☄ Summon Island: Fish Sanctuary

[ghostfinch]

Artemis Souma

▴ Shishin▴ Nin Specialist ▴ 1000/1290 ▴ 370/370 ▴ B-Rank ▴

Artemis bowed her head to Lobophyllia after she signed. The fish sage woman pulled out her sage beating stick and brandished it without paying Artemis any attention. The ninjutsu specialist straightened up at the sight, and turned to her husband to ask what was going on. Her husband held her gaze, then shook his head. "Sit down, Dry One." Artemis didn't hesitate, though her apprehension was visible, as she sat. [1]

"So what are we-" He shushed her. Goniastria looked almost tired, though she assumed that that was simply his features as an older creature and not due to having to deal with her. At least, she hoped that was the case. She wasn't used to being a nuisance. "Close your eyes, straighten your spine." Legs still crossed, she closed her eyes and adjusted her position as requested. "Rest your hands on your knees." [2]

Ah, so meditation. Artemis rested the backs of her hands on her knees so her palms faced the sky. She focused on her breathing, much like she had to do in order to channel multiple elements in quick succession. She licked her lips to taste the salt, grounding her in her location above the sea and on the conch king's back. She really did hope he didn't mind, since she was definitely an intrusion and probably heavier than the sage summons on top with her and she never did ask him if it was okay to stay - "Quiet your inner monologue." [3]

She wanted to wonder if he was telepathic, but she resisted. Listen and obey. Two things she was good at. She'd been following others ever since she was discovered by Baba. She relaxed her shoulders as much as she could and waited for instruction. It was like she'd waited for hours there, and right when she was about to ask what she was waiting for, Goniastra spoke. "Listen to nature. Feel the ocean's waves move within you." [4]

It should've been easy, as she had already found the sea salty breeze to be refreshing instead of abrasive. However, she found herself panicking internally - what if she wasn't good enough at this? Her eyebrow quirked as she felt the temptation to open her eyes, but she sensed more than heard Lobophyllia swish the stick around experimentally. She bit her bottom lip as she braced herself for the strike. When it didn't happen, she breathed out heavily, with relief. [5]

Artemis felt a bit of sweat form at her brow. Oh man, she did not wanna be hit with that. She kept her eyes closed and focused. She began to breathe in and out with the rise and fall of the ocean. She almost felt she could fall asleep, with how her heart beat was slowing. The conch king was lucky if he got to just settle in right here and let the ocean carry him as it pleased... [6]

The sea breeze tussled in her hair and whispered in her ear. She felt like she could sit here forever. As the breeze continued to kiss her skin, she could sense this surge of energy within herself. Was this the chakra that rested in nature regularly? She was attuning herself with the natural ebb and flow of the world around her, the way the ocean gave way to the sky. [7]

It seemed like another hour passed, but nothing was changing. She stayed in this meditative state but she didn't sense any more chakra entering her or any new details being developed. "Focus on what's important. Think of how your body is positioned." What was important, hmm? Artemis thought about the depths of the ocean and all of the sea creatures it cared for. [8]

The position of her body? She thought about how she was sitting at attention but as relaxed as possible. It was ideal for meditating. How could that affect the ocean? She thought about the importance of her body, then about her palms. Maybe she should... ah. She twisted her hands so the palms faced down, towards the ocean beneath her. [9]

Suddenly, it was like a switch was flipped. The energy of the entire ocean seemed to surge into her and she felt like she was drowning, she was drowning in it, she couldn't breathe with the weight of the world on her chest and the ocean was so big it was bigger than the world, it was her whole world, she - She forced herself to take a deep breath. The sea salt filled her lungs and she opened her eyes then, realized how different the world looked. It was bigger but also smaller, focused on her own body like she was the world personified and wow. Wow. The ocean could sustain all of these creatures and care for them, much like she was the golden thread tying her Shishin crew together. She looked down on herself and saw the faintest tint of blue on her skin. She rubbed at her arms and they felt just a tad bit... slimier? Maybe slick was the proper term. It was definitely an interesting experience - she was sure she'd never have dry skin again. [10]

"This is what it's like for you two, all of the time?" Her voice was hoarse from the prolonged silence. Goniastria nodded sagely. Sagely. Oh gosh, she was a sage now, wasn't she? She looked to Lobophyllia, who put the sage stick away. "So, is that just a general stick, or...?"

Lobophyllia laughed heartily. "We simply refer to it as the Senjutsu beating stick." Ah, so there was a chance she'd be hit with it. It looked a little bit on the painful side. "It beats the natural energy out of someone." Artemis raised a brow at that information, but realized it could be helpful against another sage or if one had too much sage chakra within them. "I could let you have one, if you'll grant me some of your human money."

"What are you gonna do with that?" Artemis asked even as she removed her bag and began to fish out some ryo. "When my husband and I find ourselves in the human world, we like to taste some of the worms you keep trapped in these.... bait shops." Artemis nodded, suppressing the urge to laugh. To each their own, she supposed. She handed over the ryo and accepted the stick happily.

[ Obtained Senjutsu Beating Stick ]
[ -1000 Ryo ]

 

[ghostfinch]

Artemis Souma

▴ Shishin▴ Nin Specialist ▴ 1015/1290 ▴ 370/370 ▴ B-Rank ▴

Artemis bowed to the sages. "It's time for me to return to my family. I need to keep in eye on our little one." She surprised herself, calling Zetsu a little one. Calling him family. Maybe she was getting over her prejudice after all, though it would take more time. Her sage status was something that would've made Houou proud. Maybe she'd see him in another life, or even in the afterlife, and be able to tell him about it. "Carry on, Dry One. You know how to call us, if you need us." Artemis meant to debate with him how she was still Dry One when her skin now had this permanent, light slickness to it, but she withheld. It was a somewhat endearing nickname, anyhow. She bowed one last time, then slid down Conch King's back and returned to the boat. She disregarded the compass and carried on her way through the ocean, back to Sasagi.

 

[ghostfinch]

Artemis Souma

▴ Shishin▴ Nin Specialist ▴ 1335/1335 ▴ 415/415 ▴ B-Rank ▴

Artemis teleported herself back to where the scroll was, on Conch King's back with her sage advisors. "Ma, Pa," she greeted cheerfully, careful not to laugh at Lobophyllia's surprised expression. The wife looked pensive and stiff as she considered what to say, figuring out what method of persuasion would return Artemis to referring to them with proper honorifics. "We are not family, you know," she replied slowly, carefully.

Artemis froze for a moment, before laughing. "Well, yes, I figured," she responded as she gestured between the two of them. She was human and the wife was... well, not. "I... well, I don' know my family. I... forgot. Them. I forgot, because of some head trauma or general trauma or some sort; I woke up in a hospital and that's all I know. I don't know where I- where I'm from, to who I belong, if they're still looking for me... I was so bruised and battered when they found me, though, that they kept me in Sasagi and discouraged me from looking around. I was a-adopted by this woman, Baba, oh Baba is the sweetest old lady you'll ever - you would have ever met." It caught her by surprise, how she was still upset over it all, even though Baba had passed years ago, that she'd found a place to call home and people to call family since that.

She sniffled, and she tasted more than felt the tears. "Goddess, I'm so sorry. I didn't come here to-to-to be emotional. I was just practicing suh-some fuuinjutsu." She wiped at her face, embarrassed beyond belief to bawl like this in front of her sage leaders. It was unbecoming in every sense of the word, yet she felt comforting hands on her. She looked up to see Pa with an expression of such genuine concern that it made her heart clench harder. She let herself cry a little longer and, when she felt she'd had enough, she forced herself to take more even breaths.

"Artemis, what is the last thing you remember?"

"It comes in snapshots. Dirt; always a lot of dirt. My own bloodied fingers digging at the dirt; being dragged. I remember choking on my own hair at point. I remember the night was loud because I kept covering my ears. So loud. Sometimes, I think I still get headaches from it."

"Let's chase that, shall we?"

"It's not gonna change anything for me, I mean I've thought about it for months, been stuck on one mental snapshot and... and it doesn't change anything. I follow these threads but they don't unravel the big picture for me."

"Reach deeper. We'll help you." Ma and Pa sat with Artemis, joined in hands. She felt the nature chakra around her but didn't channel it or create anything with it. Not yet.

Then she catches onto some memory, her dragging herself in the ground again. But this time, there's something else. Some melody that when she tries to focus on, escapes her.

She mutters something, words of comfort that she can almost remember being shaped by her ear. The words cause a punch in her gut. Her chakra expels erratically. She takes a second to recover; the chakra settles, releases in a pulsating manner. Her head feels heavier as her hair grows, then the strands fall out and surround her. She looks around to see the collection of hair out here on Conch King's back.
[ Gotta no Hea – Mess of Hair | D ]

Artemis felt a warmth in her chest at the appearance of her hair strands all around. It felt so… right, to have her hair grown through chakra. Her heart was beating so quickly, she kept up the momentum of this discovery before she risked losing it all. She let her hands move through muscle memory that had been temporarily forgotten, let them form a hand seal. Her chakra moved in a formation akin to a disciplined dance style, remembering the steps as if it’d been dancing to the same beat just yesterday; her chakra generated mouths that appeared all over her body, which moved silently as if each were singing a different song. Oh, how she wanted to hear such lyrics.
[ Kuchi no Seika – Mouth’s Chant | C ]

She felt exhilarated about this training; or rather, remembering. It was like getting on beat to a song you had been deaf to for so long. She put her hands together out of nostalgia’s sake, and her chakra filled the strands of hair at her feet. Some of them came together and twined into the shape of a violin with absolute grace, as if that’s what her hair had been meant to do.
[ Hea no Yoriito – Hair’s Twine | C ]


She ran a hand through her hair in preparation to run chakra through it. Oh, she thought through the epiphany, this is why I always run my hand through my hair. She let out a laugh that was breathy with relief. It bubbled into a giggle, a genuine show of her joy, the joy of finding something that had been lost for so long. She let chakra flow through the strands caught between her fingers, which made them grow at a remarkable speed. She whipped the strands forward, as if to catch an opponent.
[ Utsu – Lash | C ]

Ah, she could recall learning this. It was never jutsu, but rather a performance. The hardest one that she’d never quite mastered as a young teen. It would be so easy now, considering her personal technique of the Chimera Clone. She put her hands together, and prepared herself. She side stepped, her chakra speeding through her hair and generating a pile of hair. The hair began to reconnect and tie with itself to create an identical form of Artemis.
[ Hea Bunshin – Hair Clone | B ]

Artemis stared at one of the mouths on her forearm. She compelled it to release a long note as Artemis spun around. She also mouthed a silent mantra to cast the jutsu. A translucent version of herself was standing where she’d just been. It was an after image, akin to the style at Atsuko had showed in the tunnels.
[ Uta: Tsurai Shukkou – Song: Heart-Breaking Departure | D ]

Amused, she did it again, with a hand on the back of her left hand. As the voice held a note, she prepared herself to amplify the effect. She mouthed the proper words. She expelled chakra and had the mouth end its note in a flourish. The overall sound of the mouth expanded in the room, louder than it’d been the last time.
[ Uta: Eko han’ei – Song: Flourish | D ]

Artemis picked the hair-olin off the ground. She tucked it under her chin, cradling it like a child. She took the hair bow and struck the hair-olin with its edge. A long screech was emitted, echoing in the room and threatening to make any listener’s ears bleed. She mouthed a word that amplified the technique.
[ Gakufu: Kuro Unari – Score: Black Howl | D ]

She cleared her throat, then took a deep breath. She let loose a note she could only describe as peaceful, as one of her arm-mouths used its lips to cast the jutsu, which manipulated her chakra into a sphere shape in a way not dissimilar to a rasengan. The sphere was like a bright globe before her; with concentration, she could send it through the wall with no resistance.
[ Uta: Kagayakashii Hinote – Song: Brilliant Flames ]

The hair-triangle transformed into a hair guitar. She strummed a lullying melody as she mouthed the necessary words, focusing chakra to her instrument. She hummed after casting the jutsu through her mouth, generating a trio of horned clones. The three clones moved around, phasing through objects as if they weren’t there at all.
[ Gakufu: Hofuku Gakutai – Score: Creepying Orchestra | B ]

Artemis sucked in a deep breath and belted out a new series of notes. This one was more inspirational. It was essentially a hymn and had a lot of power behind its sound. Her chakra traveled outwards as if she were hunting down a target. The hymn would provide a rhythm that would allow to her to align herself with a target, granting her some of their bonuses.
[ Uta: Issho o Sakae • Song: Together in Glory | B ]

Artemis lifted the hair-olin and tucked it under her chin. She began to play softly, aware that the sound could be better but would not come out perfect until she practiced more; instruments were like riding a bike, but certainly over time one could get rusty. Well, that and she actually did forget. The melody turned foreshadowing, foreboding; undeniably dark in its notes as her chakra was expelled in a manner that would typically target someone.
[ Gakufu: Issho o Jiki • Score: Together in Despair | B ]

She needed warm up her voice. She could recall her compositions through muscle memory. She lifted the violin and strummed along with the melody that she sang. It was odd to multi-task two forms of music because she was still out of practice, but she pushed forwards anyways, out of stubbornness. It produced empowering notes that would inspire courage in listeners.
[ Bach's Fifth | E ] composition song

She began the next song just a rest after the last. She began it a little too fast in her eagerness to practice, but soon eased on the pace. The music filled the air. It was a comforting song that she associated with bedtime – maybe it was something her parents played to her before she fell asleep.
[ Albumleaf | D ] composition song

She started playing the next song with little hesitation as well. She voiced the music a little bit higher in pitch than what was called for but it sounded much pleasanter to her own ears this way. The song made her feel extreme joy.
[ Canon in D Minor | C ] composition song

Artemis would begin the next tune already feeling very fortunate. She had her sage advisors to thank for her memories. It was with great attention to her voice’s pitch during this piece. It was a favorite of someone close to her, because she had a vague recollection of hearing it all the time. She closed her eyes as she finished the song, heart aching at the memory of it.
[ Coronation by Ilan Eshkeri (Stardust) | B ] composition song

She hummed the beginning of the next song before she felt confident enough to start belting it out. It was a difficult song to master and required a great control over one’s lungs, breath, and pitch. Thankfully, fuuton jutsu had forced her to practice her breathing. [1] She began the next song, unaware of the illusion of light bearing down on her until she looked down on herself while singing, immersed at the illumination. The feeling of being blessed was strengthened at the sight. She finished the song with a strong note.
[ Ave Maria | A ] composition song

She struggled to recall the details of Carmina Burana, as it was a song she had never even attempted in childhood. It was far too complex for her back then, but her experienced up to this point and her chakra and bodily control would offer the aid she’d need. She licked her lips before beginning the song. [1] She found herself getting caught up in her own head, doubting that she could do it. This song was renown for its ability to withdraw truth from its listeners, but maybe it was finally forcing her to be honest with herself. She stopped singing and caught her breath, patting her warm cheeks to find wetness there. [2] She took a few shaky breaths before getting ahold of herself again. No, she’d come this far. She hadn’t forgotten her entire life and suffered without that sound knowledge for so long only to remember it and disregard it immediately after. She owed it to them, everyone, to sing. [3] She belted out the next line with profound faith in herself. She sang louder than she had with the other songs, held notes longer than she needed to only to prove herself capable. She finished the last note, feeling like this was her being honest with herself. [4]
[ Carmina Burana | S ] composition song

Artemis gasped and looked around, removed from her memories. She looked between her sage advisors and hugged them in close, thanking them for helping her remember bits of her past, remember the jutsu and music and love she had grown up with. There was still more to think about but for now... she felt so complete.

Artemis leaned back with crossed legs, eyes closed. She meditated to gather more nature chakra. Pa did the same, and expended his chakra to generate a Buddha-esque figure. The being had several arms that moved at will. Artemis focused on her chakra molding in order to create a similar figure with more feminine features. She moved the energy arms as she pleased, before dispersing the technique as a whole.
[ Raigou Senjusatsu [ Amida Budda’s Welcoming One Thousand Arms of Death ] B ]

Pa climbed up on Artemis’ shoulder, to her surprise. ”Have you noticed how inconvenient collecting nature chakra can be in battle? How safe will you be, meditating and being completely still? Well ma and I have invented a way to avoid such a thing.” Artemis let him get settled on her shoulder, their chakra pulses getting in sync so they could be transformed. She felt him merge into her body, feeling a surge of strength as her chakra pool expanded and nature energy began to seep in despite the fact she was moving around on Conch King’s back. Artemis extended a hand to Ma and helped her up, so the wife sage could join them as a trio; the nature energy filled Artemis as she moved around the Conch King. ”This is awesome,” she admitted with child-like awe.
[ Ryousei no Jutsu [ Hermit Art – Animal’s Technique ] A ]

Then Ma and Pa settled down in front of her, all techniques dispersed. She looked at them both with admiration, hugging them again. "Thank you so much, you two. I love you. I gotta go see the rest of my family right now, but I won't forget this. I promise."


OOC: BAM! That's how you IC explain an OOC profile renovation and added bloodline, amirite?