Viridian Dreams Forum

Kisuke pushes his glasses up, and they catch the sunlight in an evil glint for a second.

"It would seem that way, wouldn't it?" he turns to Itsuki, "Thank you for making breakfast Tenchi-kun."

Tenchi smirks as he settles into his role a bit more. "Not a problem Kyo."

"We break camp and then move out." their team leader says in response to Aoi's question. "Let's get to it."

oog: Do we really need to go into detail for this? I can but really it's basic camping stuff...

oog: No, we really don't. Packing up camp is boooring.

Camp is broken in short order, unless the ninja turned yakuza want to annoy their oyabun. Once it is done they'll get going.

oog: Take us away, ewuvi!

The morning passes without incident, the team avoiding contact with civilians successfully. They're making good time and break for lunch.

oog: how much further is Sodegaura at this point?

Another day of travel. You'll be camping out tonight.

They do stop for a midday break/meal and it does include the necessary ration bars and water but some mystery jerky is passed around as well. Nozomu Katsumaru (Nishiyori) will remind his organization to converse with each other as their covers, that it's about being family and knowing each other like one.

"Don't think of it as a cover, though. Instead, it's your true self....at least the current one." he adds the last bit with a slight grin.

'Pretending to be someone else comes with certain risks besides being discovered. You get used to being different people and you may lose track of part of yourself.'

They should be fine he thinks. It's just one cover and it won't be that long anyway.

oog: hm, you'd think they'd have come up with the ninja version of CLIF bars by now. Actually, I'm craving one right now for some reason.

some mystery jerky is passed around as well.

MYSTERY JERKY IS PEOPLE!

...sorry about that, I couldn't help myself. I'll just go now.

Aoi eats, mostly silently. "So, Boss, would you mind instructing us...or me, a little?" she says a bit hesitantly. This is her first mission of this sort, and she's a bit nervous.

"I've instructed you in our culture and mannerisms, Chie-chan. But I'm guessing you mean something else, right?"

"Haha, I mean, I know the stuff, but not how to do it. They don't exactly do a stellar job of covering this in academy." she says, a little embarrassed.

"What's most important is being comfortable with being the identity." Nishiyori explains. "You need to find the matching emotions in yourself and harness them. After that instinct tends to go a long way."

"We'll try a simple exercise. Have you ever worked yourself up into real anger before? I want you to look at..." he looks around for a victim, er, I mean volunteer...yeah, and spots one. "...Tenchi, here. Tenchi just did something to make you really pissed off. What'd he do?" he asks, urging her to fill in the gaps with her own thoughts and feelings.

oog: changed things a bit as you can see.

Tenchi looks up from where he's leaning against a tree, arches an eyebrow, then hawks a loogie into the bushes to one side.

"Depends on how pissed. Kick him in the nads, if he's being a crude know-it-all," Aoi replies, smirking. Then she drops her head and, blushing, appears to be attempting to fold in on herself.

(yeah, that did carry over from the previous Sodegaura to this one.)

"That's good, but now you need to harness a certain feeling on demand, Chie-chan." the new oyabun moves and stands to her side. "Stand up straight." he gruffly orders.

Chie does so, eying Nishiyori warily.

Nishiyori is no longer present, this is Katsumaru, and he looks directly into the girl's eyes. He has the bearing of a father expecting an answer from a child. "What's your name, eh? What's your family?"

"Chie. You," she gestures vaguely at where Haru, Kyo, and Shin are, "and them." she says the last part with a hint of question.

He nods. "Got it in one Chie-chan, we're all family." Katsumaru also gestures to Tenchi and Rika* if Chie did not. "The Namazu-kai. You're a part of a family, an organization. That means you got respect. And if someone insults you it's an insult to the family, and an insult to the family..." he leads, hoping she'll see the opposite is true as well.

oog: *hm, we still need a name for Rika.

"And I'll get anyone who insults them...unless they totally deserved the insult," Chie comments.

"You've earned your spot here, and deserve respect like all of us."

'Something that can apply to both identities, creating common traits between them, is helpful when trying to get someone else into a role'

"If someone says or acts different they'll find out what's what, just like you said before, right?" he says with a small grin, obviously referring to her more..."creative" response to insults. He pats her shoulder.

"That applies to these jokers too if they tease ya." he gestures to his male subordinates.

oog: I hope that helps her for now.

Chie nods vigorously and smiles at Katsumaru.

oog:yes, that's it for Chie. Anyone else wanna do something?

oog: I got nothing right now. I'll just note that Katsumaru will give the order to go in his "businessman" tone rather than "dad mode".