Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Yo, nee-chan!" Akio called out brashly as he entered the salon. It wasn't a high street salon by any means. In fact, it could be considered a low end salon, but Akio didn't care. He didn't have that much money, after all, and his sister gave the best haircuts in town (or so he thought. Other people probably wouldn't agree with him). "How you been?"

He ignored all the other hairdressers as he stalked down the rather spotty row of customers getting their hair cut until he reached his sister in the middle. As far as he could tell they were pretty pointless to know. It wasn't like they could give him anything of value after all. His sister thought they were all right and always told him to be nicer, but then again she worked with them, so whatever.

"Akio!" she admonished him. "Don't keep coming in here like you own the place!" But nonetheless she wheeled up a seat for him, which he took, making himself comfortable. "The same as usual, please, nee-chan," he said, although there wasn't really any need to. Since he'd started coming to get his hair cut 2 years ago he had only ever asked for one style. His sister started to massage his head gently and he relaxed and settled in.

"Akio..." she said teasingly. "You haven't been keeping up your style in the way I taught you. Is being a kid too much work to shave your scalp daily?" Now that her brother was relaxed, she moved on to the actual work, taking out the razor and shaving cream to shave off the fuzz that had grown around Akio's mohawk.

"Yeah, it is," Akio snarked, smirking at his sister's reflection in the mirror. "No, I mean I knew I was coming to you again today, so I just slacked off a bit for the past few days, that's all." He didn't mention what he'd been doing the past few days but he knew his sister probably had an idea.

"Ah, by the way, nee-chan, I enrolled into the ninja academy," he said casually, and checked his sister's reaction. She had stopped slathering cream over his head for a moment and was now peering at him with narrowed eyes. "You know that being a ninja isn't a laughing matter, right," she said to him. "It's not something you can fall back on for shits and giggles. They send you out to missions outside of the country, even. And it's not even safe within the country because of the civil war. You could die."

"I know, nee-chan," he laughed it off. "I thought about it." He didn't mention that shinobi pay wasn't bad, because it wasn't the reason he had decided to enroll and he didn't want his sister to get ideas. "It's what I want to do. I start tomorrow."

His sister started to drag the razor carefully across his scalp. "Well, if you're sure about it... Mum said yes? I wonder..." Akio watched her think about it, knowing that she'd accept it eventually. She worked silently on his scalp until it was practically shiny from the new baldness and towelled it clean. Then she turned her attention to his fluffy mohawk, trimming it the best she could. A snip here, a shave there, to create new layers and optimise volume. Occasionally she ran her fingers through it to check length and Akio wasn't going to lie, it felt weird the first time and it still felt weird now.

"I suppose you'll have to brush up on your hair maintenance skills then," she finally said, smirking at the unintended pun and at the look on Akio's face. "When they send you out on missions, I won't be there to make sure your scalp stays shiny." It was a pretty lame comment, but Akio let it slide. "And I'm done!" she declared, running her fingers through his mohawk one last time. "Even though I still don't understand why you're so keen on this hairstyle, but whatever works for you I guess."

"Thanks, sis." Akio got up and followed her to the counter, where she processed his payment merely for formality reasons, since his money was partially her money and also the family's money and all that. "I'll be going now... I have some stuff to do." He waved to his sis and was about to leave the salon, but she stopped him. He recognised that look on her face... oh no. It was mush time. Fortunately his sister kept it short.

"Akio..." she paused, thinking of how to phrase it. "Work hard in the academy, okay? It's not going to be a short cut to whatever you want to achieve. Good luck in your first day tomorrow." Akio listened quietly as she talked, why did his sister always have to make things so serious? But she was still his sister, and he knew she packed quite a mean punch... Eventually, he nodded. "Yeah, I know." He conjured up an uncharacteristically serious tone for himself which was only partially fake. "See ya, nee-chan." And without further ado, he left to walk the streets of Konoha.

Fudou Akio

Drug pusher Awareness DC: 10
Roll: d20 + Awareness [3] + wis mod [-1]

Well, the decision to run had been an extremely poor one. Once the drug pusher had caught up to him and Fudou had done some incredibly stupid things including trying to escape again and eventually spitting in his face, the pusher had given him an all-round beating up for wasting his time and being so rude before leaving to hawk for more business. Note to self, Fudou thought, keep a calmer head. The whole thing had also wasted precious minutes and Akio was beginning to wonder if taking the other path would have been a better idea. At least it was shorter so he had a smaller chance of being attacked. I mean he was barely a third of the way and had already been hurt...

Get to school
You must do this at the start of every day on the journey to the academy.
Life sucks and you inhabit a rough neighbourhood. Even though it's early morning, this is the time when the drug pushers and druggies are out to get their fix. A vulnerable looking young boy with an obvious attitude problem such as yourself may be an attractive target for exploitation. Even if you are dirt poor and have no ryo, they don't know that. Avoid trouble!

-Three posts of travel to get to the academy.
-Each post, roll a d4. 1,2-Nothing happens, 3-Get accosted by drug pusher, 4-Get accosted by druggie.

Awareness DC to detect arrival of druggie/pusher: 10 (allows attempt at Stealth roll)
Stealth DC to hide from druggie/pusher: 8/12

Athletics DC to flee from druggie/pusher: 8/12
Charisma skill DC to persuade druggie/pusher to clear off: 8/15

Upon failure, get beaten up. -2 Hp.
Current Hp: 7/9

Post 2/3 to get to academy.

Fudou Akio

[Why is Akio's luck so crappy in the morning.. lol]

Akio closed his eyes briefly in frustration as he spotted another person heading towards him. Clearly a druggie by the looks of her straggly hair and bloodshot eyes. Probably believing that he was a nice looking boy ready to help and all that. Or maybe just wanting to mug his vulnerable looking self. He appraised the woman and decided she didn't look that threatening, but kept his guard up just in case. He was all ready to ignore her and keep walking on, but she didn't get the message. Finally she got close enough to him and opened her mouth, but Akio wheeled around before she could speak. His muscles still hurt from the beating the pusher had given him barely 10 minutes ago and he was just angry.

"Look, I don't have money," he stated up front, giving the woman a furious glare. "I don't have drugs either. I don't have anything to give you. Why don't you go away and bother someone else? Or better yet, there's a drug pusher down the road just there." He pointed behind him. "Why don't you go bother him?"

Druggie Intimidate DC: 8
Roll: d20 + Intimidate [4] + cha mod [1]

Get to school
You must do this at the start of every day on the journey to the academy.
Life sucks and you inhabit a rough neighbourhood. Even though it's early morning, this is the time when the drug pushers and druggies are out to get their fix. A vulnerable looking young boy with an obvious attitude problem such as yourself may be an attractive target for exploitation. Even if you are dirt poor and have no ryo, they don't know that. Avoid trouble!

-Three posts of travel to get to the academy.
-Each post, roll a d4. 1,2-Nothing happens, 3-Get accosted by drug pusher, 4-Get accosted by druggie.

Awareness DC to detect arrival of druggie/pusher: 10 (allows attempt at Stealth roll)
Stealth DC to hide from druggie/pusher: 8/12

Athletics DC to flee from druggie/pusher: 8/12
Charisma skill DC to persuade druggie/pusher to clear off: 8/15

Upon failure, get beaten up. -2 Hp.
Current Hp: 7/9

Post 2/3 to get to academy.

Fudou Akio

[enter from Library]
CP: 265/280

Rhaim continued out of the library and into the quickly dying streets of the village. With the wartime curfew in effect all civilians would need to be indoors soon and all Genin would have to back within the confines of the village, unless on assignment with a Jounin. Though Chuunin didn't need escorts to move freely they also couldn't escort lower ranked shinobi. Fortunately a few shops like Ichiraku Ramen saw the potential for serious money making and registered their business as their home in order to keep it open all night. The young ninja kept his hands in his pockets as he went over those and other rules for the safety of the village in his head.

[exit to Ichiraku Ramen]

Felix was walking beside Rhaim, keeping pace with the older teen by simply doubling his footsteps every third or fourth pace... it was interesting to keep track of the pattern. Though his hands were not in his pockets, but above his head and behind it, he walked with his eyes up, watching the sky and leaning his head back into his cupped hands there.
By now he was in his own little world, but once Rhaim spoke up Felix glanced over at him, still resting his head back into his hands.
"...Nope..." Felix exhaled in a pondering contemplative tone... pursing his lips and then shaking his head a little like that. "...I saw one lightning shooting squirrel though..." Felix grinned faintly, eyes slipping back over to watch Rhaim.
"...They're always watching you know..." He chuckled faintly in jest, wondering if indeed there 'may be' a squirrel nation out there, perhaps like the rest of the summons? ...boy, that would be intriguing...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Enter from Ichiraku Ramen)

Felix had already forgotten the whole point of his joke by the time Rhaim responded, causing him to glance from the sky, where he was beginning to pick out faint stars, back to the Nara in curiosity. He was not offended at the silence, he rather enjoyed it actually. Felix was not a verbal person at all, tending to keep most of his words in speculation until a time when they were needed. Unless he was bored... If he was bored he tended to break rules, his own included.
And so Felix raised an eyebrow at Rhaim's next question, lowering his arms to cross behind his back casually as they walked, and lowering his head to watch the ground now. He could sense the new spry to the guys walk, even if it was just an unconscious tip off from the way the guy was asking questions now.
"...Well..." Felix lifted his hand, raising fingers one at a time to count off his list of accomplishments...
"..I graduated the academy for breakfast... elevensies of target practice, followed by a filling lunch of hard physical working out in the barracks... and then finished my day off with scrubbing dishes in the Ramen shop to make a bit of money..." His voice trailed off as they walked onward to the barracks.
"..So.. what did you do today Rhaim?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(exit to 1st platoon barracks.)