Raising out of Ruin

The attack was still so fresh, and Iolana doubted that anybody would forget it so soon. News had broken that all five villages were attacked, and investigations underway. But each person of each village had their place, and their work. That was what would bring them through the other side in to a better day. That was what Iolana had to keep telling herself. Otherwise she would be trapped in the worry she spent the first night of the attack by the tailed beast Kokuo. All up until the moment she finally got the word that her partner was safe, but that she too had been caught up in the blitz in Hakagakure herself. But she hadn't heard anything since. This made her both scared, and determined.

Whilst she wasn't a true medical nin just yet, she still needed to pass her now postponed exams, she had volunteered her time and her medical skills. Her particular methods had come in relatively handy when assisting diagnoses of injuries. By simply performing a bond with someone she was able to get an accurate feel of a person to locate where any specific but undefined pain was, and could affectively heal it herself from there. A technique she would certainly have to refine for future use. A medical nin who could avoid being targetted and recognised as a medical nin would certainly be a useful tool against Missing Nin.

Iolana had just finished helping someone out from a personal bunker with a broken leg when she almost collapsed from exhaustion, and retreated to the rest spot nearby of other relief workers to get a snack and a drink. Sitting alone she remembered this exact situation so many times, lots of busy people scrambling around her, leaving her alone, mocking... she had to remind herself they weren't doing that anymore. A Jonin woman smiled and bowed to Iolana as she thanked her for recognising a trapped civilian, her uncle apparently, had injested something toxic before being helped out. Being thanked for her work was... odd. And as she walked away she gripped her Dipu seal around her arm tightly.

It would be time to get back to work soon.

Diana had spent most of her days since the attack being debriefed by the commander alongside the members of her ANBU division. All this was new for but she decided to keep a level head through it all and just did what she was told to do to aid the village in recovering from the attack. She was fortunate enough that she was a few islands away before the final Bijuu bomb had hit and new with the Kage gone the ANBU had a huge task on their hands to keep the peace. It was sad that there were people who had lost their lives and property during the attack but was it weird that when she found out that Zhao was out during the attack and that Praise was of course nowhere near any of the attacks she could really care less about who had died or the Kage for that matter? In fact, she didn’t even know who that was until they had fought the Bijuu, so while everyone around her was in a state of shock or saddened by the events she really was just chilling and awaiting her orders and when she was told she would be off duty today she decided to just take a walk.

Without the only two people she’s ever really given a shit about away, Diana found herself wondering around what was left the village until she arrived at a camp of some sort where a bunch of injured people were being taken care of. Looking to lend a hand she would make her way through the camp before coming across a Genin that didn’t seem like she was doing well. “Hey there, you alright?” She said after walking up to Iolana.

Iolana looked up when spoken to again. Just hours had passed since the quiet has settled which, ironic for a mute, Iolana detested. But in all that time nobody had actually asked her how she was doing. If she was alright. She nodded, but it was clearly half hearted. And then her signing began. <"Lost my home. I had it... Maybe a month. ... And my partner is out in Hakagakure."> She dug in to her satchel for a brownie that was by this point stale. But it was still just as chocolatey as she remembered. And ever skilled, she just put it in her mouth, slowly chewing as it was pulled more in to her mouth, all whilst continuing to sign. Until it looked like she wasn't understood, in which case she shook her shoulders and generated some ash she twirled through the air to form words by her feet to match what she was signing. Then she remembered and made a generic gesture to better tell the new girl she was mute. <"My name's Iolana. I think I remember you from the exams? Maybe? I'm very tired. Medical in training. Keeping myself busy. Need to prove I'm useful."> Tiredness and stress were certainly bringing out some buried anxieties.

Spoiler:

Diana was confused when the girl started to move her hands in an unorthodox way, was she doing hand seals not known to her? Was she going to attack her? Immediately having come to that stupid conclusion, however, she noticed that the girl was actually doing sign language which made more sense than what she had previously thought. Just as she was about to tell the girl she didn’t understand sign language at all, she would notice the words being formed, pretty clever she thought as she read what the girl was signing. “I see. Sadly a lot of people lost something during the attack but it is rather commendable that you’re trying to help even though you’re having issues yourself, but you shouldn’t be running yourself into the ground doing so.”  She said with a smile before continuing. “Exams? To be honest, it’s been so long I don’t recall much besides those I actually fought but we probably were in the same batch. Oh I’m Diana, nice to meet you, Iolana”

Iolana couldn't help but to silently giggle to herself as she realised why she likely wouldn't be recognised by too many from the exams. She was, after all, most of the time in her weapon forms with Kirai. She wondered just how many actually did know her real appearance. As she continued to sign speak though, the ash continued to move to translate. <"Don't really have a home, not without Kirai, so I'm helping people get theres back."> She cast another look over her shoulder but continued to communicate. <"I'm hoping that my work here will help push me for the medical exams. I don't want to hold my partner back, and I need to get better, and get better training. Being out here I've learned how to help people better. I know I can be a top medic."> She looked back then and was beginning to fish out the little bag. <"I was saving this last one for Kirai but I don't think she'll be home today. They're a little tough, they've been out with me since the start of things, but they're still tasty and home made. It's yours if you'd like it Diana."> And from there, she offered up the last brownie.

Her partner is Kirai huh? Interesting. Diana thought to herself as she did indeed remember Kirai due to the fact that she was an ostracized member of the Denkou branch of Erlang. Still, it was quite nice to see her giving her all for those who also lost their homes but her initial statement did stand, she would be no use to anyone if she suddenly collapsed due to exhaustion but she wouldn’t nag the girl she would just let her be. “Oh? Thank you. I actually haven’t eaten since my last assignment so this is great!” She said with a smile before scarfing the brownie down. It was a wonder how she was still functioning after back-to-back assignments then again with everything that’s been happening she just wasn’t mindful of it. “So if you don’t actually have a home and your partner is out where do you stay?” She found herself asking while finishing the brownie.

Iolana simply shrugged off the question, trying not to show actual surprise. Even with the work she'd been doing out in the public eye since the attack, she hadn't actually been asked that. <"... I'm used to sleeping in ruins. But I've been staying in one of the tents for now. Or I will be. I've taken naps here and there but I haven't really settled down."> As she said that she actually lay herself back across the makeshift seat she had chosen for herself. <"I take enough naps. I eat. I take plenty of breaks. I can do just fine and keep going. That's the job in this situation, right?">

That sounds horrible. Diana thought to herself as she listened keenly to Iolana or rather read what she was signing. Diana had recently moved to Dipugakure so even though where she was staying was demolished thanks to the Bijuu, most of her stuff was actually been back home at Mahougakure, thankfully. “Not gonna lie, that sort of lifestyle doesn’t sit well with me.” She said as her tone shifted from nonchalant to serious in an instant. “You seem like a good person from what I’ve seen and heard thus far so hopefully you’ll end up with an actual place in the future.” She said with a smile before finishing the last of the brownie.

The work of village shinobi and kunoichi was never done unfortunately. All around Diana and Iolana there were people moving around, sifting through rubble, hunting for ways to help. A few people were carrying stretchers as they ran towards triage stations to get wailing bodies some treatment or to at least bring all the silent ones into a single place.

After a few minutes, a chunin instructor going by her headband climbed over some rubble and spotted the two figures nearby. She let out a quiet sigh of relief and exhaustion and jogged over to them. "Hey, do you guys think you could help me out? Found someone trapped in a well nearby, rubble has covered the entranceway. They said they've got a litter of puppies with them to send to the Hokkai for training and you two don't look.... Scary like some of the others I've seen around. You up for helping me?" She laughed quietly and rubbed the back of her head. If they accepted she'd lead them a short distance away sure enough to a well covered in a good quarter of a broken house with some very muffled barking and whining coming from it.

Spoiler:

Iolana's lips curled up in to a slight smirk, yet her eyes also gave away some rather sad thoughts. Each word she signed was rather slow, as if she was really thinking about every word she was going to say. <"Yes. ... Well. ... When nobody cares about you, you can get away with being comfortable in squalor."> As she looked up she saw a semi-familiar, or at least a familiar in passing face, coming up to them. As soon as she began asking for help, Iolana was already dusting herself down to help. <"Lead the way."> She signed, pulling the ash up from the ground with her after one last comment for Diana. <"I have people who care about me now. But it still took a long time to not be looked down on."> And with that she followed.

Reaching the broken house and well she began to just stretch herself off, ready to get in there and likely need to use her medical arts. She didn't want to waste time by signing and waiting to be read, so instead she let Diana know what she would do simple by raising a hand coated in the mystical palm technique. Another idea came to her, and she quickly brought more ash down for more words. <"I'll go in. Check they're safe and fix any wounds. Then we clear from both sides, ensure no cave in."> And with a slight smirk and salute, the feathers across her neck and arms began to shudder as her Sol Fire took over, and she phased herself with it through the rubble. Seeing the group, she would immediately halt her technique to prevent scaring them and do her best to sooth them, and fix up any wounds she found on the civilians and the puppy little.

Diana couldn’t help but feel a bit bad for her but she knew better to pity someone who didn’t actually want to be pitied. It was obvious she had a grasp on her situation so it made no sense she voiced any concern for the girl. She’ll be fine. Though the conversation was a nice little distraction from what was going on, in truth she needed to go anyways since she had actual training to do with the rest of the ANBU members since with the Kage gone it was up to them to keep the peace and she didn’t want to be caught lacking as she did with the prisoners on the day of the attack. Just as she was about to say something, however, someone came up to them and asked for help. In truth, she didn’t want to because she had more important things to deal with but it would look bad on her part if she refused so she would go ahead with it. Following her lead, Diana would allow Iolana to do her thing as she watched from a distance. One of the pups from the litter would end up making her way over to her which prompted her to pet him before picking him up.

At the bottom of the well, a young man, barely into his teens, sat there doing his best to keep the puppies around him calm. He had to work overtime once Iolana appeared as the puppies kept trying to jump up onto her legs and they ran around her legs. Once they were all calm, he gave the weaponkin a smile and a thumbs up. "Hopped in here during the fight, never realised how deep it was, luckily I had all the pups in carrier harnesses and they didn't get hurt. Sprained my ankle but I'm fine otherwise." He then started to pick up the puppies one by one and put them in the harness so they could get hoisted out of the well.

At the top of the well, seeing that there was someone that could actually go into the well and get the people out, the chunin instructor crouched and grabbed a portion of the flattened wall before, with a grunt and a heave, slightly lifting it off the floor to make a passage out. She knew she wouldn't be able to hold it for long without help though.

Iolana listened and nodded, it being rather dark and so if he couldn't understand her sign language he likely wouldn't be able to see the ash. But then she had a better idea. She made a single sign, <"Trust,"> and in a sweep of... well, herself... she transformed herself in to her feather blade cloak form. And whilst it wasn't by any means as smooth as her time with Kirai, she was able to comfortably create a mental scape she could work in, as well as speaking through. <"Hi, my name's Iolana. Cut puppies. Totally wanna give them all cuddles when we get out of here. You sprained your ankle, yes, but I'm healing it. Don't worry, I'm a weaponkin and I've created a small bond so you can hear me, and I'll let you... basically do what I can do. There! Your ankle should be fine now. This isn't going to feel natural, but I need you to open your mind, look at the entrance, and when I tell you to, jump. Your body will react like a mirror of my own you can see in your mind, and you'll use my technique that brought me in here."> So much to say, so little time, let alone to explain. A sudden weaponbond was never exactly the most comfortable, but they didn't exactly have a lot of time. <"Jump!"> And as soon as he did, she use her own Ashwraith to propel them up and back out of the opening that was created, and quickly splitting herself from him. Turning back to the chuunin and Diana with a smile and a thumbs up. Followed by signing, <"Easy."> Albeit there was a little exhaustion from moving a non-shinobi like that who she'd never bonded with.

Having listened to the boy’s explanation she couldn’t help but think that staying in a hole during a Bijuu attack wasn’t really a wise one but he survived and that was all that mattered. Still, she silently wondered how many people had gotten caught up in the crossfire of this attack and hoped that they weren’t left for dead somewhere. Letting out a sigh, she would snap back into reality and turned her attention to the Chunin that was struggling with lifting with a portion of the wall and though she wasn’t the strongest individual out there she would quickly make her way over to the opposite side of the wall and began lifting to ease some of the pressure off her and ensure that the passage was big enough for them to make their way out.

Kimaede huffed as she and some others from the main island finally made it to the Western Island. There was so much destroyed across all the islands but it seemed like they were trading shinobi across islands to help with efforts across the board.

She hopped off the dock and was redirected to a couple of shinobi moving parts of a broken house, the sounds of muffled whining coming from beneath the rubble. The faunus made her way over to the rubble and pressed up to the wall to help move it in the direction that the Chuunin and Diana were pushing it. Introductions could wait, though she seemed to be a bit out of place without one.

Iolana popped out from the gaps in the rubble as if she were incorporeal, though more precisely she just found a small enough gap with the boy and the cloud of ash around her found every crack and crevice that would actually hide the bulk of their body. Popping out she immediately turned to the Chuunin, listing off... frankly a lot of detail. <"The boy had a sprained ankle, I've performed some rudimentary healing so he should be able to walk, but please take him to a fully specialised medical to get a professional second opinion. However he also has a very mild concussion and his blood sugars are very low so ensure he gets something to eat too."> From there she turned back to Diana to thank her, only to find someone else. For a split second she looked slightly taken back, but honestly she was too tired, and extended her thanks to her too. And then she went back to the boy, briefly shifting to her cloak form to speak through his mind, <"Please, I would like you to go with my colleague to get a professional check up. I've given them your details. And... please do tell them who sent you to them. I need all the good press I can get."> she could swear she heard him laugh along with her, and she split from him again, only bringing the pup harness with her. <"I've got these pups. And a Hokkai would be best to take care of them. Unless either of you are Hokkai?"> She paused to let them answer. <"Then I'll take a walk and take care of delivering them.> With the puppys ready to travel with her she stretched off. <"I'll be back soon to lend a hand around here.> She waved them off as she hurried towards the Hokkai branch area of the village.

Meanwhile the Chuunin went about checking out the boy, seeming to confirm the temporarily departed weaponkin's word. "Alright, think you two can handle another quick job? The water systems have been disrupted, and despite the rubble blocking it, this should still be a functional well. We're gathering more and more people, think you two can finish clearing up here so we can get someone in to restart the reservoir?"

(simple mission for you both, just do whatever to clear rubble and that'll be 2/5 for all of us)

Mission #1: Help boy out of well - Complete all participants
Missions #2 Iolana: Finish pup Hokkai delivery - In progress, completion on next post
Mission #2 Others: Clear rubble to restart fresh water supply - In progress

I wasn’t built for all this manual labor. Diana thought to herself as she put down the massive slab of stone she was lifting. Again she questioned how she even ended up in this situation as rounding up criminals as ANBU Newt would be less taxing than all this lifting. Though she would rather be elsewhere she would take on the task that was referred to her and began clearing the debris that was blocking the freshwater from flowing. It was going quite smoothly until she came across a piece of debris that required her to actually put her back into it. Exhaling, she would grab what appeared to be an iron pole, it would take a few tries but after the fourth try, she would be able to pull it out. After the pole was removed the water seemed to be flowing a bit easier so she just continued to remove the small debris.

"My name is Kimaede, I'm from Dipu but on one of the other islands.", she said, guessing now was as good as a time as ever to introduce herself. Her attention switched to the Chuunin that had another assignment ready for them already. She was down to give her all for any task they had for her to do to help the village. "Where is the blockage?", she asked, seeing if anyone around knew. She'd at least give that a look and see what she could do if anything about it.

Together the two cleared that last bit of rubble, and while the water began to trickle through, it still wasn't the full gush that it should have been. Though that was just as the chuunin said. As Kimaede asked someone passing by, they pondered for a moment, then realised not everybody was from the area. Heck, even some from the area probably never had to find the reservoir. And then there was the damage not even at the reservoir. "Oh, erm, yeah it's probably where the collapse happened. Big sink hole. It's a big mess over there so they're just kind of clearing the trash over there. If you two wanna let loose or something they could use the help clearing it." And right away, would point off and towards a sign that once read 'produce intake site', but had very recently been plastered with 'condemned site'. Surely that's where it was. And already at said site, they would find Iolana had reappeared from her quick dash to deliver the puppies.

Mission #1- Help run the soup kitchen.

Mission #2- Capture the petty criminals.

Mission #3- Help fix the carriage that has broken down.



After what felt like an eternity of clearing rubble and fishing out random stuff from the already small pool of water, Diana had managed to complete her task, or well somewhat complete it as she was pretty sure that more will be needed in the future but that was a job for someone who had some type of authority. Either way with that completed she would be greeted by the Chunin once more who had advised her that there were a couple more issues that needed resolving. The first was an issue with the person who was in charge of disturbing the food to those in need had fallen ill due to drinking contaminated water and so there was an enormous line of hungry men, women and children were getting upset that they weren’t able to get any food to eat. The second was that there were petty thieves running around stealing from people’s tents but unfortunately for them, someone was able to ID them so it would be our job to bring them to justice. Last but not least, a group of civilians needs help with bringing fresh fruit and vegetables for the chefs to cook so that the people can eat. There had been a carriage that should’ve been here already but according to a few civilians, the carriage had broken down on its way and needs assistance getting up and running again.

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Diana had relayed the information to the other two and decided to split the work between them. Though the thought of beating the crap out of some petty criminals she decided to take the third mission and left the two to decide which one they wanted to complete. Diana would move towards the outskirts of the village where she would come across a few civilians scratching their heads as they were looking at a broken carriage that had lost three of its four wheels, somehow. Let out a sigh it was obvious that she wouldn’t be able to fix the carriage so the only option was to carry the goods by hand. It was a pain but it had to be done and so, Diana and the three other civilians took the baskets of fruits, vegetables, and other goods to the village and traveling back to the carriage until everything was delivered.

Kimaede saw that Iolana was back and already taking on another task as well as Diana going to help work on a carriage. Kimaede decided to take up the first task, helping making food and serve it for those that were hungry. That was something that would also help the community, keeping them thrive. They used a fairly simple stew recipe, Kimaede helped with as much as she could, making sure that whatever she did helped the kitchen run fairly smoothly.

If they were short staffed on a task and overstaffed on something she was doing, Kimaede would do her best to take on that new task. It kept her busy but also let her work a rhythm on all tasks to keep up with the demands for any task given.

Iolana glanced up, catching the sight of the two she'd met earlier before her little puppy drop off run. She was glad they seemed to notice, it was after all incredibly hard to grab attention when you were mute. It meant she could just more easily focus on the work at hand. She couldn't lift a lot, too scrawny for that, but her weaponkin skin meant she wouldn't get scratched and scuffed even remotely. Meant she was among the best team to do simple things like picking up sharp debris and class.

Although before that was finished, with two thirds of the work done, and plenty of volunteers, she would actually leave the post to head over to the makeshift kitchen. For the most part she was curious, but most of all starving. Seeing what was being made, she couldn't help but think elsewhere. With what little ingredients she could find, and thankfully most wouldn't be used, she requisitioned a large pot that wasn't in use, and carried it out to the civilians tents. From there she requested more aid in getting a little fire going, along with plenty of water. A quick recipe that she was making sure plenty of kids were around to help her. That part itself was over and done in just a few minutes, and the aid of a nearby Toketsu would guarantee the next, giving the pot a blast chill. And with just a little work, Iolana was passing around fresh, home made fruit candies. Keep the children's spirits up, and teach them a simple recipe.

With a flicker and a burst of wind, an ANBU operative appeared nearby the kunoichi working this part of Dipu and hopped down from the building they were on. Once down they seemed bothered by something but moved up to the two. "Iolana, you're a medic in training, right? Orders from up high, you've to be sent to Mahougakure, they need additional medical assistance. There's a Riki just outside the village limits who'll get you there quick along with a few other medics. Off you go." He said with a jerked thumg before moving over to Diana. "You've to head up to the prison, apparently there's something weird going on, keep it to yourself for now, don't want people panicking. Might need you to wrangle some escapees if this turns out to be big. I'll take you there." He said before nodding to the side.

Lana:

Diana: