[Egao Momura]

Helping Hand

@tag

Egao Momura was not one to be considered selfish, no he much preferred charity, but under his wicker basket he was itching to ask for a spar of some form. He wanted to test out these shinobi kids so badly, but no one would let him spar with the others and it was frankly just starting to become insulting to the young man. Was he too strong? The Arbiter would have taken him if that was the case, and it was not like he was trying to harm the community. It was within the good neighbors handbook to trade pointers, and if he was going to follow his mentors teachings then he needed to learn to fight using the many hands of Tanin ni Izon more effectively then he already did.

So he had started advertising to help others train, and in turn fulfill his own want to learn what there was to know about the shinobi world. That wasn't greed for knowledge was it? Nah, if it was his senior conciliators would certainly correct him and help him understand what was going on. His strong desire to help though meant that he needed experience and that was not something you could take. You had to recieve the teachings of time through patience and others... Momura just happened to have very little patience to speak of and it caused a small inner conflict as the young boy tried his best to recieve charity and gift his time upon another without it being an act of greed. Greed was far too vile to allow anyone to allow.

The small bucket headed child would keep putting up the incredibly poorly written scribbles he had been told were called 'fliers'. Nothing about about them flew though and that just struck him as confusing.

- ❤ -

[risi]

Risi is mostly minding his own business, walking about Kumogakure with his right arm cradling his scythe as he walks, with the blade pointing down past his shoulder and his right hand steadying it so that it wouldn't turn or sway while he walks. He had been noticing some poorly-made handwritten fliers advertising a "trade of knowledge" to some degree, but he had mostly ignored them as his heavy black boots strike the ground with every step. Despite the combat boots, the rest of his clothing might have made it hard for others to be able to tell whether Risi was a man or woman, with most signs pointing to his being a woman in spite of the truth. His black skirt was open to almost fully expose one of his legs, cinched around the waist by a belt, and leading up to a black waistcoat with silver buttons on the front flaps over a sleeveless white shirt and frilled cravat, with the waistcoat connected to the black mantle over his forearms. His own hands are somewhat protected at least by a pair of fingerless gloves.

The Genin turns a corner to see some... small child in some rather poor quality clothing of a turtleneck and cloth pants, but the really striking thing is that the child seems to be wearing some kind of a basket on their head, completely hiding their identity as they put another flyer up on the fence in front of them. It seems odd that the little thing can even see what they're doing until Risi approaches with curiosity, and he can see that there are small holes in the front of the basket to let its occupant see. He pulls the top hat off his head so he can flip his own long black hair over his shoulder, his bright red eyes affixed to the basket with more than a little curiosity as he replaces the top hat back on top of his own head, with the Kumogakure headband used as the hat band. He stands a couple meters away, hopefully avoiding scaring the little stranger as he introduces himself.

"So you're the one putting these things up everywhere! What's this about a 'pointers', kiddo?"

While his voice and his smile are friendly, he really doesn't know what to make of this odd... situation. He's not sure what he could possibly learn from someone so young, but he's not opposed to helping a kid out if they're so desperate for assistance that they're putting up flyers.

[Egao Momura]

Helping Hand

@tag

It was not like Momura didn't know how to respectfully stare from a distance, but as with most kids that were caught with Hotei's hands in the cookie jar, the young boy stopped mid-movement to pin another of the posters up and move along to look over at the pretty genin. Mentally smacking himself upside the head as a dark orange hand not much larger then his own did the same somewhat unconsciously. Staring was rude, and being rude was a way to be greedy if you weren't careful! Momura would definitely have to work to avoid this pitfall in the future.

"I'm looking for someone to help me figure out how to better control Hotei's gift. My lord grants helping hands, but I'm still not good enough with them to go punch the bad guys like my master. So I am looking to improve my control, are you good at hitting or dodging things? I wont hit ya that hard... or I wont try to, but I guess I can't really make that promise. I can help you out in return though, wash your laundry or walk your pet or something, I don't really care as long as you can help me out here!" Momura would state really quickly, their voice a bit higher-pitched, obviously a kids, and they seemed genuine enough. The young boy's sense of manners though seemed lacking as he had walked up to and approached Risi with a very close distance to look straight up from under the bucket. His braided hair a bit easier to make out from close up.

- ❤ -

[risi]

Risi is a little surprised at the answer, and he remembers somewhat off-handedly about the Conciliators of Hotei as soon as the smaller boy mentions the name of that deity. It was part of his historical and cultural dossier on Kumogakure, as he'd been quite sheltered by the Inshi family as far as knowledge about the outside world was concerned. That had been quite a while ago, however, and the Inshi had not focused heavily on the religion, believing that although they might have a significant cultural impact on Kumogakure and its general population, that they were not much of a threat to the Kyuumu clan in general or the Inshi family in particular.

The idea of "punching the bad guys" with some kind of helping hands could be a noble goal, one that can be manipulated for the Kyuumu clan, or it could be a kind of threat to the Inshi, if they plan on doing anything that the Conciliators might consider "bad"... But why should Risi care about any of that? He's no longer directly under the thumb of the Inshi family, which had been somewhat pushed into distancing themselves from Risi in order to keep their involvement in his training something of a secret, as though the young man was a perfectly normal member of the Kyuumu clan. And now, Risi had no reason to fear the Conciliators of Hotei or their members; Risi wanted to be a Kumogakure ninja, he wanted to be that normal member of the Kyuumu clan from now on.

All of these thoughts pass through him in a moment, leaving only a short pause before Risi responds to the offer, nodding once firmly and with sincerity. He notices the boy's approach towards him to stare right up at him, and he notices the braided hair for the first time: long hair, somewhat like his own. He gently presses the top of the basket helmet back a little so when he squats down to make eye contact with the much shorter pre-teen, they're not so close as to be violating personal space.

"Well, then, I'd better help you out with controlling your- er, Hotei's gift. I'm somewhat okay at punching or dodging things, but you shouldn't worry about hitting me hard! You wanna hit the bad guys hard, right? So you should probably practice hitting hard, or you'll end up hitting the bad guys as soft as you'd hit me!~"

He was perhaps overstating his ability to hit and dodge, but he could do both to some small degree. He was better trained than most civilians, not that it was saying much, but he was at least getting better at wielding his scythe. Gradually, and by small steps.

"I'm Risi, by the way. What's yer name? I can't go around calling you Basket Case."

Risi smiles sweetly at the younger boy, one that's fairly friendly and helpful. While Risi had been taught to falsify his outward emotions, the "mask" really was sometimes in line with his genuine desires, like now.

[Egao Momura]

Helping Hand

@tag

Momura was pleased with this development, having a new partner to practice with would certainly help and he was glad that he was going to be able to push for that exact goal in the way that he hoped to - through unnecessarily violence, consentually unnecessary levels of violent! Nodding to his senior's words as he too also told him not to hold back. It would be far beyond disrespectful to do so anyways as far as Momura was concerned, and disrespect was a form of greed in and of itself. A withholding of respect that was owed when being helped was an avarice born of pride too - double whammy for the not okay bingo book!

Taking an odd pose and coming to a halting still in terms of physical motion for a child his age Momura called upon Hotei's assistance, "Egao Momura, it is nice to meet you Risi-Senpai. I am going to try and punch you now if that is okay."

Ten hands appeared in the air around the child their shade a deep rustic brown like iron-rich soil. Despite Momura's words sounding like they should have been waiting for confirmation, there was no delay in a series of five fists heading for Risi in a flow each swinging in jankily from different directions. Not quite in sync, but attempting to be.

- ❤ -

[risi]

♔

Risi is rather lucky to have been born with the Yatagarasu eyes, since they had far better vision for picking up on fast-moving objects; even if the movements were a bit out of sync and a bit clumsy, he's certain that if such an attack had been done on most other Genin, they'd have a hard time avoiding the strikes. As it is, although Risi isn't very quick compared to most of his other peers, he's at least capable of getting out of being hit. Using his scythe, the Genin blocks the punches one after the other by holding the scythe's shaft near the head, with his other hand gripping the blade to keep it steady as he uses the wide metal blade to deflect all the strikes. Or, at least, most of the strikes; one of those dirt-brown fists manage to smack Risi right on the hip, directly on one of several buckles. While the attack might have normally been little more than a smack, the metal smacking against bone does make Risi a little sore, and he's certain it's going to bruise. Yamatsu won't be happy-.

His cheeks redden a little at the thought of Yamatsu, but he drowns it out for now. Instead, the Genin refocuses on the spar right now, giving the younger boy a friendly smile even as he takes a moment to put a hand over the buckle, rubbing at it a little to show that the boy had indeed landed a successful strike.

"Not bad!~ That really smarts, ya know?"

Even as he pays the younger boy a compliment, he's internally a bit confused about how those hands had seemed to appear out of nowhere. He's not sure if they're real, but judging by the bruising he can feel, they're at least really physical. Did this mean that this Hotei thing was the real deal, or was it purely a belief that gave this "gift" its power? In either case, now Risi is mentally wondering if he should be more careful about interacting with these basketheads from now on.

coded by pinn @ thq

340 words - Egao Momura - D-rank XP training: 3/8

[Egao Momura]

Helping Hand

risi

Momura had landed a blow, a worthy pointer to the charity of Hotei in the name of education. Perhaps this would Risi learn how to better dodge an onslaught in a full frontal assault. Not daring to even so much as twitch for the moment Momura focused on the hands to check his control over them on a more delicate level of control before continuing once Risi looked ready.

Two of the hands attempting to stay in front of Risi's eyes to blind him as much as possible as the other hands lagged around to jab soft-ish punches into the genin's side. There wasn't a great plan to all of this in the academy student's head, just a number of comprehensive understandings. The first was that the eyes was the main form of vision for most people, to remove that was almost necessary for fighting. The next was that when vision was obscured it was hard to actually dodge things, but Hotei was not one to call fo unfairness in a fight let alone in a spar where both combatants trained.

Obscured by the mask though was the deep concentration and straing this constant motion was on Momura. If Risi moved more then a little to the right or left the shepherd to be would have to imagine the older boy's position and at that point maintaining the ten hands would be implausible.

- ❤ -

[risi]

♔

Risi finds himself having to deal with a new kind of situation, one he wasn't often prepared for. How does one even plan to deal with multiple hands attacking you at once without having a body to attack back against? And it didn't help that the other boy had a basket over his head, making it far more difficult for Risi to be able to affect the smaller boy with Genjutsu. He also doubts that these strange hands can be affected by Genjutsu, either; ghastly as they are, he doesn't think they have a mind of their own, either, meaning this is rather similar to a fight against a puppeteer: if one wishes to win, they'd have to attack the one actually controlling the floating hands.

Regardless, the hands trying to cover his eyes makes him naturally pull back in an attempt to keep his sight from being obscured, resulting in some light punches to his sides, though they mostly graze his waist; there are some perks to have a svelte body, after all. He swings his scythe around him, but he's not sure if the hands would be too terribly affected by the shaft of the weapon spinning. It's at least worth a try, moving back a bit as he focuses on the movements of the blade to avoid hitting any unintended targets, only using the shaft of the weapon in order to try and knock the hands away from his left, then his right side, before turning the scythe to spin in front of him and try to block the strange hands from covering his eyes.

"Hoooh! You really like to keep people on their toes with these things, don't ya?"

Risi smiles at the basket, then drops low before rushing forwards towards him; should the scythe not have affected the ghostly hands, he'd be able to duck underneath them, but he was more focused on using the pull of gravity when he leans forwards to help give him some extra forward momentum so he could drive himself towards Momura, dragging the unsharpened outer edge of the scythe along the ground to make sparks fly and also to pull Momura's attention directly to him, possibly breaking his concentration on the hands.

coded by pinn @ thq

373 words Egao Momura

[Egao Momura]

Helping Hand

risi

Momura had to make sure to focus as his brain went over the simple use of his helping hands - their moniker certainly earned as they assisted him in pummeling the heck out of his opponent. Truly Hotei's gift was as versatile as it was amazing, which was beyond mortal comprehensive levels for certain. Momura watching the scythe move didn't react as fast as he maybe should have in total, the hands shifting to try and pull at cloth and hair to try and slow.

The hands that could move still mostly would twist to try and catch and tug at the scythe, but the resistance wasn't perfect. Risi's charge would make the young man break as he hopped backwards before lifting the helm from his head to toss it. Revealing his face as he attempted to chunk it at Risi's face in the charge. The ten hands gone completely from vision. If he could help it Momura would definitely have to make sure he could recall his hand fast, but that took some amount of mental concentration and he didn't have a huge huge amount of that right now.

The boy looked utterly concentrated on Risi though, even if his eyes didn't seem to hold much of any complex thought in the now exposed crimson. If Risi still didn't slow as he got close Momura would move to his last resort and hunker low to punch for the crotch. No one said the crotch was off limits in a spar.

- ❤ -

[risi]

♔

Risi was a bit surprised at the attempt to grab at his scythe by the hands, but he's thankfully just a bit stronger than the seemingly semi-physical digits that Momura had access to. While it seems his somewhat threatening charge had the intended consequence of yanking Momura's attention away from the concentration he needed in order to make use of the hands, it has an added effect that now Momura is focused on the raven-haired boy's face, and he raises his scythe enough to knock aside the basket that had been flying towards his head, allowing his bright ruby red eyes to peer directly at Momura's face directly. In such an instance, only one Genjutsu is truly necessary, and Risi's almost inhuman glare stares deep into Momura's soul while he attempts to lock the smaller boy in place with a singular illusion technique meant to trap him in place and feel like his limbs are held where they are, as though he'd been dipped in steel and forced to stop.

Should the Genjutsu work, Risi would be a bit tired afterwards, having used quite a strong illusionary technique, but he only needs it active for a moment in order to let him catch up with the smaller boy's movements as he places the shaft of his scythe directly in front of himself just as he releases Momura from the Shibari technique. Of course, if the Genjutsu didn't work, Risi should be able to move the handle of his scythe just enough to knock the attacking fist off-course, though he wouldn't be able to block the strike completely, and would end up with a bruise on his thigh instead of... somewhere more delicate.

"Whoa, whoa! You're way too young to be putting your hands anywhere near that place, kid! That isn't nice!~"

His face is pouting now with the last sentence, even though he'd just tried to put the small boy under a powerful Genjutsu only moments before.

coded by pinn @ thq

327 words Egao Momura 5/8

[Egao Momura]

Helping Hand

@tag

Momura had leaped backwards and landed when Risi's technique had taken hold, but it didn't stop mental prayer. The hand that he needed to call forth did still apparate and having pushed his mind's will upon the gift it had formed practically flat to the ground before balling a fist and uppercutting for the sack all the same. Momura's own muscles were seized, the illusion of Shibari holding tight on the young man despite the sense that he could twitch through it, but that sort of thing was far beyond Momura now.

His mind struggled against the singular genjutsu with a might that was rare amongst the academy students, but it wasn't like Momura was making much progress. Everything rested in the hand making contact instead and that was... deflected by the scythe. Sike! The hand turned in what vision that Momure had as he attempted to move the fist back upwards on Risi, the attack being dirty was one thing, but Momura saw everything as a fair tactic in a fight. It wasn't like he could repeat whatever was keeping him still. One did not take god's bounty so easily and believe that they could wield it, indeed that was greed incarnate. Momura would never take the resource from his lord though, that would go against his entire education.

- ❤ -

[risi]

♔

Instead of success, Risi is met with a harsh failure, and a painful one at that. He drops to one knee after the strike manages to land, one hand staying firmly on his scythe while the other holds onto his wounded area, the sensation of pain flooding through him. He wants, in that moment, to inflict similar injuries on the young boy in front of him, but that would be too cruel even for the spy of the Kyuumu clan. He'd have to simply grin, or grimace rather, and bear it instead of getting his revenge on the smaller boy.

Risi might not be able to physically harm the other boy in the way that he'd been harmed, but he could, at the very least, make use of some of his other skills in order to make the boy regret it, but that would be counterproductive to their stated goals of training, in Risi improving his scythe use and the boy improving his combat skills. He starts to stand again, whimpers and falters for a moment, then stands full up, using the scythe in order to keep himself held upright, but pretending to be unaffected too heavily by the pain as he glares at Momura. He can't be too angry with him; after all, he'd said to fight as though he was in combat with an actual enemy, and in combat with an actual enemy, one does not exploit a weak point purely for the sake of good manners.

"Little brat... _owwwww..."

Even with all his training with the Inshi family, it was hard to keep his real face hidden, but he manages to do so, even if he was in such pain that he couldn't speak with quite the correct vocal pitch. He's at least able to stand under his own power, although he wasn't sure he would be able to keep from limping if he took a step.

coded by pinn @ thq

320 words Egao Momura 6/8

[Egao Momura]

Helping Hand

risi

He was still trapped in place. His jaw, locked. His fingers and toes, non-responsive. Was this how mom felt physically when Hotei had called upon her spirit to join the greater collective on high? Momura really didn't know, but that hit he got in had been pretty good if he said so himself. Something to be proud of getting off in a spar such as this, a spar where he had treated Risi like a real enemy as he had asked Momura too. It was sheer avarice to think one so powerful that they could not share proper teachings with another by going all out properly when asked to.

Greed was, after all, something Momura detested with every fiber of his being. Being anything less then charitable was a sin to the young shepherd and he wouldn't hear otherwise. His morality oddly specific in what it allowed, and such a defacing of another's pride by denying them what they had asked for was truly near the bottom. Stuck in place the hand still moved shifted over to Risi's shoulder to help try and let the older boy right himself and steady from it. The texture of the hand closer to something like a glove then anything as it moved to simply help the lad stand.

It wasn't like Momura was moving anytime soon.

- ❤ -

[risi]

♔

If there was one thing to pride himself on, it was his ability to keep the smaller boy stuck in the Genjutsu despite the pain caused by the strike to his most vulnerable weak spot. Yamatsu might even notice- But he was done with the technique, and now that Momura had even helped to steady him with that strange ghastly hand of his, he realizes with a start that the other boy is likely at least a little perturbed by the unnatural feeling of the Genjutsu locking his body in place, and so he stops supplying chakra to the illusion, feeling a bit tired after having kept the technique up for such a period. He's still leaning on the scythe a bit, but he's steadied by Momura's hand as well.

"I'll... urk... be okay. So that's a thing you can do because of... Hotei, right? Goodness gracious..."

Risi seems to pull a handkerchief from nowhere, dabbing his forehead to wipe away the sweat not just from the intense pain of such an accurate attack on his most sensitive parts, but also a bit of a cold sweat at the implications of just such an ability. He can tell it isn't a Genjutsu, either; his natural skill in such a field would have allowed him to recognize one from such a young practitioner, regardless of skill, but this was something else entirely. It also doesn't seem like a technique involving chakra; the boy didn't use any hand seals, and while such seal-less techniques weren't unheard of, they were quite uncommon and usually above the capability for most younger jutsu practitioners. So he had to wonder if there was something to this religious belief that caused unearthly hands to appear and affect the world around them. After all, he'd just experienced firsthand and could attest to that fact personally.

coded by pinn @ thq

307 words Egao Momura 7/8

[Egao Momura]

Helping Hand

@tag

Momura could only smile as his lord was acknowledged as good and gracious, after all Hotei was both incarnate. A grand god that imparted community onto the mortals of the world. Hotei truly was worth the praise that he received. Noticing that he could smile Momura would nod to Risi, "Yes! Hotei is a good and gracious god is he not. All that live for the many can be given his gifts, and the hands that help lift everyone to greater heights are the most auspicious of his blessings!"

Momura was practically bouncing at the praise he have to his great lord, a break from the incredibly space-y child he normally was. Calming down long enough to collect his helmet and put it back on Momura would turn and bow formally to Risi, "In helping me with my ability to use the hands with real practice you have also done me an immeasurable favor Risi-Senpai! If there is any way I can repay this favor forward please let me know and I will try my best to assist you. Hotei teaches of community and generosity and I would be in the wrong to not offer to help such a well-standing member of this community I have been placed into by my Sensei."

It would seem like Momura had missed the actual context of Risi's words completely.

- ❤ -