"Perhaps," admitted Hiruzen Sarutobi. "On the other hand, I am rather more likely to recover with some light exercise and fresh air. By the way, is there a mirror nearby?"
"A mirror?" asked Andrea.
"A reflective surface of some kind, I find my chakra levels are rather low at the moment," said Hiruzen. "I am rather curious about this new form I find myself in."
"'New form'?" asked Andrea, her mind coming up with various traumatic shock diagnoses.
"Yes, I didn't look this way to begin with, but I'm rather hopeful that at least everything is functional," said the former Third Hokage.
Andrea looked over the familiar standing there in a simple nightshirt. Thick naturally-wavy hair, piercing blue eyes, buff-toned athletic body, slightly tanned and outdoorsy looking. At least five inches taller than her. Maybe seventeen or so. General physical type of the sort that was found to the far North. She certainly couldn't see anything wrong with him.
"There's a mirror over there," said Andrea, trying not to look at those long tanned muscular legs. Reminding herself he was just some commoner.
Said commoner looked at himself in the mirror briefly and said an unfamiliar word. "Bishonen. Huh. Never been that before."
"Is that the name of your Northern tribe? Bee-show-nen?" asked Andrea, trying the strange word out.
Hiruzen pondered that the word hadn't translated the way the rest of the language seemed to. How odd, but perhaps there wasn't an exact match in the local tongue? "No, it's more of a general description of one's role within a society."
Andrea blinked. That wasn't exactly the sort of response one would expect of some Northern barbarian, or even a local commoner.
"Well," said Hiruzen. "If there's a courtyard or something nearby, I think sitting outdoors for a bit would help my recovery. If you would, please?"
One doesn't get old without losing some flexibility, physical and mental to varying degrees. One doesn't get the position of Hokage by being weak, but one doesn't KEEP that position without being able to adapt.
The serving girl who'd shyly offered him some tea had noticed his frown at the beverage being served, but he smiled a moment later and put her at ease with a query regarding how this particular variation of tea was to be consumed. Obviously he'd come from VERY far away.
Sipping at the hot beverage helped enormously. Not only the caffeine but the hot liquid. The lemon and sugar were noted as also helpful, but Hiruzen decided quickly that next time he would do such things himself and use about half the dosage of sugar if he used it at all.
Still, while recovering from the effects of being ripped out of the belly of a death-god and rebuilt cell-by-cell - he wasn't feeling exactly up to snuff at the moment.
The odd markings, some sort of fuuinjutsu most likely, on his left hand were one of several mysteries he'd eventually get to the solving of.
The first thing to do was recover from the ordeal while attempting to learn about his immediate environment as much as possible. Sort of like an infiltration mission in that regard, where one had to figure out a particular location as best as possible and then insert oneself as seamlessly as possible into the background.
"Uhm, Mister Familiar," said the girl.
"Hiruzen Sarutobi," supplied the former Hokage. "My name and my lineage."
"Oh? That name is like my grandfather's," said Siesta thoughtfully.
"What is your grandfather's name then? Perhaps we come from the same location?" asked Hiruzen.
"Takeo Sasaki," said Siesta.
"That does sound like a name from my homeland," admitted Hiruzen. He spent a few moments trying to remember any 'Takeo' or 'Sasaki' he'd met over his long life but only came up with one - a genin who'd died in a Chunin Exam in Kusa.
"I wonder what they want?" asked Siesta, noting a small group of noble girls had taken a station at one of the other tables set out on the lawn and were looking this way and giggling over something every so often.
"Perhaps you ought to inquire," said Hiruzen. "I would hate to take up more of your time and hospitality than necessary."
The serving-girl pouted slightly but nodded, gathering her tray and going off to the group.
"THAT is the commoner that the Zero summoned?"
"It's a great pity he's just a commoner. Other than that - yummy."
"Once he got his skin on, I noticed he's... endowed. Really endowed."
The other girls just stared at Marguerite for a moment.
"Girls, I am a watercrafter and studying medicine," said Marguerite after getting uncomfortable. "I am quite familiar with anatomy."
"Well, yes, I suppose," said one of the other girls. "It was just a bit... odd. Coming from you that is."
"Really, Arabella?" asked Marguerite.
"Well, for you," admitted Arabella. "Nobody would think twice about me making such a statement. Or Corrine."
"A pity he is wearing such loose clothing," supplied the named Corrine. "I would place money on his buttocks being especially worthy of a look or two."
"Yes, but he IS a commoner," said Arabella.
"Are you sure?" asked Marguerite.
"Whatever do you mean?" asked Arabella.
"Louise botched the summoning ceremony in ways that have never been done before," pointed out Marguerite. "The explosion was as expected, but she was able to call a familiar. A human familiar. Also one that arrived in a particular unseemly and painful fashion."
There were a few winces at that reminder.
"What if she botched it so badly that she summoned someone who was NOT a commoner, but a noble of his own country?" asked Marguerite. "Perhaps, with hair like that, he is even a prince of some distant land?"
"Shush, here comes the maid," noted Corrine.
"Good," said the final member of their little group. "I could use a spot o' tea."
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(Posted Thu, 25 Apr 2013 19:38)
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