Team A Meeting

Appearance:

Team A....for Andariel.

The succubus embraced the packet she received from Doctor Kurisu against her chest, which would normally be supple if not packed against a layer of forged steel. She wanted to upgrade her armor set to include a rigid defense instead of relying on her mail like she has been up to this point. She imagined the Genin that made it this far would be made of tougher stuff. But at the very least she knew the Survivals would be an easy victory for her. With her upbringing combined with her combat finesse it was the test she wanted. Clearly she was not unprepared and wasn't going to topple over easy.

She arrived to the designated training area which was mentioned before. It certainly looked intimidating for a training ground. The perimeter suggested it was holding back some gnarly dangers from within. She stood quietly with her hands clasped behind her back for her partner to arrive. There was a drizzle overhead which started an hour before she left her room. It was relaxing and almost nostalgic as it beat against the Oni's head making no attempts to cover and preserve herself.

Apparently there had been a mistake. Despite the fact that Doctor Naji had failed her very explicitly while she was in the exams, a letter had been sent apologizing for the mistake they had made during the exam, and that her written exam had been reviewed and she was permitted to proceed to the next round. A massive packet would be included with it that gave instructions for progressing to the next round.

And by a letter had been sent, this meant that a courier had to be sent to her to deliver it in person. This had been pretty difficult, since Ikomiki had never settled down into a permanent place of residence while in Kirigakure. Unlike the other Genin who seemed to be enjoying living in the state provided living spaces, Ikomiki had eschewed that and made herself comfortable in the streets of Kirigakure. There were enough parks and public spaces for her to be fine living in this way, and she was rather used to it from her time living with the Ninneko of Sora-ku, but it made her very difficult to track down. Considering there were only a mere three days between the first part of the exams and the second, this resulted in a very difficult job for the unfortunate courier.

It became even more difficult for them as Ikomiki demanded that the courier would read the letter aloud to her after the letter had been delivered. Her excuse? Cats don’t know how to read. This wasn’t exactly true, but while Ikomiki did know how to read a bit she wasn’t entirely fluent. It was what made the written exams more or less an impossibility for her. She insisted on performing her answer to the written exams instead of writing it down, which Doctor Naji seemed rather unamused by. By some contrivances she had still somehow passed though. The poor courier would eventually relent and read both the contents of the letter and the package to her, before dumping the papers on her and skulking away.

And that was why Ikomiki was here now, approaching Gate A while in the rain, when she had planned to be hunting for pigeons instead. It was something she much rather would have doing. Instead the water would be streaming down her, getting her hair and ears and outfit soaked. The pretty dress she normally wore, one of the few aspects of humanity she had wholeheartedly adopted, wasn’t exactly the most practical outfit for a situation like this. It at least hid the pouches and holsters she had attached to her waist, but other than that it felt more or less like a pure negative at the moment. She was half considering just ditching it and continuing on without any clothing, but she was very fond of this dress. That, and it might have gotten cold later.

The gate seemed to have some huge, armor clad woman with horns and a variety of weaponry attached to her. If it hadn’t been for her face being uncovered Ikomiki might have just assumed she was some strange statue of metal. The catgirl would eye up the Yokai as she approached, stopping silently only a few feet away from her. Although Ikomiki said nothing she would give something of a sharp glare towards the taller woman, as if she was angry about something.

Andariel stood in the rain enjoying its aesthetic. It was refreshing as it beat against her jet black hair and ran down the sides of her face. She wouldn't feel much of it on her body given the thick clothing she wore, and fortunately her armor was made of steel instead of iron otherwise she'd be in a bad position. Despite the load of gear she carried it was practically weightless to her. Gear combined she weighed upwards to two-hundred and forty pounds. Andariel waited for her partner to arrive, a bit anxious who she would end up with. Hopefully it wasn't Jin, the boy in her written exam. Normally she wasn't shy, at least she would like to think that. Individual encounters she handled fine, however there were layers of comfort that started with her own kind, being the most comfort, to residence in her own village, then foreign strangers. Being in a room full of strangers made her more self-conscious than usual. To have to coexist with them in a room while taking a test with a somewhat intimidating proctor made her cave into pressure.

But now was her time to shine. She got to hit people and fight, the sole reason she even signed up for the Chuunin Exams. From the pounding rain there was the sound footsteps approaching as they stomped through the muddied path. Turning around she saw a young girl with the features of a cat. Andariel was convinced this girl was a Yokai of some sort. Perhaps not the branch directly related to Kumogakure, but she was not entirely human. There was a bit of relief that came from the Oni as she raised a hand wiggling her fingers giving something relevant to a wave as a grin made its way across her face.

"Hi."

Ikomiki coughed. The movement in her chest was painful, and she would cringe slightly from that feeling afterwards. It wasn’t something she could help. There were a variety of deep purple bruises covering her chest and stomach, and any disruption to the skin or musculature of that area of her body was sure to be painful. That, together with the sharpness in her left side. She was half sure she had cracked a rib after what had happened, even in the doctors insisted she hadn’t.

Her ears would twitch as Andariel spoke, angling over to direct themselves to her like big angling satellite dishes. It was an unnecessary reflex. There would be a single quick swish of her tail behind her, and from there it would slowly curl upwards, until it was tight against her back in a loop. Focus.  Nervousness. Ikomiki’s body language was easy to read, if the person reading knew what to look for. It was just like that of a cat. Her tail stayed like this as she analyzed over the woman in front of her. Ikomiki stood at 5’5”, and so Andariel would tower over her. Even from a distance now the difference in stature was easy to see. Together with the way that Andariel was dressed, covered in thick metal plates, made an impression of strength. Ikomiki, in her torn and blood-stained dress, with her ratty and tangled hair, with the slight limp when she walked, with the pain in her face when she coughed, did not.

Ikomiki’s eyes would settle on the girl’s horns. They were white. Came right out of her head. She would look at them for a while, saying nothing. Then her expression would droop. The sharp glare would evaporate, and what was left would just be the look of a tired young girl.

“You’re not human either. Good.”

Andariel saw her partners who looked rather beat up. Her clothes were dirty, hair a mess, and she had a clear wound across her chest. "Oh my. You don't look too good." The Oni's gloved hand reached back into her medkit pouch and grabbed a small container. It was made of carved wood and as she unscrewed the lid, discarding it to the side, the inside was filled with a white, chalky cream. Anyone with basic retail knowledge knew this was a pain reliever and healing aid. She used her teeth to bite her glove and remove it allowing her to dab her fingers into the ointment and started gingerly applying it to the girl's cut. It was a very shallow cut, but left untreated. She imagined the jungle didn't provide very sanitary accommodations and she didn't want to risk the cut to begin to fester with disease. Once the ointment was placed on the wound Iko would immediately feel relief from the pain caused by the cut and bruising. She covered the wound entirely before wrapping it in standard bandage. There was no bleeding to stop. She only wished to keep the wound covered so it could heal properly.

"You should be set, now." Just as Andariel finished the procedure there was a buzzing as their gate opened. Patting her fingers used to apply the ointment against her pants she slid her glove back on and approached the security checkpoint. The man offered her the relic, a Black Knight, which she took and stored in her hip pouch. She'd step through the gate and immediately cease being rained upon as the canopy of the jungle protected her from the drizzle. The guard would wait for Ikomiki to join her on the other side before the buzz was heard again and the gate shut lock behind them. They had their objective. Without a word to Iko she would start heading into the jungle trying to find the clearest and easiest weathered path to take.

[Exit]

The way the woman spoke was curious. She didn’t know how to react to it. It was her tone, maybe. Smooth. Like milk, or maybe broth. Ikomiki couldn’t tell. The difference wasn’t something she knew yet. One was cold and one was hot. Right now she couldn’t tell if Andariel was milk or broth. But that was just her first impression. Things could change. She was learning more and more not to trust her instincts. Things were always just too unpredictable. That was something she was beginning to learn, after all the messes she had gotten into lately. She didn’t flinch when Andariel reached into her side pouch, even though she sort of wanted to. Her tail would uncurl from its position once she saw what she had pulled out wasn’t a weapon.

She would have preferred that Andariel didn’t approach so close and start touching her like that. Apparently this wasn’t just basic manners for strangers not to do to each other, as she would have thought. Maybe a few days ago she would have hissed at it, but after what she had just recently had to deal with it almost seemed like a relief that this girl hadn’t just straight put a knife to her throat. Ikomiki was able to recognize a bit of what was happening as well. Medicine. Something like that. She would twist a bit uncomfortably as Andariel touched her bruised chest. Ikomiki had almost forgotten about the cut, which apparently hadn’t even healed properly after those three days. Seeing it made her think of Doctor Naji again. The fact that it was clearly visible as it was directly under a similarly shaped cut in her dress meant that she probably should have been more aware of it.


“Alright.” Her tail would flick through the air, swishing a bit as Andariel pulled away. She would nod her head slowly at the confirmation. Once the buzzing began Ikomiki would find herself following behind Andariel, allowing the larger and more imposing woman to take the lead. With the gate locking behind them, and their objective clear, there would be nothing stopping them from getting started. The sooner they did hopefully the sooner this would all be over.

[Exit to Survivals]