midori’s explanation with a brief nod of acknowledgement, then followed the younger woman inside the shop. Midori’s stride was swift and aggressive; something the shopkeep also picked up on, as his eyes went wide the moment Midori cut him off and began interrogating him. She’s being quite rude. Yes, and the shopkeep is a dithering idiot. Do refrain from stating the obvious, Kyuusai. The shopkeep stammered, "He’s, uh—he’s not a guy, per se, more like a mascot character when you think about it, supposedly one of Lord Second’s group of, ah, creatures—” Yukari interjected, ignoring the shopkeep entirely. "It’s a lizard, Midori,” she said flatly. "We’re looking for a lizard.” The man nodded, wringing his hands. "He went missing three days ago,” he said, nervously side-eyeing Midori. "Sometimes he would go out hunting for eggs or birds around that waterfall in the park a few streets down, but usually he comes back the same day, or the next morning at the latest.”

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[Netsu Midori]

It takes a lot of self-control to stop Midori from smashing something when he stammers and goes off on something about the creature being some kind of a mascot, but she settles down when the Special Jounin with her explains that what they're searching for is a lizard. Not that it makes it any better, as Midori still doesn't exactly enjoy reptiles all that much, but at least it's a more succinct explanation about the situation. So what they were searching for was a lizard with somewhat human intelligence, not a person per se. At least it seems like Yukari is at least as annoyed with this situation as Midori herself is, so she cools it with the aggression and lets the shopkeeper spit out that this Snape character often goes down to the waterfall in the park for a hunting location. She shrugs as this seems to be the best likelihood of where he went, then turns towards her chaperone, relaxing her expression so that she wouldn't look like she was exasperated at the blonde herself.

"Sounds like we're probably gonna learn more about where Snape went at the park itself. I doubt the shopkeeper knows anything else about the disappearance."

With that, Midori leaves the shop herself, following the directions she'd gotten from the middle aged old fart to reach the aforementioned park. She walks around the edge of the pool at the end of the waterfall first, and she can see that some of the fish had been made into meals by something with sharp needle-like teeth. This was odd, considering the old man had said that the lizard mostly ate eggs and birds.

"Maybe his palette got a little more varied since the last time the old man saw his dinner..."

Then Midori looks up towards the cliffs that the waterfall was cascading from, and she starts towards the rocky tower-like structure; she didn't like how slippery the rocks looked this close to the waterfall. She moves further away until she finds some purchase on rocks that were significantly more dry than the cliff face near the fall, and she begins to climb, gripping the rocks hard with her hands and feet as she begins the search in earnest for this Snape... lizard... pet thing. To say she was annoyed would be an understatement. At least she was still going to get paid for this mission.

[tokonatsu yukari]

DON'T THINK ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES

Midori was hot-tempered, that much was immediately obvious: she seemed to be hanging on by a fragile thread of dental floss, ready to snap at any moment. As if she were waiting for an excuse to release her pent-up aggression. As composed as Yukari was, and as distasteful and crude as Kyuusai found Midori’s language, the pair still found themselves left with a begrudging respect for one whom, it seemed, had little to no trouble speaking their mind. With a destination to journey towards, Midori left the shop, the clicking of Yukari’s pumps echoing faintly in her wake. The sound of hard heels against stone faded into something altogether more unpleasant as constructed road gave way to soft earth and greenery. There was an odd dexterity in the way that Yukari navigated through yielding ground to plant herself on a large rock that sat by the waterfall, a subtle flow of chakra surging to her feet to keep herself anchored despite her precarious positioning. At Midori’s commentary, Yukari crouched to examine one of the fish, smoothing the tight silhouette of her skirt and keeping the pristine white of her coat clear from the ground as she squatted down. Will you cooperate? It is already dead, unfortunately. I will help with an autopsy. Consent from her Life Blade gained, Yukari slipped Kyuusai from her sleeve, the sharp blade of the scalpel slicing cleanly through scale and fishmeat to bisect the corpse and examine its wounds more closely. Alas, she was no veterinarian, and there was nothing more she could glean from the body. An odd sound from behind her caused Yukari to turn her head—and tilt it in confusion. Midori was scaling the cliff face the hard way. "Net—ah, Midori,” Yukari said, raising her voice just enough to be heard from a distance, correcting herself to the younger woman’s preferred nomenclature at the last minute. "If you aren’t familiar with tree-climbing yet, it would be wiser to allow me to assist.” With one handseal, a clone of Yukari appeared in a puff of smoke beside her. The clone walked up the cliff-face to join the genin, crouching in place as if to suggest that Midori should clamber onto the clone’s back. Yukari herself would join the search on Midori’s other flank, her lab coat bundled up in one hand to keep it from brushing up against the wet dirt of the rocky wall.

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[Netsu Midori]

Midori mostly ignores Yukari while she's working on the fish, as she seems to be quite dismissive of the corpse of it now that she's seen it. Never mind that there are some species of fish that might have sharp teeth like a reptile might have, she was apparently just ready to get the mission under way as soon as possible. She was therefore completely unaware that Yukari had a scalpel and much less that she was able to communicate with it as though it were another person. She stumbles momentarily in her climbing when her name is called out from down below, although it wasn't particularly scary; her attempt to pull herself up by one particular rock that isn't actually all that deep in its perch causes the stone to fall away, and Midori is just barely able to turn the pulling motion into a push to launch the stone away from any nearby bystanders and Yukari herself as she turns to look at the Special Jounin. The Genin's brow is furrowed not with anger but with effort as she uses her other hand and her feet to keep herself latched onto the cliff face.

"Wisdom isn't my strong suit."

This statement is muttered more to herself, but it somewhat echoes what her last instructor had said to her during her training to perfect her use of Kesshoton, to be able to use it without the need for that armor. The clone of the other ninja appearing next to her in a puff of smoke isn't so much of a surprise as her name being called out, as she'd seen the handseal and had assumed this to be what Yukari had meant when they'd mentioned allowing the Special Jounin to assist.

"I guess I'd better learn tree-climbing sometime soon, then."

As demeaning as it feels to do so, Midori sighs and then clambers on up the clone's back, latching herself onto the older ninja's shoulders with both hands and pressing her legs to either side of her hips to keep herself from hanging directly off her shoulders, which would have been far more uncomfortable for the blonde. The climb begins then, with Midori watching as the real Yukari seems to walk straight up the cliff face just fine, as though the blonde was walking horizontally.

"But this stays between us, all right?"

[tokonatsu yukari]

DON'T THINK ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES

A more obvious statement had never been uttered, but Yukari politely refrained from commenting further on Midori’s wisdom or lack thereof, and only inclined her head to Midori’s request. "I am the soul of discretion,” Yukari said dryly, the barest hint of humor lacing through her tone. "Your secret is safe with me.” She paused, considering. It was not often in her nature to be generous with her time: if she had free time, it was typically spent working, as Ruto’s research took precedence over most of her projects and daily demands. But there was a roughshod kind of charisma to Midori that Yukari found herself charmed by in spite of herself, and perhaps it was Kyuusai’s quiet influence, but she found herself saying: "Tree-walking isn’t difficult. I’ll teach you when we finish.” As they scaled the cliff, Yukari surveyed the face of it, trying to catch sight of any crevasses or naturally-formed ledges that their wayward lizard might have made its home in. Her clone adjusted to Midori’s positioning, slender hands gripping the other woman’s thighs with a deceptive strength that kept her secure on the clone’s back. "There,” Yukari said, pointing. There was a divot in the cliff face that looked no deeper than a shelf at first glance, but as she drew closer, she realized it was actually a shallow cave. "It may have holed up in there. Made a nest, perhaps.”

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[Netsu Midori]

Midori can practically feel the semi-sarcastic dry humor from Yukari, giving the clone a deadpan stare that is just about the only non-aggressive response she can think of for the moment. After a bit of climbing, Midori is then surprised and at least a little bit softened when Yukari agrees with teaching her, although the blonde suggests that it isn't so difficult. The black-haired kunoichi figures that's probably the case for herself, at least, since she'd been told by previous mentors that her Ninjutsu was particularly effective for her level of training. She isn't so witty that she can think up an expression of back-handed gratitude, so she goes for the much more rare (from her) sincere gratitude.

"I'd appreciate that, Tokunatsu-san."

With a bit more climbing, they come to a shallow cave, which Midori peers inside for a moment before leaning more firmly against the clone's back to perform handseals across the clone's shoulders, focusing chakra to both of her hands in the form of her clan's Plasma Release, though it took a great deal of focus to keep the volatile element under control. It causes both of her hands to glow as she climbs off the shinobi's back to dig her fingers into the rock surface itself, making her way up to the fairly short cavern, where she's able to use the Kesshoton-covered hands rather like weak, very green lamps, with a glow similar to her own neon green eye color as she peers inside. She calls out for the lizard, her yells getting gradually louder and more aggressive to seem to try and motivate him back out of into the open.

"Snape? Snape?! Snaaaape!"

[tokonatsu yukari]

DON'T THINK ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES

Gratitude was something so rarely expressed to Yukari—to her face, anyway—that she found herself momentarily taken aback and at a loss for words. While her work as a medic was effective, her bedside manner was abysmal, and the positive consequences of her efforts were often overshadowed by the terse, sharp method of delivery. See what happens when you offer kindness kindly? Hush, Kyuusai. Gloating is beneath you. The rat was smug despite her chastisement, and she shook her head faintly; but then they reached the cave, and she pushed her thoughts aside. Her clone had to adjust with a grimace as Midori clambered up her back, arching her shoulders to provide a more solid foothold. Yukari pressed a hand against the surface of the cliff, debating the usage of underground fish projection; but it was hard stone, not soft soil, and she would not be able to traverse it. Midori yelled into the open mouth of the cave, the noise echoing out and causing Yukari’s brow to heavily furrow with disapproval. "Volume,” she chided sharply. "We are trying to recover the creature, not deafen it.” There was no chance the lizard wouldn’t have heard Midori, yet there was no response, not even a flicker of movement or the hiss of a disturbed territorial creature. Yukari walked up to the side of the cave mouth and weaved three handseals, transforming into a lizard roughly the size of what she assumed Snape would be, given the size of the cave: not terribly smaller than her own human form, but the arrangement of limbs and flatness of the body would allow her easier access. On scaly claws she clambered into the cave mouth, using the illumination of Midori’s sickly green glow to find her way… … and came upon a corpse, two days dead by her professional estimation. She sighed heavily, maneuvered around the body, and used her reptilian jaws to drag it back out towards the entrance, Midori, and her clone.

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[Netsu Midori]

Midori is more than a bit surprised when she can see Yukari transform herself into a much smaller lizard in order to clamber inside and go searching, and the Genin holds back on pushing more chakra into the Kesshoton orbs surrounding her hands; there's no need for her to see what's happened to Snape, so long as the older and higher ranking kunoichi can help to complete the mission. And so she simply watches as far as she can when Yukari goes deeper into the cave. After a few moments, she saw that Yukari was dragging out something limp, and she grunts a bit when she can see that it's another lizard, probably having died of old age. As Yukari reaches her in lizard form, Midori lifts the dead lizard, careful not to crush it in her hand as she halts the flow of chakra to both her hands and allowing the older woman to come fully out of the cavern that she'd been inside of. Although the mission had been boring, at least it had been quick.

At this point, Midori carefully clambers back down over the clone's back, to hold tightly to her shoulder with one hand and gingerly keeping hold of the body of Snape in her other, with her legs holding back onto the clone's sides so that the clone can focus on getting her down safely. Once they're finally back to the ground, Midori looks over the dead lizard in her hands, finding it was certainly quite limp and lifeless.

"Well, that sucks. I hope this doesn't affect the pay... Well, we'd best get this thing to the shopkeep, he'll probably want proof that we did find it. Ah... Thanks, Tokonatsu-san."

With that, Midori starts walking back towards the shop, feeling a bit more mild, but still handing off the body of Snape to the merchant. She doesn't really give much care or attention to the man as he bawls and sobs over the dead body of his mascot, while the Genin pulls out a nail file and removes a glove, filing her nails with a bored expression on her face.

"Yes, yes, I'm very sorry for your loss... Anyways, Lord Ryu probably wants to know that this guy's done for, so I'll leave you to it while I go ahead and collect the funds. Tokonatsu-san, since you're the higher-ranking shinobi, I'm assuming you'll need to report this death to Lord Ryu? If so, I... hope to see you again."

With that, Midori somewhat awkwardly leaves the shop, feeling somewhat odd about genuinely wanting to see someone again. She puts the thought aside for later, though, because now she wants to focus on getting paid for the mission.

[THREAD EXIT]

[tokonatsu yukari]

DON'T THINK ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES

The clone adjusts with grace as Midori arranges herself to be able to gingerly lift the corpse out from the cave mouth, and then maneuvered back down to the ground cautiously so as not to accidentally drop the younger woman or her payload. Yukari herself extracted herself from the cave and dropped her transformation technique with a poof of white smoke, looking down at herself with distaste as she realized that the wet dirt and grim from the cavern’s interior had sullied her pristine lab coat. She sighed, hopped to the ground, and squished through soft dirt in high heels with a look of utter resignation. "We’ve done as asked,” Yukari replied, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose with a knuckle. "We’ll be paid what we’re owed and I’m billing for dry-cleaning.” She made it sound like a threat, stern and ominous. Her expression is inscrutable as she watches the shopkeeper sob over the lizard’s corpse, and though a prickle of resentment ripples through her at Midori’s quick escape from this tasteless display of raw emotion, she can’t quite blame her, either. "Indeed,” she said, casting a sidelong glance at the retreating Midori. "I’ll be at the hospital, when you’re ready to learn tree-climbing.” After Midori escapes in search of payment, Yukari handles finalizing the details with the distraught shopkeeper, and then returns to her desk at the hospital with no small amount of trepidation to draft a stiff, formal condolence letter to Lord Ryu, as she was not nearly stupid enough to attempt to make the report in person. [FIN.]

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