floral fallout

[daisy]

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{mission}Iwa In Bloom
Rank: D
Description: I'm aware it's not quite shinobi work, but I'm paying you, so no complaints! This village is so dreary, it's in desperate need of some brightening up! So take these seeds and saplings and go out and get gardening! I'm sure your taste level is questionable, but I'm entirely confident planting flowers is within your capabilities. I prefer roses, but do what you will.
Objective: Plant some flowers in key locations throughout Iwagakure. (Daisies are weeds, not flowers!)
Restrictions: None, repeatable
Client: Lady Tsuchikage
Minimum: 3 posts
Rewards: 25 EXP, 500 RYO

you can learn a lot of things from the flowers ♥

I had known, of course, that the council would hardly promote my requests, but to bury them under mindless paperwork? Well, if nobody would help me, let them see their leader playing in the dirt! Various planters hovered about my body, held up by silken threads, as I made my way through Iwa's central thoroughfare, smiling sweetly at passersby, quite ignoring the questioning looks I was receiving. Truly, I didn't mind the work. I was rather overwhelmed with my new duties, and abandoning a desk of paper work and accusatory missives was something of a blessing. It all came down to those brutes! 

I had reached the spot I had in mind, the barren village 'square', if you could call such a mundane area that. To me, the center of a village spoke of flowers, of a fountain and charming shopfronts, bustling and welcoming! I dropped my supplies lightly to the ground around me, and knelt down beside a stretch of earth that lined an austere, stone building. I began chewing, the gold fluid of my clan filling my mouth as I shaped it with my teeth and tongue. Those brutes, as I had alluded to earlier, were of course the Iwagakure Council, and the very bane of my existence as Tsuchikage. Well, them and the shinobi I apparently commanded. Though, commanded was a rather certain word, it seemed more of a suggestion than anything else. I spat out my creation, a hunk of shimmering gold that vaguely resembled a trowel, and set to work breaking up and turning over the earth.

As I broke the surface and made it suitable for my beauties to grow, I found myself growing rather resentful. All my suggestions to the council, my conviction in improving the lives of my shinobi, of broadening their horizons and expanding their minds, it was all met with such... petulance. Why was I making the effort? Did actually caring make me soft? Undeserving of respect? I stabbed at the earth with rather more force than was necessary, carving it up with vigour. Perhaps I would change tactics. Perhaps I would sharpen my claws. They certainly wouldn't like me more under an iron fist, but I rather thought they would respect me. Having softened and moved the earth about sufficiently, I uprooted a bunch of charming dahlias from a nearby planter, before rehousing them in the soil.

For that matter... was the earth of Iwagakure fertile enough for these? Oh, the irony in the failing earth of the land of earth...


Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink.

[daisy]

for especially in the month of june ♥

They looked fabulous. It was quite poetic, really, how one small plant, with its few blooms, could cast such beauty on the barren earth. And the council thought it entirely a waste of time! I smiled, and set to work on turning over more soil, refurbishing my darlings new homes. It truly, deeply concerned me, this lack of appreciation for beauty. I was quite aware of our status and purpose as a hidden shinobi village, but it was not all there was to life! This fighting and plotting, who, truly, did it benefit?

We must keep our village safe. From what? I stabbed the earth. We must complete our missions. For whom? I dug up the soil. We must grow stronger. And why? I pulled out a stone. Mantra like these were impressed upon the shinobi from such a young age, and it bothered me. Was it pride? For wealth? Was it simply power for power's sake? I chose another dahlia, in a lighter shade, to accompany the first, delicately extricating it from its temporary home, before bedding it down in its fresh, new abode. I paused, sighing. Planting flowers wasn't exactly noble work, but if I could find more value in this than in all my work as the Tsuchikage... well, it didn't bear thinking about. 

Their beauty was doubled, now, a valiant ally against the servants of the mundane. Setting to work on another patch of earth, I considered. Was it simply the equilibrium between the five villages? Did each strive endlessly in search of power only so they would not fall behind? And what should happen to a weak village? A people who lived in peace? Were shinobi no better than the bandits and raiders we claimed to protect our citizens from? Would the Leaf, or the Mist, would they not hesitate to sack a village that shunned this archaic conviction? I rather feared I knew what answer the council would give. 

The earth gave way easily beneath my sharp, golden instrument, dry solidity yielding fresh soil beneath. Was it truly us or them? And, would it be that way forever?

What could I hope to do?

[daisy]

there's a wealth of happiness and romance ♥

Was that it? Was I getting to the bottom of my uncertainty, of my frustration? Did it stem from my inability to make a difference? As I selected the final flower, a beautiful, solitary lily, I considered. I had always been at odds with the shinobi culture. While I had taken lives, and had fought for my village, in my heart, I had always justified these actions on a personal level. Were it merely to attain wealth for Iwagakure, to gain glory, I would have resisted. I would have recoiled. As I carefully removed the flower from the pot, delicately breaking up the soil around its roots, its height and lonely bloom struck a chord with me. Placing it between the dahlias, it stood out from the patch, a focal point surrounded by beauty.

I ought to be the lily, I thought. Not a dahlia, not a tulip, and certainly not a common daisy. It wasn't that the lily was any more important than the other flowers, yet it rose above them. It held itself alone, aloof, and shone with its own, singular beauty. As I packed earth about its stem, I inhaled deeply of its unique scent. Here, in an unnatural environment, they would require a little help to grow healthily. But in the wild, those glorious fields of flowers upon flowers... They grew with such freedom and abundance!

Was I in the wrong place? Was I not getting enough sun? Enough water? My petals, were they wilting? I stood up, my flowers settled, and retrieved one of the empty pots. Stepping into a nearby cafe, I slipped behind the counter, smiling at the staff, and borrowed some water, before heading back outside. I knelt over the new blooms, tipping the pot so each had enough water, and the soil grew darker.

It wasn't Iwagakure that couldn't provide me with the necessary nourishment, it was its people. And of course, not the citizens, and not all of my shinobi, but certainly...

Well. It wouldn't do to dwell on it. I stood up, gathering the empty pots and letting my golden trowel disintegrate into shimmering dust. I hadn't done much, really. But I was certain that all who passed this previously bare spot couldn't fail to enjoy the new flowers, in some small way.


All in a golden afternoon.

[Anmida]

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