Smells Fishy to me

Catch of the Day:

Sozo let out a yawn as he awoke to his alarm went off he stretched his arms as he got out of his bed. His room was fairly organized with a few loose scrolls and books scattered around the floor as he headed over to his alarm to silence it. He looked out the window and saw that the sun was still not out as the faint moonlight shown through the light morning mist. He turned his back to the window and headed to the bathroom washing his face and getting dressed in in typical white shirt and light blue pants. He took his backpack and put some dried meat and fruits in containers before putting them in his backpack. He took his hip pouch and a holster with him as well just incase. The mission for the day seemed simple enough but he didn't want to be left unprepared.

After getting dressed and placing his headband around his neck he headed towards the Hozuki Fisheries where his mission was stationed for the day. The walk through the streets were rather calming as the brisk air hit his face and not many people were awake. If any were they were too busy getting set up for the day they didn't pay any real attention to the man with his backpack heading down the street. The whole mission seemed like it was a pain but it would help hopefully speed up people getting food around the village.

Sozo was empty minded as he just took in the area around him the place he called home. The smell of fish in the air snapped him back into reality. A loud voice called out "are you the help they sent us?!" a big bulky man who was the foreman of the area that Sozo would be working at for the day approached him. The foreman eyed Sozo up and down "They could have sent someone with a little bit more meat on their bones if you ask me." The foreman laughed at himself. Sozo just smiled and coldly responded with his smile "You know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Or maybe it you dont have faith in our village leader?" The foreman was taken back as he felt a cold sensation travel up his spine that wasn't of the weather. He thought about how creepy this kid was "I'm just messing with you kid no need to get so serious hahaha." the foreman said in a nervous tone.

Switching the topic the foreman lead Sozo over to his station where he would be in charge of pulling in the days catch and packing them. "Check the nets every two hours and put the fish on ice in containers over there to keep them fresh. Do you have any other questions you have for me?" The foreman asked Sozo only to receive a cold shake of the head from the white haired boy "Nope not at all I got it boss." Sozo said in a sarcastic tone.

The foreman headed back over to check up on a different group leaving Sozo alone at his station. There was a clock to help keep track of time and a log to put how many fish are caught. Sozo sat down and looked out into the vast water as he wondered what else was out there any other lands. As he spent all of his life in the land of water and he would like to see what else was out there in the world.

The smell of fish on the wind told Valen that he was about to arrive at his destination. The light mist in the air keeping things obscured at a distance and at times ones sense of hearing and smell were what told you something was ahead of you before even your eyes could. It made the residents of Kirigakure quite handy at fighting blind at times but regardless, it meant he was about to arrive at his mission location. The morning would be simple enough to get through as all they had to do was help the fishermen with their haul. It was something he was used to doing from his time as a slave on a pirate ship. After all, fish was how you lived out in the sea. It was bread and butter and if one couldn't fish, one would quickly find themselves dead. Of course Valen hadn't been fed much if at all in those days. The fish in the nets he pulled in were for the crew, of which he was not one. The proof of his poor diet as he grew was in his stature, having finished growing at exactly at 154 cm. Or 5'1 for those who prefer other measurements. As such the eighteen year old was constantly confused with a younger boy, especially when he had his coat jacket on as it hid his form.

Of course today, since he was going to be working in the sea, he had not bothered to bring it. As such he only wore black shinobi pants. No boots, since he might have to swim into the water to untangle part of the net if it caught on something, no shirt, and no coat. Since both would just get soaked by the days end anyway. As such the multitude of brands visible on his back could be seen, his proof of authenticity someone had called it one day when he had told them he had been enslaved. He had not known how to take that at the time. Still didn't for that matter. It seemed irrelevant to him what someone else judged him for. He hadn't known he was a slave, or rather he hadn't known what it had met. Having been born on such a ship. He'd grown up manacled, and uneducated. The latter of which was only recently getting fixed. His caretaker had taught him words and numbers. Although Valen still couldn't read quickly, he could in fact read. Numbers he was better at, they made more sense to him than communication did.

All of this is irrelevant however, and the short man with tall spiky black hair with white streaked in places to make odd patterns arrived near the foreman and a man whom he did not know. The foreman was just telling the man how often to check the nets, which made this man Valen's mission partner for the day. Turning toward him, the dark haired, red eyed, diminutive Valen would simply stare at him, letting the man take the lead on any conversation. Should more than a few seconds pass without comment, the genin would move over to his own station next to Sozo's and sit down, testing the net with practiced hands and ensuring everything was working as intended. If the silence stretched too long he would probably say something, but a life of being beaten for speaking out of turn instilled habits that one did not easily break. He would take the time to ensure his own logs and crates were ready. Thankfully logs were easy, it was numbers mostly and that meant he understood it better. When his area was organized and ready for quick and efficient movement, he would sit in the chair and quietly look out at the see, content to sit there for a time before trying to broach any form of conversation himself.

Sozo was sitting in his chair enjoying the nice calming sound of the waves crashing against the docks. The sound of birds cawing in the mist as they flew in the air it was a truly amazing morning. The sound of piece was broken as the foreman came back explaining the way things go around the dock and with the mission. Sozo's eyes were closed as he was enjoying the peace of the water. Sozo opened one of his eyes taking a peak of the person who was also helping with the mission. He was surprised as the black haired man was getting everything set up and checking the nets before taking a seat next to Sozo. There was a silence in the air till Sozo decided to break the silence. With a smile on his face he gave a wave towards the black haired man "Hi. I guess your the other person sent to help here. Well I guess I'll introduce myself I'm Sozo. What about yourself?"  Sozo said in a calm cold tone as he laid back in his chair as he looked over at the time seeing not that much time has passed.

Sozo stretched his arms as he was thinking of how he would want to go about this mission. It seemed that his teammate has had more experience with actual fishing based on how he acted around the nets and getting everything set up for himself. With a shrug of the shoulders Sozo made the tiger sign and made two water clones. The clones sat by the nets giving Sozo time to focused his attention towards his teammate "Were you a fisherman before becoming a shinobi of the mist?"  Sozo asked curiously before going back and keeping his eyes closed as he enjoyed the water and weather. Even though he could have gone without the smell of the fish in the air but that was part of the mission so he was expecting that much. He let out a small sigh of enjoyment as one of his hands started to make different hand seals to help release some built up energy he had built up.

With a smile and a wave the man he was supposed to work with greeted him although Valen returned neither wave nor smile. He just wasn't the type to do either action. He would however introduce himself when Sozo did, giving someone something to call you was important and made communication easier. The thought reminded him of his years rowing, he hadn't had a name then. He had a designation 'Rower 5'. That was what he was called at all times when he had started rowing and he had barely been able to remember his actual name once he had been freed. Shaking the memory off he would look the man in the eye for a moment before turning back to his work. It was a casual acknowledgement of ones presence. He would speak however as he worked, ensuring everything was in working order. "My name is Valen." He would say simply, his lack of social elegance being obvious with the simple answer. Sozo would proceed to create two water clones that would help him in his work while Valen finished up checking his net, containers, and any other necessary implements. Everything seemed fine.

Sozo's question would bring back memories of helping to haul fish up from the sea in nets when he wasn't rowing. Having to dive into the water when the net caught on the barnacles on the ship and then having to scrape them off to ensure the ship was as fast as possible during the evening pause to rest the rowers from their daily exertion. Memories of doing all of the work and getting almost none of the food from the situation. It all went back to his days in enslavement didn't it? Regardless Sozo had asked a question, it was polite to answer wasn't it? The multitude of brands on his back seemed to stand out as he answered. At least in Valen's mind anyway. "Something like that yeah." He would say before sitting back in a chair to wait for the time for the nets to be checked. It would be a while yet for the first check.

Sozo looked and noticed some odd marks on his teammates back it looked like a rough life. It wasn't something that Sozo was really interested in someone's past if they weren't in the mood to talk about it. Still it did raise Sozo's interest. He was looking to piece together an idea based on how well he was handling the fishing nets and his body looked like it was one that was use to hard physical work. It was hard to talk to the man as he was a man of a few words only giving Sozo his name which Sozo found it sounded weird and wondered if he was born from the mist.

Sozo looked at the time as Valen sat down in a chair waiting for time to row in the nets. Sozo's clones focused on the nets to make sure nothing was out of the ordinary. Once the checks came out okay they sat down as the breeze brushed against the waves. Sozo looked at Valen out of the corner of his eye "You don't like to talk much do you Valen?" Sozo asked curiously trying to piece more of the man together. Sozo's stomach growled as he forgot to eat breakfast as he reached into his backpack and took out some fruit to eat. After eating a few pieces he offered some to Valen unsure if the man has ate yet. As a half hour passed Sozo started to realize he couldn't be a fisherman as the job seemed rather boring to himself as well on the other hand found a small appreciation for those who could do this job everyday.

Valen was beginning was beginning to wander. The day was peaceful and quiet and overall the mission was going to be fairly simple. Just work the nets every couple of hours. Once the nets were pull out the first time they would have their first haul to handle which could take anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour to pack away neatly. Then they could relax for the next hour while waiting for their nets to fill up again. Looking toward the station next to his he wondered if he could fill the void of time between things by setting up another station to be checked too. If he set it up at the one hour mark it would be done every second hour too and then he could sort and pack his station and then go to that one and sort and pack it before coming back to his station. Constant work, but that was exactly what the shorter man was used to. So handling it would be easy. Hell, he'd done much harder work on the ships. It was at this contemplative thought that Gajeel would speak, asking a question of him that would cause an instinctive response. "I do not." He would say simply, and in fact, wasn't being sarcastic. He really didn't speak much unless there was actually a topic of interest. Or something that made him curious.

With that he would lean his head back in his chair and let his mind wander until one hour had gone by. When that happened, his internal clock able to keep good time thanks to his years of rowing which, while had a drummer to keep the beat, still instilled the ability to do so in one, he would stand and move over to the station next to his original. He would set it up too, dropping the nets into the water and should Sozo's eyes be upon him he would speak. "I'm going to set up this net too and switch between the stations. Sorting and packing each batch should only take around a half hour, an hour at most." He would explain. Then of course being who he was he would proceed to go quiet again. He got the nets thrown, the containers full of ice and set the station to 'Ready'. That way warehouse workers who came to pick up the containers they sorted would bring empties for this one too. With that done he would move back to his original seat, since it was going to be the one to need to be pulled up first and once again leaned back and let his mind wander.

His set up would work flawlessly given the timing and as the time ran out on the first nets he would haul them in, pulling the filled nets up and beginning to sort them into the iced containers. Once that was done, a process that as he had expected, took about a half hour, and when he was done with the first one he moved over to the second one and lifted those nets and sorted them as well. All in all he got quite a bit of work done this way and he got that round of fish sorted into there containers as well. Once that was done the young man would move back over to his first station and kick back in the chair, waiting for the next hour and a half to pass so he could pull up the first net again. He closed his eyes as he waited, allowing himself to drift lightly as many did when doing this work. It was fairly common practice seeing how much idle time anyone waiting on the nets had and so there wasn't any reprimand for it. He would continue his work throughout the day, alternating between the stations he had set up before snoozing again between bouts of work.

Overall the day passed without incident and when it was all said and done Valen would wordlessly, although not rudely, leave after checking out with the same man who they had met that morning. With that he would leave, heading home to get some rest before working on training something or perhaps obtaining another mission on the next day.

[4]

Exit.