A Night at a Tea-House (Private)

"Yeah..." Salzem responded. "I... uh... I need to get back to the village..." The girl was only a foot away from him now.... Closer than before. She had her hands on her hips and that smile on her face. She thanked him for visiting the shop and Salzem offered a small smile beneath his mask in response. "Uh... anyway... How much do I owe you?" he asked, getting his train of thought back on track. Surely he owed them something. A couple hundred ryo at least. No way a place as nice as this would do what they do here for free. Salzem held himself lightly, but caged, a more generous show of body language than he showed most anyone. Other people would get the dead stare and such a closed off stance, they might as well be talking to a rock more than a person. Salzem pulled out his wallet and began counting up his ryo, making several guesses as to how much this little detour would cost him. 1000 ryo at the absolute most if Mia was reasonable...

The warmth in Mia's smile caught Salzem off guard. Anyone who smiles at anyone for a living do it only so deeply as the facial muscles and teeth. Mia, however had genuine emotion behind her grin and that made Salzem a tad nervous. It made him wonder what he could have possibly done to make her look at him that way. The distance between them was especially short as well... Might give someone else the wrong idea had they not held such a low opinion of themselves as Salzem did. Salzem scanned her eyes with his own sanguine ones for any emotions he could clearly identify. Thanks was obvious... Something else was lurking in those eyes of hers, though it was something Salzem couldn't outright identify, either good or bad. He didn't probe much deeper than the surface, not wanting to come off as some kind of freak (though, biologically, he was) nor did he want to come off as overly creepy with his stare.

(feel free to attack me or somethin' so you can get yer training :3)

"I am a ninja. I just don't... wear my headband." Mia looked at Salzem strangely, her eyes locked just below his. He came to realize that she was staring at his mask. Salzem suddenly felt very self conscious about where her eyes wandered. Luckily for the inexperienced ninja, her eyes flicked back to his and she began to talk business. She stated that normally, he'd be charged a large, but not altogether unreasonable 1400 ryo. 'Twas not the price that alarmed him, but that she was willing to wave his fee if he simply taught her a little chakra control. It was an offer Salzem couldn't have possibly accepted. It was overly generous to a point where it threw Salzem through a loop. The way she clasped her hands together, the way she stood and looked at him, Salzem almost thought she was flirting with him. The thought made his cheeks go pink, but he forced the emotion down, not letting it proceed and embarrass him further. 

"S-so you're a ninja too then..." Salzem retorted with a slight stutter. Curse his lack of control. "Uh... Yeah, I can help you a bit... we'd need to move outside though..." Salzem gestured out into the dark of night with his hand. "So... uh... might want to grab something warm." With that being said, the black-coated ninja would step out into the night with his hood pulled over his face, shadow obscuring all but the sanguine piercers that were his eyes. He gestured for Mia to follow him until they were a solid 20 meters from the shop.

"So... what kind of chakra manipulation are you looking for...? Combat? General?" If the silver-haired girl explained that it was combat she sought, Salzem would motion for her to attack him with everything she had so he could assess her strength and put himself on her level. Salzem would appear passive, both his hands in his front jacket pockets, ready to respond however necessary. However, if she chose general or some kind of technique, Salzem would sit in the sand and gesture for her to do the same. He'd then ready himself to explain the basics of ninjutsu and its workings again. Ah the horrible memories of his students either being dead or hating him. It made him flinch just a bit. The fact that he'd given them up for this quest of vengeance... he sighed, closing his eyes for just a moment as he cleared his mind. This wasn't the time for that.

"Combat, huh?" Salzem repeated under a deep breath. "In my experience, its easier if you would simply attack me. Show me what you got and I'll be able to help you with a few pointers." With that, Salzem waited for Mia to come at him, but not before reaching his right arm out of his jacket pocket and out tot he side. In the darkness, his arm would contort, stretch and bulge, almost as if it were a balloon about to pop with air. White fur sprouted from his flesh and claws grew where his nails once did, all the while Salzem appeared undisturbed by the transformation of his arm. When the transformation was complete, a bulky, 4 1/2 foot long fur-coated clawed arm sprouted from where his normal human hand. He might have been prevented from transforming completely, but when you experiment enough, you find loopholes that allow you to tap into a portion of your abilities, even if the entirety is sealed away.

Salzem held the arm out in front of him and looked at it, almost surprised that he managed to pull out this much of his lycanthropy without incident. His sanguine eyes glanced back up at the girl and he reached his new limb out in her direction, beckoning her to lash out at him. His silver-white fur seemed to glow under the serene grace of the moonlight above, drinking in it's radiance as the thirsty monster it was. The expression on Salzem's face was relaxed, composed, as if he'd done this a million times before. In actuality, this was the first time he tried to summon a limb. He'd done teeth, nails and sometimes, with intense focus, he's able to do a hand, but not his full arm. This meant progress... While his monsterous wolven arm was prepared to deflect any incoming blows, Salzem's left arm remained tucked nicely away in it's pocket, leaving that whole side of  his body open for assault. Of course, the sounds alone that accompanied the transformation would be enough to scare anyone normal away, let alone the actual outcome. Salzem looked like he was literally half beast now, and, to some degree, he was. Despite the shame he had over this form, his curiosity over Mia's reaction won out. How would she react to seeing someone's arm explode into a werewolf's? He hoped she wouldn't scream. He'd hate to disturb the other members of the tea-house.

(working on Lycanthropy: Partial Transformation)

"I'm fine. My name is Salzem, by the way." Salzem stated flatly, anticipating some kind of attack. He got one, but not in the way he expected. Mia threw a ball of air at his feet and, upon hitting the sand, it kicked up a massive amount of sand, blocking most of his vision and being a general nuisance. Of course, with all the sand in the air, Salzem closed one eye and held the other one open in a squint, as to block out any of the annoying grains of sand from screwing with his oh-so important ocular organs. He did catch a small glimmer though, a line of light sliding through the sand and towards his neck, as if to cut it clean through. Acting fast, Salzem raised his clawed arm and sliced it down upon the line, the wire, (sharpness and health 75), severing it before its nefarious purpose could be completed. Parts on either side did scratch his neck, causing small traces of blood to flow from his pale skin. The marks didn't last, however, healing up almost as quickly as they were spawned due to his lycan healing. With the immediate threat out of the picture and this irritating sand still in his face, Salzem crossed his lycan arm across his body and swung it to his right, generating a wave of force that cast aside the little sandstorm that formed at his feet (strength 75). Luckily, his fist narrowly avoided Mia for if he had made contact, her head would have literally popped like a grape. With the sand settling all around him, and Mia off to his left, Salzem turned in her direction casually, picking sand out of his hair with his left hand.

"Make a bit less of a mess...?" Salzem asked, almost yawning. He had only just realized how late is was and how tired he was as a result. "I don't want to be picking sand out of my head for days..." He rubbed his eyes tiredly with his left hand while lashing out with his right, a backhand of 10 speed and 5 strength, enough to knock her back should it hit, but not enough to cause any real damage. Worse case, she's be left with a stinging cheek. Of course, he had enough strength to knock her to a place where it snows sideways, but there was really no point in using a full power blow against someone like that. She wasn't fast enough for him to take her seriously nor was she strong enough for a battle of brawn. Weapons only made his assessment harder and urged for a physical confrontation. Wire? You can do many things with it, but not give an ample understanding of chakra control.

Salzem's eyes widened a bit as the girl said that he should simply stay the night there, that is was late and that he could clean himself up again. It was a very generous offer, but one that came with a price-tag no doubt, just as his last dip in the springs had. Then again, it was a long walk back to Sunagakure and he was likely to get there as the sun was coming up. Salzem had his share of sleepless nights and no longer wanted to feel that grating,, mind-fuzzing exhaustion again. He'd take his chances here because, at least here, he could sleep in a bed have a roof over his head for the night. Salzem's mouth curled into a grateful smile and he nodded, shaking a little more sand out of his pitch-black hair.

"You've been nothing but kind to me. I... uh... thank you. Now, as for your jutsus, they were just fine. They were great for what they were, distractions, but they were a little... weak. Its always good to have a little... buffer in those winds. Make it so that they feel pain through out the experience, disorientating them further. Focus more chakra into them and they'll get more potent. Be careful though. More chakra also means they get more.... volatile. Could end up hurting you more than the target." Salzem closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Focus..." He spoke quietly. "draw on and manipulate your reserves for they are yours to command." Salzem opened his eyes again and yawned, this time loudly. The moon was high in the sky now. Probably almost midnight by the looks of it. He'd have to finish this lesson up quick or he'd fall asleep in the middle of their training session.

"The color of the wire really doesn't matter..." Salzem said lazily, his wolven arm, contorting and twisting until it was back to it's original human form, hanging limply by his side. "Ninja eyes are trained to track movement, not really objects so to speak... Even if you hid it amongst the sand, a well-trained ninja would have noticed it coming up and would respond before it became a substantial threat..." Salzem paused a moment. "Word of warning, though. Be careful with that... You very well could have decapitated me... Wire is.... very sharp and malleable. It could pose just as much of a threat to you as much as me." He let out a sigh. It was clear he was very tired. Salzem's posture was more limp, the skin under his eyes forming rings of dark.  "But, it was a good tactic. I'm sure it would have worked on someone else..."