The Princess and the Pariah [Mission | Verdandi]

Guard Duty:

The midday sun pierced through the thinning clouds of kirigakure, and as the radiant heat touched the ground the chirping of local fauna began to crescendo into a jubilant chorus. The wet, stone path that guided rare, privileged V.I.P.s out of this well defended passageway was still surreptitiously slurping at the water pooled on the cobbled road. This well maintain route for shinobi, as it was serviced more often than used, found itself in near pristine condition. Maybe due to recent maintenance or lack of horse drawn vehicles, even the soft loam next to the path lacked any major signs of travel or damage. This was just another normal day though in the Hidden Mist. The gears were turning normally and the Fort Yuki Passage as the two chunin standing guard today looked just as bored as they had for the last month that they'd been on this shift, and just as they had for the previous month the muted gazes of the two quietly standing guard would bloom with lively color as they saw a familiar face coming down the road.

Toshiyuki's bare feet were tough and accustomed to the could, rough roadways of Kirigakure as his feet delicately caught his quickly decelerating body. His attire was relatively simple, and quite unbecoming of a shinobi. He wore khaki capris that seemed more like they had reduced to the length they were at because of wear and tear as opposed to a purposeful fashion choice. He wore a thick fur lined jacket over his black shirt with a sleeve rolled up revealing a cast around his right arm. The six skewers of smoked sea creatures he held released a succulent steam into the otherwise stale air. Half a smile revealed his sharpened cuspids to the familiar faces. Slowly he'd approach the other two handing the white haired man two skewers with cat fish and the red haired woman four with a stranger looking fish on them. Eyes aglow they spend the last few minutes of their shift chatting.

In between bites they would inform Toshi that the gennin he'd been doing these shifts with decided to change up the missions he was taking, causing Toshi to ponder regretfully at some of the extra food he'd brought in the bag on his back. As it got closer to his shift he would begin to recenter himself to make a good first impression, and with a quick nod and a salute the two chunin would change posts with Toshiyuki. It wasn't like he minded anyways since he was here anyways. He'd take his seat at the booth hanging his bag up in the locker as he waited for his partner and the long shift he had ahead of him at this relatively unused entrance.

Verdandi woke early this morning. Not because she necessarily wanted to, but todays job involved a location a bit further off track than the usual. Sister Skuld had received a report from one of the walled stations at the very border of Kiri, they needed some guards to fill in for rearranged shifts. Verd was never one to shy down on a few hours of boring work if it put a few coins in her pocket. The princess was trying quite hard to become more independent from all the fancy pampering that the royal court brought with. She crawled from her huge bed and had to push aside what felt like a dozen pillows to eventually drop on the floor and immediately trip over a rather big fluffy bear. Avalanche didn’t even flinch as his Master had just faceplanted herself against him. The burly boy was certain she was just in need for hugs and complied immediately by grabbing on Verd and smothering her with his huge paws. Leaving Verd trapped in his grip for multiple minutes without any chances of escape.

Once the furry death trap had allowed her to part, Verd quickly jumped into the shower, cleaned up, fancy-tied up her hair, squeaked some perfume onto her face and slipped into the simplest of clothes she could find within her vast collection. Guard duty wasn’t something to be done in fancy pants. The other guards wouldn’t take her serious if she showed up in a gown or whatever. Funny enough, while Verd was dressing up she could hear the shower being turned on again. Avalanche was missing in the room. She would never get used to how smart Ninken were in comparison to normal pets. To her demise he didn’t really know how to towel-dry himself though. So, the wet bear just strolled back in all his messy glory to plant himself below the window. Was he actually going to get himself sun-dried? Dandi sighed and grabbed a bunch of towels and scrubbed the big buddy as clean as possible. “Come on buddy. We got a job to do!”

Dandi would eventually pass her dad on her way downstairs. He mumbled something akin to “Have a good day hon” and tossed her an apple. Verd munched on it as she sped down the insanely long stairway from the Yuki palace, aiming to get to the main road as quickly as possible. Picking up one of her rusty training blades on the way out. As she arrived on the main road, she would halt almost having Ava tumble right into her this time, since he was quite excited for getting out and about. Verd glared at her furry companion for a while as he stared at her with greedy eyes. “Seriously? Already hungry? That’s MY apple!” He kept staring more intensely. “Fiine, have it your way.” She tossed what was left of the fruity goodie and he munched it down in a single bite. “Hmmm alright, now which way was the Yuki Fort again? Haven’t been there in age…” Verd couldn’t finish her sentence. Ava pushed his head into her belly and basically backflipped her onto his back, before speeding off into the distance.

Verd was not yet used to ride her young polar bear and he was not really trained to be a very human-friendly mount. Dandi would be screaming and protesting most of her ride as the white fluff monster dashed through gates, past many city walls and entrances until they eventually came to a way more open field. She had to admit that this kind of transport might need getting used to but was indeed quite quick. Once Avalanche could see the large snowflake shaped flag of the Yuki Fort he immediately halted in his tracks. Sending the ice princess flying off forward for a few. Luckily, she did manage to push some chakra into her feet and actually catch herself without faceplanting herself a second time today. “Whew, way to wake yourself up…” she shook her head and eventually gazed over at some rather speechless guards that had seen her coming from quite afar already. They couldn’t really figure if the whole stunt was to be taken seriously or if it was a weird ass joke from someone. Verd however was quite used to the fact that her unusual companion was drawing attention so she ignored the guard’s long faces for the most part. “Anyone here know where to report for guard duty? I’m up for next shift!”

Patiently Toshi would wait at the gates for his mission parttner. Having arrived early to build affluence with the more experienced nin, he sat at the booth stationed next to the gate with a pensive look on his face. He'd begin setting up the registry, and pre-filling out important paperwork to help make his life, and the life of his partner, easier for the coming hours. He never really knew who his partner was going to be, but he'd been paired up with the same genin for months every time he took this mission. It was awkwardly early though for some. He coulda been a night owl.

An awkward turn in the tight space would cause Toshi to slam his right arm into a sharp corner. Even through plaster of Paris, the sudden force would send a jolt of pain through his arm. Maybe the reason he left was Toshi. The Ryuutei family wasn't renown enough to have a fort and an exclusive entrance named after them, but they definitely were still an influential family. Toshiyuki was a blemish marring that name, and it would make sense that genin looking to make connections with that family, or at least trying not to gain their ire, would cut ties.

He'd sit his over-sized backpack filled with a variety of seafood snacks in the booth with him as he waited for the first ninja to start making their way into the village. He could tell already that today wasn't going to go by terribly quickly, as this exit was a hot and cold type. Either people would flood through one after the other or next to no one would be using the entrance. Toshi however remained blind to the young genin who was to join him or the extraordinary creature that would follow with her.

The guard’s that were taking their leave would ogle the princess with an awkward glance. There were tons of weirdo’s in the far and wide world of shinobi, but a snow-white kunoichi with a polar bear was probably not their every day run-in either. Avalanche growled at the closest one as he stared for a bit too long. While not specifically in angst, the guards would quickly pull together and speed up to get a move on out of here. One of them was yet kind enough to just point at the booth on the other side of the gate. Verd waved at him with a thankful smile, Avalanche slowly catching up to her and licking her cheek while shaking his bum in excitement just like a huge dog. He probably thought that the way Verd basically fell off him was just her being playful. Dandi wasn’t going to lecture him to break and halt a bit more carefully just yet. She ruffles him by the neck and watched him growl in joy before she tugged on his collar for a second. “Alright, let’s get this over with. Just a few hours…” Verd smiled and Avalanche nodded.

As they approached the gate, Ava would plant his snout to the ground like a truffle piggy. His bum would shake excited again and he would quickly trot off forward towards the gates and around the corner. He must have smelled something nice.

Toshi would find himself greeted by the unusual large creature just suddenly passing through the gates from the within-side and making its way towards where the bag would be found with the nom-noms inside. Uncaring of Toshi’s reaction to the huge bear suddenly popping up, Ava would glare at him like a good boy and lower his front body while shaking his rear. Almost like a dog asking to play fetch. He was probably hoping to get a treat outta this guy.

“Hey! You already ate breakfast!” Verd would shout while coming around the corner. The princess’s eyes quickly meeting with Toshi’s. She would halt in her tracks and move slowly closer towards Avalanche. She’d lift her hand in a short soft waving motion to greet the young man. He was kind of cute but had no deplorable features that gave away his nature just yet. He could be a kind goof or an asshat. Verd was trying to figure out which type he’d belong to. Either way, she’d be stuck with him here for quite some time. “Hello! My name is Verdandi, I think we’re both on guard duty together!”

Despite that Verd could see her family crest painted all over this forts wallsk, she had no real depth in the philosophical differences between the poor, the casual and the wealthy families. This was just one of many forts built by her ancestors. They were the first to settle hear with the Hozuki Clan. Verd’s uncle had a thousand cool stories about the Yuki Clan’s accomplishments ready. Some were probably true; others were corrected to make them look better and again others were just blatantly self-invented stories just for the fame within. The princess wouldn’t know how it was to be a Ryuutei, but maybe she could learn about that today.