Recuperating

[Kakashi Hatake]

The copper-haired athlete was slow to respond. Where Kakashi was from, this sort of behavior spoke of mistrust. He held nothing against the man, as he had not been exactly verbose in his own explanation. A moment later, the man spoke up. “Not much t’ tell. Got bounced around back there and wound up here. Not like I really know where ‘here’ or ‘there’ is, though…”

The masked ninja nodded quickly as he sorted his belongings. “I know the feeling. This…’Omniverse’ is an odd place to say the least. I’m guessing you know as much as I do?”

The baller shrugged. “Jus’ what the big guy told me. Came right here from the fountain.”

The scarecrow responded with another nod, dropping various scrolls and tools into their respective pockets. He noted an almost complete lack of shuriken (a fact he’d soon need to rectify) as well as the absence of his ANBU mask. Thinking back, he doubted the porcelain shards had survived the miasma.

“You seem pretty well prepared, bruddah,” the islander commented with a grin. “Wanna travel together? I’m used to working in a group.”

Kakashi glanced up from his preparations and met the man’s gaze, his warm smile easing the uptight Jonin slightly. Wakka’s easy-going and friendly attitude reminded him of Might Guy somewhat, though his hair was not half as ridiculous as his former comrade’s. “Sure, that’d be alright. Just let me refill my stock and we can get going.”

“Sure thing, bruddah,” Wakka responded. “Lemme know when you’re ready, ya?”

A few quick moments of summoning and arranging later, the shinobi captain slipped the last of his supplies into their designated belt pouch. He had recouped the loss of his shuriken and armed himself with a fair few kunai for any future battles. As he made to motion for he and Wakka to take their leave, he noticed an odd-looking device tucked into one of his scrolls. He pulled it free of it’s confines, rolling the smooth, metallic object in his gloved hand.

The bronzed athlete cocked his head, looking just as confused as Kakashi felt. “What’s that?” he inquired.

“Doesn’t look familiar,” the shinobi answered without looking up. He tapped at the glass-like screen experimentally. “Seems pretty high-tech.”

“Consolation prize, maybe?” Wakka wondered aloud. He patted his own pockets, searching for any gifts from a clandestine benefactor. Finding nothing, he frowned. “Nothing new for me.”

Kakashi’s attention was swallowed up by the strange object, its luminescent screen displaying a great many strange shapes and functions. Though portable technology existed in Konoha, it didn’t extend much past simple radio communication. Was this device perhaps a sort of mobile communication device? It didn’t seem to have any mouthpiece or even more than a few buttons. A stray finger movement alerted the ninja of the device’s touch-based interface. The scarecrow’s mind whirred as he poked and prodded his new toy.

The baller craned his neck behind his companion, struggling to observe the strange device. “That’s a pretty cool uh...thing,” he muttered, watching as the silver-haired shinobi navigated the device’s menus.

“Seems to be some sort of mobile communication device,” Kakashi affirmed, swiping through a few screens. “There’s a few other things on here, too, though.” He paused, his confidence turning to confusion. “I’m not sure what they are…’pesterOmni’?” The Jonin tapped the icon, deftly working his way through the interface and writing a quick message. Though he had little experience with cutting-edge tech, learning was the one thing he was exceedingly good at.

“You about ready to head out, bruddah?” Wakka asked, poking the shinobi square in the center of the spiral-esque shoulder tattoo.

The scarecrow chuckled weakly, quickly tossing the communicator into his pocket. “Yeah, sorry about that. Let’s get going.”