Onwards and Down (Travel)

Mei sat waiting on the edge of the village of Paradox. It was easy to see why it was one of the newer regions, at least compared to her own. There was just something about it. But they were leaving shortly, as soon as these two people showed up. Whoever they were. Not from her own village any way. That made her a little nervous, total strangers, who knows if the message hadn't been hijacked and she was waiting for some Missing? She had to not think like that. She was prepared for anything. Though waiting wasn't her strong suit in preparedness.

Praise was on her way, she hadn't seen Diana yet but she had told her friend where they were going to meet with this Mei kunoichi so she was sure she would show up sometime soon. Either way she really hated the land of Paradox it was too damp, to muddy and the air just stank of sweat and grime, truly it was a shit hole and she couldn't understand what would possess anyone to build a Hidden Village in a place like this. But then again it made sense it sucked so much that people didn't want to go there to attack it and thus the village would be hidden from threats and very easily defensible. Still she would see someone in the distance they seemed to be short enough that they could be the person that she were supposed to meet up with but who knows and Praise would get closer before noticing that it was a girl wearing a headband from a village not in these parts. She would nod before raising her hand in a wave to attract the girls attention and waiting until she got within shouting distance to ask her question.

"You waiting for Diana too?" she said choosing to phrase the question in that way so that if the girl was clueless she could ascertain that she wasn't the kunoichi she was looking for. If she answered correctly. like say questioning whether she was Praise, then she would know that she was Mei Erlang and that was the kunoichi that she was going to go on this delving mission with.

Was she prepared for such a mission? That was the question she kept asking herself repeatedly as she got ready to leave home. She was pretty excited to see what the outside world looked like but she didn’t want a repeat of what had happened the last time when they were chasing down that damned Conga. There was no use in overthinking it now, however, as Praise practically volunteered her for the mission and though she didn’t mind spending some time with her she wished she had some time to get off some training before heading out. “No use crying over spilled milk I suppose.” Diana thought out loud as she fixed her headband and headed out to the rendezvous point.

It hadn’t taken long for her to arrive at the meeting place but it was obvious that she was late as everyone seemed to have been there, well she saw Praise so she assumed that the other person was a part of the group. “Hiya, guys! Sorry I’m late.” She said with a smile before hugging Praise, then offering the other girl a handshake.

Mei looked up and over towards the first of the newcomers, pushing herself off from her makeshift seat to stand. She didn't know completely, but the call of waiting for 'Diana too' all but confirmed this was the Praise girl. "Yeah, that's right." She called back and began to start walking towards the fellow Kunoichi. "That would make you Praise I assume," She needed to be absolutely sure after all. But she got that very approval by yet another kunoichi who went right in to hugging Praise. There was just something about the little interaction that fully relaxed her. With a smile finally forming, she met the offered hand with her own. "Not late at all, we've only just met up too." She didn't feel the need to ask if they already knew each other, that was obvious. "Mei Suisho. It's a pleasure to meet you both,"

"Yep that's me! Nice to meet ya too." Praise said while returning the hug given to her by her best friend and then smirking as it seemed like all of them were now there and they could head out. "I hope you haven't been waiting for too long for the two of us either way. Since we are all here now might as well get moving, right?" she said eagerly awaiting whatever adventure they'd get along to having since she had never been on a delve mission before. Nor had she ever been as far south as the Land of Forsaken, seeing as besides Malice which she didn't get too deep into due to staying near to Mahougakure. Still she was getting a bit off track and would actually exhale to refocus herself before turning around once she got confirmation that it was okay to head out.

"I wonder what we'll find there, maybe buried treasure or lost techniques or some super badass weapon, hehe this is gonna be super awesome." Praise said finding herself get giddy once more. She was attracted to things like this, since if they found something cool they'd be notable for it and if it was something really unique then people would be talking about them for quite some time. One of her primary goals in life had to do with being known throughout the world so the whole reason why she had even volunteered to come along was for a chance of getting the spotlight for once rather than just being noted for being a kunoichi or a member of her family. Truly it would seem slightly out of character for Diana since she generally wasn't this excitable outside of a good brawl but still she couldn't help herself.

With a smile, Diana would shake the girl’s hand before responding. “I’m Diana, Diana Erlang.” She normally didn’t let people know she was from the Erlang clan for obvious reasons but since she was nice enough to let her know the clan she had belonged to might as well return the favor. She was happy that she wasn’t all too late since she hated keeping people waiting on her, and thus with the introductions out of the way, they would look to set out on their journey, who knew what they would end up coming across outside? Truth be told, Diana was a tad bit nervous about the entire thing as she had never been outside the village before and if the stories her guardian had told her were true, they could end up crossing paths with rather distasteful things, hopefully, they were ready for whatever came their way. The good thing was that Praise seemed up for it so maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all.

“I hope we don’t run into any trouble…” She said with a frown as she couldn’t help but feel anxious about the whole thing.

Diana caught Mei's interest there at least. "Erlang?" She repeated back to be sure she heard correctly. "Interesting. I might prefer my Suisho clan heritage, but I too am of the Erlang clan on my father's side." She felt so much more at least, someone at least minorly familiar. She had also learned however not to show off her talents if she could help it. These girls could still become her enemies some day. As the one who had set things up, she decided it best if she should take the lead in going the way. "I personally am hoping to find artefacts from an ancestor of mine, a great warrior, and in particular her spear. And if we do encounter trouble," She looked back and over the two companions. "I'm certain we can take them,"

Praise would flex her right arm while placing her left hand on her bicep in a bid to reassure Diana and likewise agree with what Mei was saying after all if both her and Diana could take care of themselves, then with Mei's help they should be able to at least avoid getting killed in the ruins right? "No worries, with three bad ass babes like us, those ruins don't stand a chance." she said confidently continuing her walk and then putting her hands down so she could walk normally. She had no idea about Mei's ancestry but it would seem like she was apart of two clan rather than one, she wondered how that affected her home life. She had said she claimed one rather than the other which she assumed made sense since being apart of two clans would obviously cause mixed affiliations which would affect the balance of power between the clans in a village. She understood that most of the time one clan would claim them fully while the other would only be loosely associated with them in a bid to curb their potential political power and prevent another clan from gaining a foothold in their own.

She personally hated those who came from clans as she thought they were all pretentious and had been given their strength as a result of the genetic lottery rather than earning it for themselves. But more so because of the whole clan shinobi are better than other shinobi, which she felt wasn't the case at all most of the time their natural born gifts were squandered and weren't used to it's full potential. Which was why out of the hundreds of people in a clan only a select few maybe twenty max were above Chunin rank, which made no sense seeing as their innate potential was higher than a non-clan shinobi. Either way she would keep an eye on Mei if only to see whether with her two clans she would prove her own opinions right about those who came from clans or whether she'd be an outlier like Diana was.

“Erland and Suisho huh? That sounds cool!” Diana said with a smile as having heard that Mei was an Erlang and a Suisho genuinely piqued her interest. She had never heard of someone being from two clans before so she was curious about what exactly she could do and what dojutsu she had. Now wasn’t the time for her to be prying into her life, however, so she would wait to see what the girl could do in battle but she had a feeling that she must pretty strong. Diana would immediately relax knowing everyone else seemed pretty confident about the mission which made her believe that everything would be alright in the long run. She wouldn’t let her guard down however as she was positive that it wouldn’t be a walk in the park.

"It was... a peculiar union," Mei rubbed at the back of her head, knowing her eyes were quite faintly different if the dojutsu weren't active, to the point it took the keenest of observers to spot. And already she liked the way Praise spoke. She liked the thought of them being 'bad ass babes'. "I bear both clans if I were to go by my full name, but I have stronger familial ties to the Suisho clan." No harm in answering that at least, the two clearly trusted each other, and she always had been taught to respect those in both clans equally.

Stepping out she entwined her fingers together and stretched, cracking her knuckles as the faint noise of crystal plates clicking together joined it. "So if I might ask, you are both in a squad together I assume? I guess that means you both know how each other fights? Not that I expect to know all your secrets with the exams coming up, but if we get in to trouble it might be worth knowing what to avoid getting in the way of."

"Nah, we are on different squads actually she's just my best friend that's why we are so familar with one another. I really don't get along with my squad like at all. So one day I ran into her and we became fast friends. Hmm as for what I can do well there is no harm in telling you a bit. I'm from the Fantom Family but I mainly rely on physical combat, I'm very sturdy so most of the time I can tank through attacks, but I feel most comfortable im a defense support role. This is because I use a combination of Life Release, Taijutsu and my family abilities. she said with a shrug as she felt it was only right to tell her some of what she could do since she asked nicely. She primarily fought front line despite beingnin a support team but she had no illusions over her strength in comparison to someone dedicated so such a role. Still she did have some other things which weren't that useful in a fight but she could pull out as trump card if she really had to, hopefully it wouldn't come to that though. "Oh and I have some things I can use in a clutch situation but it messes up my body if I use it too long but it's a real game changer trust me." she decided to add in knowing fully well that if oush comes to shove when things got hectic she had a couple of aces to pull out.

Diana simply nodded in agreement to Praise’s statement about them being best friends. “I’m not that close to my team nor my sensei for that matter so I’m glad to have Praise around to help keep me occupied. Hopefully, we can be friends too Mei.” She said with a smile. Having someone else to train and do missions whenever Praise was busy or someone to talk to occasionally would be ideal, if they managed to make it back home in one piece that is. “As you already know I’m from the Erlang Clan, the Denkou branch. I specialize in Lightning based techniques but my bread and butter is Kenjutsu. I don’t have any trump cards like Praise-chan but I’d like to think I can hold my own in close quarters combat.”

"So a group of three girls who felt at ease with friends outside of their respective teams, then within." Perhaps a little of her mental artistry was showing. "I'm certainly an offensive type of girl though, I would say I have a 'trump card', but I have also been told I tend to break out said ability all too often. But I must say I have closer ties to the Mishura branch of the Erlang clan, though I am recently backing them up with some Iwari teachings, though the Suisho crystal arts are certainly my greatest strength," Speaking of having two branches under her belt was spoken so freely she didn't even give it a thought to just what information she was giving away. "It is certainly interesting however that we are all rather physical girls."

Praise considered the mix of abilities as she continued to walk, indeed for the most part they were all capable at physical combat, but it didn't seem like any of them were okay with mental things beyond the basics then again she could be wrong after all both Mei and Diana had Erlang blood so perhaps they were as capable of dealing with mental assaults as she was if it came down to it. Hopefully they wouldn't run into anything too serious on that end as she knew that things like that always had the possibility of troucing those not prepared enough to face it. Still she would shrug off her worry and instead keep up her confidence nodding along with Mei statement and then replying with the ever dreaded statement while travelling to a location. "So...how long till I can say are we there yet?" she said with a smirk as suggestions like that quickly grew annoying after a while. "I much prefer to smash, crash and bash ya kno? The still life just isn't for me, though I hear occasionaly while travelling people run into wild creatures and stuff. Would make for a nice warm up if that happened don't you think?"

Diana was a bit confused at first when she mentioned that she was from the Mishura branch and had been backing them up with Iwari teachings. From the basic knowledge, she had of the branches if one had been born into a specific branch, knowing the techniques of the other branches wouldn’t be possible. Unless she had Mishura and Iwari eyes but was that even possible? She was tempted to ask her but that would be rude and if these delves were as challenging as they were said to be then she was pretty sure she’ll be seeing her in action. To say Mei was an interesting character was an understatement, both Mishura, and Iwari eyes and being a member of the Suisho clan? She already sounded like a powerhouse and an asset to have around, hopefully, she could realize her true potential in the future. Diana remained silent for a bit as her pink hues scanned the surroundings for any sign of life.

"I have to admit that I'm very much the same. Sitting still for too long gets me all antsy." Even just running that idea through her mind made her want to go sprinting off. She looked back between the two, noting the way Diana was looking about, less curious it seemed and more just alert. She didn't know if there was much precidence to be alert, but she didn't know the area either. "It would be interesting to get a warm up on some wild beast, though I wouldn't like to overexert myself so soon either. But I guess three warrior women could take one a single beast too,"

Praise would nod as she began to see that the swampland of Paradox was slowly changing into rainforest and she realized at that moment that they were actually getting close to their destination. "I think we are actually here..hehe awesome race ya! she said quickly taking off at D-rank speeds towards the dense forest after all they were pretty much at the delve site and their real adventure could finally begin.
(Praise Exits)

Diana couldn’t help but smile at the fact that they were so confident in themselves and each other. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all? She found herself thinking as she lagged behind the pack. Having arrived at their destination, Diana would take a deep breath as she tried to prepare herself for what was to come. She didn’t really understand why she was so nervous but it was too late to back out now, she just hoped that whatever happened she would be able to hold her own and not give the others too much trouble as she hated being a burden to others.

-Exit

Mei felt a little confident in such a race if they were just three girls hanging out and enjoying the day, she would just use a technique, but doing so wouldn't have been the smart thing when they had a lot of work ahead of them. She just broke out in a run after the other two. Any nerves as to what they were exploring were long gone, she felt confident the three of them could work well together.

(Mei exits)