"They're efficient, but there's always room for improvement," Kazue replied as the larger puppet was produced from the scroll and came to stand -- no, sway -- as though groggy once her strings found their appropriate place. Had she realized how much she sounded like her mother in that moment, she may very well have snickered. "My goal is to make jounin within the year. I don't want to leave room for error. There are a couple of different compounds I've been meaning to finish that require these materials, too."

She didn't have any plans to allow herself to grow lax in terms of her compounds or performance, after all. Some puppeteers might have relaxed their control on the first puppet, but Kazue held both, Takkun himself relaxing slightly in movement as Socchan went through the motions of stretching and, frankly, nagging his puppeteer for 'waking' him. The sealed scorpions were regarded for mere seconds before he moved to gobble them up all too happily, a retest of certain recent tune-ups. A paw found his stomach after the fact, Kazue assessing his movements carefully.

Takkun, on the other hand, turned his eyes up at Gaara and slowly moved a paw up as though to pat his face or wave his paw beneath it one. Eyes on him, please! Please!