New in Town (Private)

Kokichi always thought that he should move out of the town he had been staying in for a while previously and take himself to somewhere new. After all, not only would the change of pace help him out quite a bit, but it would also simply just be nice for him to find a better pace for work. The small village he was last seen in was certainly not very good when it came to employment, and as such he had wandered until he found a place of a decent size, and thus here he was in Suna. It had been a long trip for sure, as his legs did feel a little tired and he couldn't deny that he was a little bit hungry. Perhaps he would have to go and find somewhere to eat for the time being, since he had yet to purchase a home here (not that he had much money to do so at the moment either way)

Kokichi walked down the street in otherwise casual clothing fitted for the summer, shorts and a button-up tee of an orange color. This place seemed very nice to him. Certainly was a lot more appealing than any other place he had encountered on his travels. He figured the best place to go to look for work and get to know the lay of the land would be the bar, where hopefully he could perhaps talk to someone who had an idea of where to start looking for work, as well as just general tips and information about the area. Entering what seemed to be a regular old pub (it was roughly about 6 PM at this time) Kokichi would approach one of the bar stools, as he ordered a drink. Scanning the bar quickly, he turned around and asked the bartender a question.

"Hey there, I'm new in town. Any tips?"

She didn't necessarily go to the bar very often, but this was a different type of night. She wasn't sure how, but she could feel it in the air that somwthing interesting might happen. She normally drank within the confines of her own home alone, so that nobody got the wrong idea of her and just what she was doing as the village leader. They probably wouldn't mind if she did drink, but it was more of a personal respect thing she had. Anyway, the bar nearest to her did serve good food. Besides, she was sure the hardworking men, women, and ninja alike would love to see their leader in the same setting as them. So, she decided it was a good night to go, considering she had finished work early.

Sitting in the bar, Akira had been gifted some sweet little snacks that she could simple pick up and eat with her fingers. She had been surrounded by people since the moment she walked in the door. They were lively, told her of their adventures, and even told her jokes. She enjoyed their company, however she didn't speak much back to them. They were alright with the way things were going since they knew she wasn't much of a talker and she seemed to be enjoying her time. As things began to settle, Akira would hear a voice out of the surrounding area saying he was new and asking for tips.

The bartender would seem to simply nod in Akira's direction as she would turn around and stand up. She would dust off her black dress before wandering over next to the blonde and sitting down. "I'm Sure I could give you a few," Her soft, dull voice would say as she would reach out her hand towards him, "My name is Akira. I'm the leader of this village; they call my title Mother. We're sort of like one big family, so I wouldn't recommend causing trouble or you'll have everyone after you." She would smile lightly not realizing that she may be sounding a bit odd with her introduction. She was normally better than this, but it seemed as of late her mind was all put of whack. However, when her heart was shattered to pieces, it was still a wonder she was functioning so well. "Oh. Uhm. Do you plan on staying long? Or are you just visiting?"

Kokichi's answer was simply a nod towards a woman, to which Kokichi would spin around to see. She looked nice enough, perhaps she was some kind of influential figure in this village? As the woman sat next to him, Kokichi politely smiled at her, hearing her out. While he had to admit that her introduction was a bit.. odd, to say the least, and perhaps even a little creepy, he was more impressed that someone as young-looking as her was the head of the village. Kokichi couldn't help but feel lucky - he got to meet the leader on the very first hour he came into the town. While the prospect of 'one big family' may sound a little creepy to most people, Kokichi couldn't help but feel relieved by that fact. He had always enjoyed the sense of family, and out of the few past places he had stayed at, the best ones were always the ones where everyone was closely-knit. As such, Kokichi was able to reaffirm to himself that coming to this village was indeed a very good idea.

"Nice to meet you, Akira. My name is Kokichi." he said, shaking her hand lightly. "I plan to stay here and make this place my new home, you see. I needed somewhere new to stay, and I couldn't help but be drawn to this place. I'm willing to do any kinda work you'd like, too! I'm sorta a jack of all trades." it was true: while he wasn't good at everything, he did find that he was often able to learn and adapt extremely fast. He could pick up a decent understanding of things in less than a day for most tasks. "I'd also like to learn if there's anywhere I could rent in the village as for a place to stay while I get settled in here."

The woman would smile as he would take her hand. His hand was warm, which wasn't something she was used to considering she didn't physically interact with people often. It was sad, but it was also refreshing in the moment. Her face would seem to grow pink as she released his hand releasing what she was thinking was weird. Instead, she would listen to his words closely. She would smile hearing he was interested in staying in her village with all of her people. She was very glad to take in lost people, found people, strays, passerbys, temporary help, or anyone else. She didn't dare send anyone away that she didn't deem a threat. Hell, matatabi had stayed in their village for a while and she took up a lot of space.

"I'm glad you've found a place to call your new home! We love new faces and members of the community. We have many jobs to be done around the village. There's civilian work such as: running the shops, construction, food processing, supplies, office work, etc. There is also more strenuous work for those of us with special abilities such as: protection, aid, scouting, and other tasks we don't need to talk about," Her voice had become much more cheery talking about her home and it's many opportunities. She loved her village and she put half of her passion into it whilw the other half was put into looking after Wonderland. Even still, she had much, much love to give them both in her own weird way.

She would hear him ask if there were any places he could rent out and Akira couldn't help but wonder what type of place he was looking for. "We have many places for rent and sale. Our cheapest are going to be near the outer walls closest to the gate. They're smaller apartments, but plenty for one person. There are more to the left and right sides of the village, but they're a little more expensive, since there are also houses that way. Every now and then you can find a house in those two places for rent. At the back of the village, is where I live. They're larger homes, much more expensive and normally not for rent. It's typically closed off from the rest of the village for privacy and security. However if none of those fit your liking or price range, I always offer the temporary rent of a room in my home, since it's really quite large for just one person." She would seem to say these things as if she were thinking out loud, nonetheless she was still talking to him.

Kokichi noticed the woman's face go pink, and though some thoughts popped into his mind about this fact and what it could mean, for the time being he would simply listen to her conversation. Honestly, Kokichi didn't have any sort of greater power or skill with a weapon or anything of the like, so until he took the time to learn it (which he probably would now that he was in this village) he would have to stick to basic civillian work for the time being. Besides, that was no big deal to him, it had been what he had been doing for years and was an area he was usually good in either way.

Kokichi would continue to listen to the woman, noticing that she sounded more cheery as she talked about her village, which in return made Kokichi smile a bit. That was sweet, that she cared so much about her job. It was certainly a refreshing change of pace from the mayors that Kokichi usually ran into, who couldn't give less of a care in the world about what happened to their community. This girl was something special indeed, especially since she seemed fairly young, appearance wise at least.

"Well, I would be most useful for civillian work at the time being, but we'll see about other forms of work down the road, as I think I have a lot of space to improve." The next part was tricky. The truth was, Kokichi was really low on funds, so the best option was probably to stay with Aki, but... he wouldn't lie if he felt that sharing a house with a girl he had just met was a little bit weird. Still though, it was tempting... he'd discuss it further with her, at the very least. The option was certainly one to be explored. "Are you sure about your house? I'd love to stay, but... are you okay with letting a man you just met live with you, even if only temporarily?"

Akira would nod noting that he would have to do with the civilian side of things for now, which was plenty noble enough in her mind. Besides, he did say he was going to try the path of the shinobi later on perhaps. She would think these things over as she would find herself wondering just what type of work he would essentially be interested in. If she came to deem him worthy, perhaps he could assist her and Delilah in her own personal office. Albeit, she would have to really place her trust in him to handle the sort of information that came in and out of her doors every day. She had known Delilah for many years and she had trusted the girl with everything that she was. Hell, they were squad mates as small genin and they stuck together through everything up until this point, so she obviously had an easier time trusting her over anyone. Nonetheless, she would have much more thinking to do on this part than anything else.

As she was in the middle of thinking, Akira would hear the man's voice come through again. Multicolored eyes would look to Kokichi as she would hear him ask his concerned question. A smile would soon cross her face after he had asked such a thing and she would even go on to giggle for a moment. "Oh, I'm hardly cincerned for my own safety, you know? You seem like a nice enough man considering you're cincerned about me already. Besides, I didn't become leader of this village for my looks or intelligence. I came to lead this place because of my power and strong will. I'm sure I could handle myself well against a civilian male like yourself. But if you did try something, you'd have this whole village after you, plus my guards that live close by. Over all of that, you wouldn't want to anger the giant," her voice was calm and amused, however she seemed to show a darker side when speaking the way she did. Of course, she wasn't planning on doing anything to him nor was she threatening him. She was simply using the power of intimidation.

Akira would turn away for a moment as she would look out to the crowd of people she held close to her heart. Then, she would set sights on a mirror and she would see the color of her eyes. She wondered what Matatabi was up to. She hadn't spoken to her in a long time, but perhaps she was just enjoying herself.The feline didn't seem to be the type to speak much, unless she was relatively bored or concerned. Perhaps, she was simply enjoying her new inner world. Anyway, Akira would shake her head before she would turn back to Kokichi. "Excuse my manners. Did you want a drink or a meal? I'll certainly pay for it myself, but if you're not hungry, we can certainly leave this place. Either way, I'll be giving you a grand tour of my home, if you want to stay that is." Akira would smile once more as she awaited his answer.

Well, that was admittedly a little bit scary. The way that the woman in front of him smiled while she told him how she could beat him, or how if he tried anything was most likely true, but was a little bit.. frightening as well. He could understand how she acted though, considering he was the one who brought up that subject of conversation in the first place anyways. It made sense in the end, and Kokichi would simply nod and answer with a "Right." while trying to hide the fact that he was intimidated a little bit by what looked like your standard pretty girl.

While it was true that Kokichi was a bit hungry, he felt as though he could come back later and check out the estate first. He should take chances while he can, after all - he had all the time in the world to eat and drink. He wondered how big this house was. Was Akira the type of leader to live in a bustling, beautiful mansion? Or was she the kind that would much prefer to live in a smaller, more humble home? The answer would surely be found out fairly soon as Kokichi would answer her question.

"I'd very much like a tour of your home, if possible. I'm not too hungry, and I'd love to see what your house looks like. I'm ready when you are, so lead the way, Akira." he adressed her rather informally, as he was not one for titles. The way she said the village was a family made him think that would be okay with her. Standing up from his stool, Kokichi would stretch his arms up a little bit before getting ready to follow Akira, wherever he home may be.