Arvid

MASHAI “Some doctors believe in the benevolence of their work. Some healers are delusional that way. A doctor is a patcher, a tailor and a machinist. It is not their compassion that fends off death, in the same way that a blacksmith is unable to love away the rust of a blade. You would not ask a blacksmith why weapons need to be sharpened, nor would you presume that they toiled solely by the goodness of their heart, so why are we any different? It is a strange, unsettling thought, my boy, that we would be considered so inherently different from our fellow craftsmen, and that the nature of our field’s expertise be denied us.” - Kei Forename: Mashai Surname: Eto Gender: Male Age: 16 years old Height: 188 cm Weight: 160 lb Hair colour: Dark Eye colour: Light Grey Birthplace: Land of Fire Your gaze flimmers through whiteness. Corridors fold and twists in strange turns. Your white shirt is bloodied, and your hearts pounds but faintly. You are placed by your friend, as hurt as you are. Suddenly, a figure approaches. A young man with short, black hair and grey eyes look down at you. He, at first, seem to pay you no mind. You wonder if it is due to your hideous wounds, but you doubt it. It looks like he doesn't want to meet your gaze. Another person approaches you. The young medic - he must be a medic - looks up, but can not meet their gaze. Their initial greetings are hurried and they seem unnatural. He seems pressed. But at once, when the two look towards you, that stress disappears. The young medic seems confident, if nothing else, in his craft. Introduction Born into a steel-eyed glare and with an ironic affinity for medicine, Mashai looks a familiar sort at first glance. You’ve certainly seen his kind before, sons that are the spitting images of their fathers. Sons that carry the same quirks, the same thoughts as their old men, and are doomed to repeat the same mistakes. Mashai’s directness, his grey eyes and dark hair, his tallness and his mannequin-like posture are all undoubtedly sprung from Kei, his father, who also went to painful lengths to carry his utilitaristic philosophy over to his son. Mashai, having inherited Kei’s obsession with medical ninjutsu and a considerable part of his smarts, did not take long to join the medical squads of the Leaf, working under the watchful gaze of his father. But Kei was a cruel parent, emotionally stunted and callous, and his ways left most of his peers disillusioned and distant. Mashai carried his legacy wherever he went, a burden true of every son of every father. But while it is true that the sins of the father are to be laid upon his children, a son remains the child of two. Mashai’s mother, Yua, returned to her home in the deep reaches of Fire Country soon after a nightmarish fever followed her pregnancy. According to Kei, she returned to a humble life in the hushed hinterlands of a remote settlement in Fire Country. The shreds of her love that remained were imprinted into Mashai as a soothing voice that guided his judgement and eased the passage of his early sleepless nights. Kei never mentioned her, other than to state that she was gone for good. Yet it did not take away from the fact that Mashai was not only his father's son, but the child of his mother. Because even sons that share their father's sins can not resemble them completely. Mashai's fate - tainted as it may be - was not yet sealed. In spite of every likeness, Kei’s self-reliability did not rub off on his son. Mashai is far from an independent soul. But even though Mashai finds both the approval and praise of others to be a motivating factor, it is not necessarily the same as being able to navigate those same relationships gracefully. As such, his desire for acknowledgement is sated only in small doses. The young boy is reserved, mostly due to a wavering self-esteem that does not seem to correspond to talent - which he doesn't lack - but more to the hardship of trying to please Kei, his harshest judge. He is a good thinker, but a better overthinker, leading to sleepless nights, long bouts of silence, and a lot of second guessing. When working, the young medic is pedantic and concentrated and hates failure. Many patients associates his treatment with slight unease, due to his approach - taught by his father - of treating patients almost like fabric. While Mashai isn't controversial enough to spark any real dislike from his fellow warriors, he is far from being a prominent figure in any eyes. Many know him by his father, and that is usually enough for heads to turn and exchange a few whispers, but little else. Mashai soon, after his initiation to the shinobi world, came to understand the destructive implication of knowing how to mend something - also understanding how to rip it apart. He soon became a warrior in his own right. Strangely, inflicting damage didn’t come as natural to him as to his father, and he had to unlearn a lingering discomfort with the idea. With his father’s blessing, the young shinobi attended Kei’s laboratory and learned the basics and the usages of poison. As time passed, the young warrior grew into his newfound role. He learned enough to at least be of help in most situations that could arise in the hospital. And even though many people surely doesn’t cheer joyfully at seeing him, he remains a proficient and prolific young medic who - although limited by his young age and the lack of experience that it entailed - is considered an acknowledged member of the medical squads and a steady and trustworthy presence in the Leaf Hospital.