Welcome to Gaia! ::

Shadow quickly gobbled up the rest of the meal and stood up quickly. He was ready to take his new friend on, and plus, no matter what the outcome, it would be good to learn one of his competitors general strategy. That way she wouldn't be able to pull out any surprises should they actually have to fight. Shadow stood near the door of the restaurant and waited for the girl to pay up and do everything. He would have just gone ahead though unfortunately... He wasn't completely sure where the mountains she was talking about were.

((Considering it an EXIT post))
[[Whooo, so happy! Shadow finally has 40 chakra!]]

Artemis was a professional, even if only subconsciously. She never looked at anyone, or focused on any one thing. She took everything in. In fact, she even noticed that one of the girls didn't quite use her eyes as much as she should. None of it registered to her. In fact, she couldn't even have told you who was right-handed or who was left-handed. Her skin seemed to even shine in the darkness, albeit with a deathly glow. She looked like a freshly bled-out corpse, but with just a little more life in it... The eyes. That must have been it. There was so much raw emotion in those eyes that it gave the corpse life.

She sighed and looked at everyone eating. She could afford it... She probably should eat, to at least look normal... And the last thing she wanted was to stand out after she had finally managed to get out.

Everyone's changed... Gig-kun grew up... Kei-chan grew up... Everyone is big... It's not fair. She looked up, gracefully startled from her reverie and noticed her waitress ask her a question that she numbly understood.

"Quis operor liberi esitare hic?"

Artemis looked at the woman as the waitress gave her a blank expression. Artemis sighed softly. Why can't anyone here speak a decent language?

"What do children usually eat here?"

The woman instantly sprung into action, as if trying to make up for lost time, pointing and explaining the dishes to Artemis. They all looked and sounded disgusting. She hadn't eaten anything in over ten years before Gig made her down that apple. There's really no point in wasting any money on this, is there? Even If I'm trying not to stand out, I can not eat, right? Artemis just shook her head and muttered "Aqua, commodo." Once again, that blank look. Someone in the back of Artemis' mind spoke up no wonder she's a waitress. "Just a water, please..."

And she had an iced water on the table. Even it looked disgusting. She didn't even touch it, choosing instead to sit and try to forget everything. She was completely useless in this village because she was completely specialized. She could take on any mission they could give her, but they wouldn't give her any good missions. And she was not going to do a boring mission. She sighed softly, forgetting to close her eyes as she stared at the table. Nothing. Her eyes didn't even turn red. She continued to stare at the table, only very subconsciously paying attention to everyone else.

She seemed... Timeless. She appeared --in her extraordinarily old-fashioned dress, and with her hair as it was-- to be from a long ago time, and for some reason, she just seemed wrong...

A quite nod was all Amaya gave Rai in response before her own eyes averted to her hands on the table. The silence that followed wasn't necessarily an uncomfortable one; more like the result of two private individuals trying to have some sort of decent conversation. Luckily they wouldn't have to struggle long as Yumi came wandering back seeming to have taken no time at all to gather their order. She set the large tray down on a table beside them and placed the tea on the table followed by the two steamy bowls of curry. "Enjoy!" she exclaimed with a wink before fluttering off.

Amaya watched the girl go for a moment before focusing on the heavenly scent of the sweet and spicy curry before her. She really did owe Rai big time. Her stomach hardly had time to growl before she picked up her set of chopsticks on the table and pulled the bowl close to her. Her mask was lowered from over her nose and lips without a second thought as she ate. There really wasn't much of anything gruesome to hide with the exception of four faded and thin scars in varying length that strayed at an angle long the left side of her face from the tip of her nose, past her lips and to the edge of her chin. There was once a time where she couldn't bare to look at the scars from the memories they brought or the appearance. Now a days, however, she kept the mask for sake of habit and lack of having to answer annoying questions or lingering stares. It was still something to be seen that she would lower it so casually around someone.

She watched as he ate his curry with a quiet amusement. Looks like the sweet and spicy curry was a double success today. Another thing suddenly struck her as odd and she paused only for a moment as it registered that she had just freely shown her face to him. A slight discomfort crept at the edges of her conscious with the realization, but when she looked up from her bowl and met his eyes, along with his smile, there was really nothing to be uncomfortable about. "Glad you like it," she said with her half smirk. It must have had an entirely different effect now that he could actually see her little smiles with the mask out of the way.

A few more scoopfuls and Amaya was able to take a moment to let what she had eaten settle a bit in her stomach. There was something she was curious about since the last time they were together. "How was that water jutsu Keiko-sensei was teaching you?" Element affinities were something beyond Amaya's comprehension. She wasn't even sure of how to know if she had one herself. A trip to the library was overdue on the matter really.

"I got something I liked out of it. So lets call it even, you owe me nothing after all. Except maybe your time." He would simply nod in acknowledgment of her statement as to whether he liked it. He didn't really think that stating the obvious was necessary or desirable. He would hold a half smile still. He never really had the chance to be sociable with anyone. Even his own teammates really didn't have time to hang out with him. They would rather hangout without him. Or at least he saw it that way. Who really cared? He tried not to....

He got an unpleasant feeling when she asked about the jutsu. He hid it the best he could. "I..uh.. she didn't end up teaching me.. We left for the mission and I haven't seen sensei since then. She may be ducking me to avoid. I can't blame her. She is pregnant and Giglamesh-sensei would have my head if she hurt herself training me." He would have a hand over his mouth now, that kind of muffled his speech. He had already been done eating. He was just kind of leaning against his hand that way. But he would move it shortly after. Being rude wasn't something he wished to do.

He would give Amaya a simple nodding gesture to the things she said about Keiko-sensei and his current condition. Raisuke would change the expression on his face. It went from simply having a good time, to his normal look of pure determination. "With or without her guidance in jutsu training.. I will continue to grow. Even if it means developing new jutsu all on my own." A bit after that he would give her another small smile. Yet his eyes still held that determination.

But as Rai saw her refill her cup his mind would snap back to reality. Ninja or not, they were in there deserved times of rest now. He didn't need to be showing off or trying to get people to think the ways that he thought. With that in mind, he lifted his cup to his lips. Taking in the warm beverage before sitting his cup back on the table. Then his eyes closed softly before answering her question. "I believe its just something you can feel within you. Like something that is a trait you share with the element you can use more easily than others. I could feel.. like the river was one with my body. Like I was made up of water. It was a funny.. strange feeling. But somehow I knew what it meant." He then started to really wonder how he knew it, himself. It did happen just like some mystic occurrence. It was honestly mind-boggling.

Raisuke would shake his head lightly to the fact that she was putting the mask back on. He didn't really understand why she wore the mask. And keeping quiet wasn't exactly his thing. "Why is it you wear that mask? I really don't see any reason for you to. I like seeing you without it." He smiled a little to simply try and make her comfortable.

"As for the advice.. its what friends do, right? I would expect you to do the same for me someday." He would take the last small drink of his tea. Then he reclined back in his chair. A dangerous situation it the legs were to break or if he were pushed back at all.