False Stars, Falling Fortunes [IO]

Mission:

To be completely, brutally honest with herself; Nova had absolutely no idea why she'd thought taking this mission had been a good idea. She wasn't stealthy or discrete, she wasn't good with people, and she wasn't the smartest when it came to weapons. Sure, she could swing a sword better than the average joe, but that was about it. Nova had no idea how one would even go about figuring out if a smith was skimping out on weapons. Her mind raced with potential ideas but, since she had no experience with stuff like that, she had absolutely no idea if any of them were valid ones. Nonetheless, she'd have to come up with a way soon since the mission would be starting in very little time.

Nova appeared to be the first of the group taking the mission to arrive at the gates, having woken up at an ungodly hour to train already. She wasn't wearing either of her armors since she didn't feel like she needed them, instead opting to just dress in her standard midriff-baring vestments like she used to before receiving the armors. The young woman had all her various weapons strapped in place and had her side-shaven hair up in a tight bun. She wasn't expecting a fight but Kumogakure had a tendency to surprise her, like when she'd taken that mission to deliver supplies and ended up having to wrestle a bear by the end of the day.

The genin blew out a light breath of nerves at potentially being the only one with knowledge of weaponry on this mission and took a long sip of her coffee. It was her second one this morning and she'd already nearly finished it. If she wasn't careful her nerves would end up getting worse. Nova cracked her knuckles against her side and began to swivel her head to look for her mission partners for the day.

WC: 321

News of a weaponsmith cheating his customers even reached the Hospital where Ichigo would be preparing to investigate the case himself. Usually the Drunk tried to avoid partaking in most missions but this time he couldn't simply ignore the issue, even more so since he came from a family of blacksmiths himself with taking over his father's shop due to the latter's health problems. "This time it's personal". Even though he wasn't an expert when it came to weapons he still knew a thing or two about the art of crafting them. Replacing the usual doctor's outfit for his sleeveless black robe the head of the medical institute then made his way out the office and prepared to head to the village gates.

Passing by his secretary at the entrance he'd let her know he'd be out for the rest of the day. "Ichika, I'll be gone for a couple of hours. Just put whatever needs taken care of on my desk and I'll handle it when I get back". With a smile Ichigo continued on, thinking to himself what he would do without her. Now that the fresh air of Kumogakure replenished his energy the Drunk noticed how good it felt being out in the open. Especially when you were used to being cooped up in the same place like him. Which is why this change of pace would be one to enjoy, regardless of the mission that needed to be completed.

It didn't take long before the Doctor would arrive at the village gates, that would be the benefit of the hospital finding itself in the center of the village. As he did, Ichigo noticed a familiar face standing there, looking around almost as if she was waiting for someone to arrive. "I didn't think you'd be up for a second date" the man voiced as he walked closer towards the kunoichi. "Hello Nova, how have you been?". Always the gentleman. 

(WC: 323)

Anaphiel's Stats at the start of the mission:

Another day in Kumogakure. Nothing really special about it. The sun was out, there was a few clouds but they didn’t really affect the brightness of the day. The weather was nice as well, on the warmer side of mild. Not particularly hot, but warm enough that the breeze that blew past every now and then was enjoyable. Anaphiel was sitting in the grass in front of his home, Charlie was laying on the grass beside him, and Cheddar was on his lap. His sister had gone out on a mission so it was just the boys at home today. It was a good day to relax and just enjoy the day.

Sadly, the relaxation wouldn’t last. Footsteps approached and Cheddar’s head snapped up and looked towards someone walking towards them. The Hidemori Chuunin put his hand on his dog’s head to head off any potential barking. It was one of the couriers with what appeared to be a mission in their hand. Anaphiel accepted the scroll and nodded to the courier. “I guess relaxation time is over,” he said to his dogs as he slowly got up to allow Cheddar to hop down from his lap. He ushered them inside while he read the mission. He was to meet up with the rest of the team in order to determine if a prominent metal worker was using substandard materials to forge equipment. Not something he would be skilled at determining, but if he was requested for the mission, he would join it. Anaphiel got cleaned up, put on his normal attire and made his way out of the home to head to the rendezvous.

He was the last one there; two others were standing around waiting. One of them he knew, Nova Tsuba, a Genin that had assisted him with a pair of pests in the Training Grounds. The other he didn’t recognize. Anaphiel would nod to Nova. “Nova, good to see you.” Whether or not she still held any resentment towards him for getting between her and Enyo was a mystery to him, but he hoped that would be water under the bridge and it wouldn’t affect the mission. He would turn to the other shinobi and nod to them as well. “Hello, I am Anaphiel Hidemori, nice to meet you.”

WC: 383

-5AP (Hidemori Physiology)
1023/1028 AP Remaining

Nova's face went through a quick series of emotions when Ichigo approached her and made a joke; confusion, anger, and then a small smile and a snort. Nova was new to this whole 'joking around' thing and it was easy to forget that not everyone was as serious as she was all the time. Ichigo had obviously been joking and yet she'd still had a slight hostile reaction to him. She needed to do better, it wasn't fair for others to expect them to have to walk on eggshells around Nova to avoid pissing her off.

"I've been... Good." Nova hedged, the words tasted alien in her mouth. Small talk was weird, and not something Nova was used to. 99 times out of a 100, someone would just reply with 'good' so Nova didn't really see the point of it either. Still, she was at least making an effort which was more than she could say for the other past 18 years of her life, "Yourself?" she asked Ichigo. She had found herself actually sort of enjoying herself last time she'd met Ichigo so seeing him again had put her in a better mood.

That good mood, however, was quickly dashed when Anaphiel decided to show his face. The scowl on the genin's face was downright thunderous as the Hidemori introduced himself to Ichigo. The two hadn't parted on the best of terms. In fact, Nova succinctly telling the man to 'fuck off' the last time they'd seen each other. However, it wasn't Anaphiel specifically she was pissed off at, he just reminded her of that day at the Training Grounds. He didn't have anything to do with Enyo, who was the true person Nova was pissed off at.

Nova visibly calmed down after a few seconds of deep breaths and she would nod back, "Anaphiel." she said curtly, not putting enough trust in her self-control to say much more. Once introductions were all done, Nova would look between both her partners. "Are either of you experts in weaponry?" She asked, disguising the hope in her voice. It was a bit odd that two chunin and a genin had been sent on a mission as seemingly simple as this one, but Nova had a theory. Perhaps she was the only expert available at the time, and the two chunin had joined her to make sure she remained tactful. Nova was a notoriously volatile woman after all.

After they both answered, Nova looked towards the gates.  "Want me to lead the way? I've been to this shop before," she said truthfully. A lot of her kunai had been purchased from this shop so it was worrying to hear that they may have been made from cheap materials. Assuming they were good with her leading, Nova began walking through the gates and towards the mountains. As long as they kept a good walking pace, the journey would be about 10 minutes.

WC: 494
TWC: 815

A confused look could be noticed on Nova's face when the kunoichi became aware of Ichigo's presence. Perhaps she didn't expect the Drunk to show up or maybe the fact he decided to start the conversation through a joke, something the woman might or might not be used to. Nevertheless, considering his position the doctor would try his best to get along with each and every single one of Kumogakure. "A bit of both to be honest. Glad to see you again but frustrated after finding out what we're dealing with". Although some time had passed since learning what was going on he couldn't help but feel a certain sense of anger inside him. The son of a blacksmith took the matter personal, however he knew not to allow his personal feelings to get in the way of the mission.

By then the two of them were joined by a third individual named Anaphiel. For some reason the Drunk picked up on what seemed to be an awkward situation. Was there bad blood between Nova and the man or did he simply read the atmosphere wrong? For now he decided not to inquire any further but to reply and introduce himself as well. "Nice to meet you. Ichigo Sato, Head of the Medical Institute. Glad you could join us". He did not mean to boast but the doctor figured it couldn't hurt informing people who he was in case they would ever need his help with anything.

Now that formalities were out of the way Nova suggested taking the lead, apparently the shop in question was one she visited before. "Sounds good to me. I know quite a bit of people in the line of work considering my family owns one ourselves". In case they ran into some familiar faces Ichigo could always inform himself about whether or not the rumors were true. For the time being the Drunk decided to follow behind as the kunoichi lead the way, assuming Anaphiel to also be in agreement. 

(WC: 336, TWC: 659)

It would seem that Nova was not that thrilled to see him, judging from the expression on her face when he had walked up. Seemed like she was indeed still mad from the incident on the Training grounds. Oh well, nothing could be done about that and there were more important things to deal with at the moment.

The other man there, Ichigo Sato, seemed to be much more good-natured compared to the Genin in their midst. He also happened to be the head of the Medical institute. That was useful information to know for sure. “Glad to be here,” he said in response to the other man’s comment. “Hopefully the rumours about this smith are false, but I guess we’ll find out when we get there.”

When Nova posed the question regarding skills with weaponry, Anaphiel shook his head. “I’m afraid I am not one that is very familiar with weapons,” he would say to the pair. “The basic tools of the trade, but I wasn’t trained outside of the normal material from the Academy on them.” The Hidemori Chuunin was more than happy to let Nova or Ichigo take the lead in this mission, since she was most likely the closest thing they had to an expert in that field, and he’d mentioned that his family also ran a blacksmith. “Lead the way, I have no issues playing a supporting role here,” he would say to the others, and would take up the rear of their group as Nova would lead them to wherever it was they needed to go.

WC: 262
TWC: 645

Nova sighed when they both revealed that she was the only one with a Weaponry specialty on this mission. She'd already expected it, but that didn't mean she was any less disappointed. She was slowly coming up with a plan for how to test weapons but she would have liked to have someone else to check her work; the future of this blacksmith's business was going to be dependant on Nova making the right call. Slightly worrisome but had been in far more stressful situations in her life. Plus, truthfully, she didn't really give two shits about some random blacksmith's livelihood being ruined.

She nodded affirmatively when the two men agreed to follow her lead, before heading off through the gate and towards the mountains. It was a peaceful walk and Nova would be open for any further conversation the others might want to indulge in, but she personally wouldn't initiate it; content to just keep pressing on along the winding pathways. While walking, Nova realized that the path to the weaponsmith's shop was similar to the route she'd taken a few days prior, where she'd been tasked to find a genin who had been lost among the mountains. She'd find herself becoming a little wary when they crossed through the passage where she'd been ambushed on that day, but thankfully nothing of note happened on their journey there.

As they came around one of the corners of the winding path, the weaponsmith's shop would come into view. It was a two-story building made of traditional cobblestone and with a slatted wood roof, and it had been built into a small section of the mountain that appeared to actually have some wildlife. Around the shop was a small cluster of green trees, a small pond, and what looked like some sort of storage building. Built into the side of the main building was the actual forge, where a large muscled man could be seen hammering away at some new blade. He had his back turned so he had yet to see the group arrive.

If Ichigo and Anaphiel were still behind her, Nova would turn her head so they were both in her view. "Either of you want to check out that storage building?" She nodded towards the smaller building that was partially obscured by the small grove of trees, "Might be something interesting in there, though it'd probably be better to be discrete. We don't want to alienate the guy if he turns out to be innocent."

WC: 420
TWC: 1235

[Exit]

TWC: 1235
OOC: Covert missions can apparently only be done by a maximum of 2 people, so the mission is technically void. I'd still like to make claims on the WC if I can, however.
Claims:
1200 words to untrain 12 points from Strength
1000 words to upgrade Flowing Spear to A-Rank, B-Rank was gotten using Jutsu Scroll
235/500 words towards Taijutsu Amplifier C-Rank, other words from here

Approved

Same reason as Nova, just going to make my exit