[Shimamoto Miyo]

Miyo had just finished a puppet show, and even though she was a chunin now, when she had the chance, she would give special shows at the little stage in town. However, she was in a hurry to leave so the next person could take over when she ran into someone. Miyo grunted as she hit the ground and rubbed her nose as she walked into someone who was taller than her. She wasn't sure if it was an accident or not, but now that she had to pick up her puppets from the show, she got on her knees to start picking things up, as she hoped whoever it was would go away. They probably wouldn't have anything nice to say. She had already been bracing herself to be called a spider freak or something, but she hadn't heard it yet. That was a relief. Miyo blushed as she noticed the girl she walked in was sort of familiar; had she been at her teacher's shop? There were always people coming in and out, so it could be that the girl had been there. "Sorry," Miyo mumbled out after realizing the girl hadn't left like she hoped. Miyo blushed and hoped they wouldn't yell.

[Suzuki Tsubasa]

Tsubasa hadn’t really been watching where she was going when she bumped into the shorter puppeteer. Under normal circumstances she’d be on constant, nervous lookout around her but today her mind was heavily distracted. She’d spent a lot of time thinking about things the last couple of days, thinking, walking, and training while she tried to figure herself and what she was trying to do with her skills right now. It felt like she wasn’t ready for anything right now, not her job in the village, or learning to handle her new weapon, and she certainly wasn’t ready to bump into someone thanks to her internal focus on herself!

"O-oh, oh goodness I’m sorry!” the genin bent down immediately to try and to help pick everything up, probably just getting in the other girl’s way as she felt clumsier than ever after such an accident. "I am so, so sorry I wasn’t even looking where I was going!” Tsubasa explained as she handed over whatever puppets she ended up grabbing before offering Miyo a hand to help her up if necessary. She really hoped that the people around them wouldn’t mind the delay, but a quick glance around suggested to Tsubasa that a bit more assistance to speed their movement. A lot of people seemed to be glaring at the girls.

"Why don’t we go sit down on that bench over there so we can get your things in order again?” she asked innocently, only now glancing down to the young woman properly and noticing her extra arms without really knowing what to make of them. "That way I can make it up to you, somehow?” she gently tried to guide Miyo over the direction she’d noted, hoping that it would get them away from the glaring looks from those around them. "I-I’m Tsubasa by the way. Not that I think anyone should know w-who I am just, trying to be polite.” She gave a nervous laugh at that, hoping against hope that she wasn’t getting on the other girls nerves or something.

[Shimamoto Miyo]

Miyo looked up and smiled a bit when the girl was nice to her. She blushed as she was helped to pick them up, and suddenly she had a stack of puppets that were tangled up. Miyo barely realized she had been guided until they were on a quiet bench. Taking a seat and then setting the puppets down so she could try to untangle them, she was glad that this girl was so nice. "Hey, it's ok; apparently neither was I, and I don't know how you could make it up to me. Most ignore me."
She then realized she should introduce herself too. "I am Miyo. It is nice to meet you. Did you catch my earlier puppet show?"
She asked about puppets because those were the most important things. She took one of the puppets up and started untangling the strings. This was going to take forever; if Tsubasa wanted to help, she would hand her one to untangle too. "This is the main problem with puppets that aren't controlled by chakra; they get tangled so easily." She says she made progress with the tangle. At least she wouldn't have to restrain it. Though all her arms made it easier than it probably was for others,.  

[Suzuki Tsubasa]

Tsubasa shook her head at Miyo’s words, not quite willing to believe that people could be so cruel to someone like that. "I can assure you I wasn’t ignoring you I’m just… really distracted?” her voice raised in a question, not even sure of the situation herself at this point. She’d been given some good advice recently and between getting her head around that and her new weapon she felt less like a real person the last few days. "The least I can do is help with those?” she offered, checking out the puppets the other girl was trying to untangle. Something like untangling would be something to focus on, preferable to the scrambled thoughts going on in her head right now.

After taking a pair of puppets that seemed to have tangled their strings together Tsubasa simply sook her head to Miyo’s question. "N-No I’ve been distracted lately. I was just walking. Got some stuff to figure out.” She stared hard at the puppets in her hands as she said this before tilting her head a little in thought. "I think I’ve seen them before though? Do you do your plays often?” the medics of the village sometimes suggested she do things like watching plays and entertainment on offer in the village to help her relax, so chances were high she’d at least seen one at some point.

"Wait, puppets?” it was like a lightbulb went off in the genin’s head as she stared at Miyo for a moment. "I recently met someone who has puppets, I guess he used chakra to move them too.” she added, staring down at the things in her hand as she slowly worked out any knots in the strings to free them of each other. When she finally got them apart she gently lay them on the space between them and glanced at Miyo again. "Why can’t you just use chakra on these ones? Seems like it’d save you from a mess like this in the future.”

[Shimamoto Miyo]

Miyo's guard was going down as she realized she actually encountered someone nice today. A rare smile even appeared on her face as she giggled and used her chakra to control the puppet; Tsubasa just untangled it to poke her in the hand. "Who says I can't? I am guessing you mean my teacher; he is really good at it. I hope to be as good some day. It's good to go back to the basics. My love of puppets comes from doing these shows first for myself and then for others. I could control them with chakra, but it needlessly complicates them." She took the one she just untangled and held it so it was in front of both of them, making it do a little dance, and then putting it down. 

Miyo nodded. "I do my plays when I can, when I am not on a mission or something. I used to do them often when I was younger." She gestured to someone else setting up. "As you can see, I am not the only one. It's a good way to earn some pocket change, and it's fun to see the faces of the kids as they watch your show.   Miyo sighed, "Well, you might as well ask, What has you so distraught when you walk into someone? Surely it's not something light." Miyo looked over Tsubasa. and kept her smile as they talked. 

[Suzuki Tsubasa]

Tsubasa jumped at the sudden poke. She had no idea how silly her question was, or that any puppet like this could be so easily controlled. Upon seeing that it was just the untangled puppet and not some bug or other critter she calmed herself down and just nodding along to Miyo’s explanation. "Your teacher is Tsusho? The uh… Tantetsu smith?” she asked slowly, doing her best to recall the details without pulling out one of her notebooks. "He showed me that one he carries like a backpack, it was really impressive!”

The girl couldn’t help but smile at the little jig the puppet did, but worried slightly that her effort of untangling the physical wires was going to be undone as she watched. "Why does using chakra complicate it though? I would have though with such control you could make your puppets do so much more,” she asked curiously, "and without all those threads to tangle… unless you just enjoy reliving your roots? I should try and make sure I catch one some time.” Tsubasa smile at that thought, the idea of someone enjoying something from their past like that was so sweet to think about, even if she didn’t know for sure it was the actual reason.

"Oh? That? Just something your teacher said to me. That and the weapon he made me. I honestly didn’t expect to get such a thing and now I have to learn to use it and…” she sighed deeply, "Sometimes I just don’t feel like I fit in is all. Everyone else seems to know what their doing, have plans for their future, and I’m here trying to just keep up with expectations. I’m probably just overthinking… or expecting too much of myself? I don’t really get how such a small change has me spiralling so much.”

[Shimamoto Miyo]

Miyo nodded. "Yeah, my mentor and team leader is Tsusho. Yeah, I kind of want a backpack like his. She smiled at Tsubasa. "Well, it doesn't overcomplicate it; I can control more with my arms than I can with my chakra, so in the more complicated stories, I can do what you would need three puppeteers to do." Miyo listened to her talk about how nice her teacher was and how she didn't know what to do. "I won't get into it, but I know what you mean, so follow me!" She grabbed her puppets, wrapping them so the strings wouldn't get tangled and using a spare hand to grab Tsubasa's hand as she started pulling her, as long as she didn't resist heading towards a quiet area to train or at least get their weapons out if needed. While they would walk, she would talk. "So, I know all about not fitting in, so don't worry, you have a friend now. We outcasts need to stick together. But you don't have to know what you're doing. I don't know what I am really doing; honestly, if it weren't for Tsusho, I would probably not be alive anymore. What I do know is that we live in a world where you have to be strong and useful. So that is what I strive to be. When I am not doing that, I have fun, like my puppet shows. That's a lie, Tsusho. Kun makes me do lots of stuff to get stronger, like building my puppets. But the important thing is that you just have to be yourself and not useless, but I doubt you have that problem because my teacher clearly saw something in you, so that means you just need some help, like I did. I can practice whenever you want! And we can have fun. If you want to, that is."

[Suzuki Tsubasa]

"Team leader?” Tsubasa couldn’t help but focus on the many titles that Tsusho apparently had, increasing her worry a little that the time he’d offered her to make a weapon was probably wasted on someone like her. "Oh? Even with all those arms you can’t control more of those little puppets? I didn’t know it could be that difficult.” The genin wondered if she should even bring attention or ask about the extra arms, she was curious about it all but she wasn’t given much time to ask. Miyo scooped up her puppets and took the girl’s hand before leading her off.

"I-I, oh, I mean! Outcasts?” Tsubasa wasn’t really sure what was going on, doing her best to keep up with her new friend both physically and conversationally. "I-I don’t think I’m an outcast just, I don’t know. Wait you’re an outcast? But you look so cool!” the girl wasn’t too sure how to explain how she really felt about everything, it was so hard to really put thoughts into words like this when doing so was the exact issue she was having right now. "Being strong I’m not sure about, but I think I’m useful? I’ve always done those little odd jobs around the village! But those aren’t like, real missions or anything? I mean they are but they’re different you know? I haven’t had to fight any people, the hardest job I had was chasing down a chicken a little while back!”

Such simple jobs helped the village sure but did they really do much in the grand scheme of things? These were the sorts of thoughts that was plaguing Tsubasa’s mind right now. "I don’t know, he saw me complaining about my old hammer and made me something useful. I can carry it around easily now!” she grabbed the metal tube of a weapon from her belt and held it out towards Miyo as the two approached their destination. It looks like a simple metal extendable bo staff but the colour was darker than normal and the clear symbol of Miyo’s mentor was front and centre to show its authenticity.

[Shimamoto Miyo]

Miyo took Tsubasa back to a training area, one of the less-used ones. Then she waved her many arms around. "People don't like freaks." She sighed but smiled at being told she looked cool. "Well, do you want to practice fighting? I can call out a puppet, and we can practice. That way, you know what it's like to fight people." Miyo looked the metal tube over and saw the mark. "Oh, that is why, you know, my teacher. That is a great-looking pole; how do you fight with it if you used to use a hammer?" She asked, not really sure what the use of a pole was when you needed a hammer. "Well, you are going to need to get used to fighting people; the chunnin exams are hard, and you can die. I can help you practice." She unfurled a scroll, and three Ren puppets came out. They resemble a large spider, wondering if it was the size of a large dog. They start moving as she starts using Kuguttsu no jutsu to control them. "We can start with one and add more if that isn't difficult enough." 

[Suzuki Tsubasa]

Tsubasa really did not understand this whole ‘freaks’ thing and Miyo’s lack of explanation didn’t help her really get it. She had to assume people thought the extra arms were weird of something and that was the cause of it all, or maybe the puppets? Sure now she’d met two people that used them but it was an unusual style to use, at least according to Tsusho when they’d talked about it. "Oh? Practicing fighting? I um, don’t really know how to fight really I’ve just practiced all the different techniques on dummies and nothing much else.” she admit sheepishly. It wasn’t often she was forced to admit that so clearly to people and it just felt awkward.

When asked about her weapon she just blushed again and stared down at the staff in her hands. "Well see, that’s part of what’s had me distracted. I should be able to use the earth to turn this into a hammer its just… I’ve been so nervous about actually trying that I haven’t been able to actually make myself try it yet…” Tsubasa trailed off, blushing even brighter at the innocent little admission of incompetence. "Th-that’s why I’m not sure fighting is the right idea right now! I need to actually be able to use my weapon and I’m still just… urgh.” It felt impossible to put how she really felt about her nervousness right now to words so that was the best explanation Miyo would get as the genin fidgeted with her weapon, clearly frustrated with herself.

[Shimamoto Miyo]

"Well, try then!" Miyo said he had the puppet circle Tsubasa. "Or else my puppet will get you!" She giggled, "But no, really try it; there is no time like the present. After all other things, my puppet is going to grab you unless you fight it off with your stick." She had it move very slowly towards Tsubasa and would even have it pause if she struggled to get the hammer out of the pole. After all, she wasn't a monster; she wanted her new friend to just do it. "I think your problem is that you do too much thinking and not enough doing." She smiled "Just do it!" 

Miyo was not sure why this girl was in her head so much, but if nothing else, she could try to get her to at least learn how to make her weapon a weapon. That was her current goal. Plus, her puppets could be moving targets, so she could also help with the how-to-fight part if things progressed. It was nice to be helpful to someone like this. Plus they were a new friend. Miyo didn't have many friends and she needed to latch on to any potential ones she met.

[Suzuki Tsubasa]

Tsubasa stared blanky at her new friend and had to wonder at how insistent she was. Miyo wasn’t exactly wrong in her assessment of what the younger girl needed to get focused, but doing it under pressure really made Tsubasa stress more. "Wait, wait, wait! D-don’t be too hasty now!” With hands raised the genin slowly backed up from the puppets, not really wanting to fight but also really wanting to make some space in case Miyo was too insistent. "I-I mean! Fending them off should be easy enough with it but still!”

Partially accepting her fate, Tsubasa clicked the button on her weapon so that it would spring out to full length and held it in what could only be called a novices grip. All her previous work had been put into learning the hammer so, while Ishinotsue could be used as a bo staff, she wasn’t really good at it just yet. "Y-you’re probably right… I don’t really know what I’m doing but I can at least try!” With the verbal promise to both her and her new friend, Tsubasa shifted her grip on the weapon to something more familiar and slowly started feeding the weapon her chakra.

Nothing much seemed to happen at first, so Tsubasa increased the flow as she continued to slowly backed away from the oncoming puppets. Eventually there was a visual stream of dust rising from the ground and gathering at the far end of the weapon. She watched it gather into a soft looking hammer-like shape, not exactly a useful weapon but something that was a start. With a light frown on her face the silver haired genin gave a tentative swing of the shape that sent the dust scattering towards the puppet, but not much more. "O-oh. Damn it!”

[Shimamoto Miyo]

"Well, try then!"
Miyo giggled "Come one, your brave Kunoichi, fend off my puppet!" She kept it moving slowly, as it seemed that the girl had almost made a hammer. "There you go! That was almost a hammer!" She cheered her on as she kept the puppet moving towards Tsubasa. She had faith in her new friend. "Just do it; you have it in you; I know it. So show my puppet who is boss!" She said as she watched her new friend and her weapon closely, curious just a little bit about how it worked, but it wasn't the time to ask. "Show my puppet who is boss!" She had it dash towards Tsubasa to give her a little scare before it 'tripped', and Tsubasa had some time to back away if she needed it. This was fun; she didn't get many chances like this to use her puppets. It was sort of fun to train people like this. Maybe if she got promoted, she could become a general team leader or something. That would be fun. Miyo moved the puppet towards Tsubasa, even adding a feint or two to try to spook her into using the hammer. Miyo had faith that she could do it. 

[Suzuki Tsubasa]

"I-I-I don’t think you know me enough to call me brave!” Tsubasa stuttered even as she shifted the grip on her weapon back into an offensive stance. "I-it wasn’t a hammer! It was the right shape but, why do I have to do learn it like this!?” The girl couldn’t help but flinch back from the puppet as it charged towards her, taking a few shuffling steps back before she could return focus to the weapon. "D-damn it! I don’t think I could do this in a real fight! Its all different to using jutsu!”

Though she complained, Tsubasa was still trying to send her chakra into the weapon. It felt strange, like the weapon was a foreign part of her that wanted her energy, but didn’t really need it. The idea of actually putting energy into it felt a little off, though the not-quite-a-hammer-but-still-shaped-right result from earlier showed her it was possible. All she had to do was keep putting her chakra into the staff.

With her focus split between paying attention to her ‘opponent’ puppet and properly managing her weapon and it’s chakra Tsubasa was unable to properly manage her energy. At first it wasn’t an issue, the silver haired girl was able to use the staff to bat at the puppet in an effort to keep it away, but then the sheer amount of chakra she was funnelling into the weapon started to take effect. Like before dust started to stream in towards the end of her staff, then little rocks, then larger and larger chunks of earth started to fly towards it as the proper shape of a hammer head started to form.

Soon entire chunks of earth had been attracted to the end of her staff, leaving the training ground pitted and scarred. From all this matter a giant hammer head size of a small boulder that sat between the two girls, blocking the puppet’s path to Tsubasa and Tsubasa’s view of Miyo. It was properly shaped, but clearly too big for the slip of a girl the genin was to actually lift up on her own. "U-um, does this count?” she called out to her new friend as she pulled at the handle, giving her all in an attempt to lift the weapon up again. Tsubasa figured that maybe, if she could figure out how to do this on the fly, she might be able to use something this big in some sort of a downward swing in the future.

[Shimamoto Miyo]

Miyo giggled "Because it keeps you on your toes!" She had to admit that the girl was struggling a bit. What did they teach these kids? A genin and couldn't even fight properly. "Hey, so if you're free, we can do this every day. I am not on a mission. I don't mind helping, and you can master the hammer and fighting." Then there was a giant bolder, and the pole was stuck in it. She tried not to laugh, though her smirk said it all. "That was good! Maybe if you did that while in the air, you could crush someone." She halted the puppet and approached. "So, um, how do we get the pole out of the rock?" She asked, staring at what seemed like an impossible task, but then again, she wasn't the one with the weird dot-hammer pole thing. She pondered what to do hoping that perhaps her new friend would know how to get it unstuck. "By the way, you are totally brave, you faced my puppet and made a giant bolder!, I call that impressive. My spiders are scary when they swirl their bladed feet at you. So what do you think about my offer?"