Aachen Rizen Compile - Kenno Matsuri [ In Character ]

Ehb · Apr 13, 2018

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LowDefinition · Apr 16, 2018

[fieldbox=Runara Blazeheart, #ffa64d, solid]

[ Month of Renewal 15th, Midday / Jiaojing Province, Maolan Forest, Worn Down Shrine ]

Hearing everyone either agree of disagree on waiting out for a bit to let everyone ready up before they actually head out made Runara wonder if this sort of terrible communicating is effective to get people to act. Runara was about to get another word in before...

Touch.

"Eeeeek!!" Runara suddenly stood straight. Tensing up as immediate as the younger twin suddenly touching her ear. Her tail shot up straight, her face reddens, and when Tsubaki approached, she immediately took cover from Lan behind Tsubaki.

"That surprised me!" She yelled out, having her rather sensitive part being touched so suddenly... "Don't... Touch me out of nowhere!" Her tail is swinging away agressively, and then it turned to people suddenly asking her to let them touch her.

"No!" She yelled at the first question from Kei. "I'm not a distraction! Rude!" She swings her tail even more agressively due to his rudeness.

"Are you implying I'm a brothel girl!?" She turned her annoyance at Yuan. "I have you know while I dress like this I'm not that kind of girl!" She sounded really annoyed about the crass joke that Yuan made.

"N---" Runara was about to yell another no to the twins, but seeing the older twin made a rather seriously genuine gesture to beg at Runara to let her twin sister touch and rub her ear... Her tail swings less agressively after seeing that gesture.

"W-w-well... Since you asked so nicely... F-fine, only because you asked so genuinely." Runara finally calmed down, although her face is still red. She turned to the younger twin. "Next time... Ask nicely before you touch my ears okay?" She sounded tired and slightly irritated. "It doesn't mean you can't touch however, just let me know so I can see it coming." It's not like she's against ear touching, it's just that... She doesn't want it to be done suddenly... "I mean, you did hear what Tsubaki-chan said right...?"

@Skyswimsky
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[/fieldbox]

Rithas · Apr 16, 2018

[fieldbox= Saburo, #FF00FF, solid]

[ Month of Renewal 15th, Midday / Jiaojing Province, Maolan Forest, Worn Down Shrine ]

There was a little too much talk of murdering people for Sabaro's taste. He laid there, watching. Trying his best stoic face. Worst thing about practicing for a role in a prison. You have no one to bounce it off of.

Somehow a large part of the group had gotten onto the discussion of touching Runara's ears. Most of them anyway, It seemed Lan had gone straight ahead and straight up touched it. He sucked air in through his teeth. He supposed the question of whether Tsubaha was ditching them wasn't so important afterall.

"They get boring after a while." Saburo announced from the back. "T-The ears, I mean." He didn't see how they could. Even he wanted to go up and touch it, but that would have to happen in public over his dead body. "The fun ones are the ones with horns. You can play horseshoes with them." He doubted that was actually possible, unless they had really big horns. And at that point the Doven would just stab you with it.

"Giving consent though, now that's the mistake. Soon enough you'll have to be on alert watching for someone about to start feeling up your tail. 'Tis a slippery slope." He shrugged to himself. "What, er, you should have done. Is punished her for doing it without asking you first."

@LowDefinition @Luma @Karyra @Everyoneyay[/fieldbox]

Asuras · Apr 16, 2018

[fieldbox=Utashou Hokoa, #fac9e9, solid]

[ Month of Renewal 15th, Midday / Jiaojing Province, Maolan Forest, Worn Down Shrine ]

Troublesome, but not fatal. She had her life, her strength, and as it appeared now, a veritable army of friendly souls to aid her. Bell or no bell, Utashou knew that they had to be collected anyways; being short her own was a mere step backwards, but far from stepping out of the arena. The quiet-eyed lady sat upon her legs at the foot of the shrine. having not yet risen to meet Tsubaha's hasty movement. She listened carefully to everyone's words, inclined to put weight into such, as opposed to Yu Ri's authoritarian suggestion.

"We are a diverse group, to be sure, and so to delegate all decisions to but one would no doubt result in heavy disagreement down the line. It is less sour to follow a group than to follow one," Utashou said calmly. "At the same time, I must agree with the suggestion to appoint Tsubaha. We are at our weakest now, and expediency is a virtue. Too many voices will stall us. I only hope that down the line Tsubaha takes caution to the rest of our voices. Similarly, I must concur with most here that keeping together is in our best interest. Despite our numbers, we nonetheless fell prey to a petty trick. Multiplied forces will retrieve each one of our bells faster than alone. But that should be obvious," she said, rising to her feet. Utashou claimed her spear from the dirt and began towards the Tsubaha, leaving just before the Miko had finished her work.

"Let us not idle before the competitors leave us in the dust," she began. Swinging the spear over her shoulders, she passed by Yuan... and lightly struck the pommel upon the side of his head -'accidentally' of course. And just in time to catch the tail-end of his lewd comment. "Apologies."
[/fieldbox]

@Psyker Landshark
@ERode

Luma · Apr 16, 2018

[fieldbox=Lan Yiban, #4da6ff, solid]

[ Month of Renewal 15th, Midday / Jiaojing Province, Maolan Forest, Worn Down Shirine ]

Lan gently stroked the ears, confirming them to be fluffiest objects known to handkind. The owner of these particular fluffies gave a pleased purr and leaned into her hand, just like a kitty when you scratched the right spot. Despite the strange sight, everyone ignored the two of them and continued to speak among themselves, figuring it was "just a weird Doven thing." Nothing worth fretting over.

That was the ideal scenario.

Obviously, it was a very unrealistic one.

The second she got to touch the floof, both of them suddenly leaped back in surprise: the floof girl from an unexpected sensation, and Lan from floof girl's crazy reaction. The worst part, of course, was the attention it had drawn.

A girl behind her had tried to warn her, though she hadn't even noticed the girl was speaking to her until it was too late. Lan glanced back at Tsubaki for a split-second before turning away in shame. After a great deal of exchanges between the group of people, the headfloof finally turned to Lan, surprisingly civil about it. Maybe because of sis'.

"S-sorry..." she apologized, looking down at the grass near her boots. It was all Lan could muster with so many people around.

"Tsuba...ki...?"

Covering a few quiet coughs with her hand, Lan's eyes began to shift between each member of the group before finally settling on the one everyone's eyes seemed to be hinting towards.

Lan liked her hair. Very cute. Also, hair couldn't stare back with disapproving eyes, so that made it a lot easier to look at. Turning back to floofy, Lan nodded to show she'd heard... whatever it was 'the girl with hair' had said.

Without a word, Lan tapped Ran's shoulder three times with a shaky smile - a little thing she did to say 'Thank you' without actually saying it - then she departed for the woods. After all, sis' could get very chatty at times, and sometimes it took Lan wandering off to keep her moving.

@LowDefinition
@Miya
@Skyswimsky[/fieldbox]

Accelerator · Apr 17, 2018

[fieldbox= An Exercise in Trust - Noriko Amagawa and Tsubaha Mori, #99ccff, solid]

[ Month of Renewal 15th, Midday / Jiaojing Province, Maolan Forest, Worn Down Shrine ]

"Ugh... what happened..."

Those were the first words Noriko managed to utter upon regaining consciousness. His head felt like it was being repeatedly beaten by sticks like the gongs in the royal palace. His body felt like it had turned to lead since he initially was unable to move any of his limbs.

Over time, the numbness gradually subsided and he was able to get back on his feet, yet the events still felt strange to him. Why would he suddenly faint like that after drinking from the canteen one of those guys offered... unless...

Reaching into his pocket and finding no sign of its contents, the black haired samurai was finally able to discern just what exactly happened to him. It seems like he had let his guard down too much and consequently reduced his chances of victory in this year's festival.

Glancing around the area, he managed to spot another contender just a few meters away from him. Using his sword as a makeshift cane, Noriko hobbled towards a familiar figure who had quite a distressed look on her face. Guess he wasn't the first one to wake up. There were other contestants here as well, and strangely enough he recognized most of them but he chose to approach the twin swordstress since she's closer to him than the rest.

"I guess those cowards got you too huh, Tsubaha-san? Are you alright? You're not hurt anywhere, are you?" He asked with a genuine look of concern in his voice.

He may have come out of that betrayal unscathed but the same may not be said for the rest of the people here. If those cowards knew what they were doing then they should have incapacitated some of them in order to ensure nobody would come after them for revenge. For everyone's sake, he could only hope that they've done a sloppy job or had simply left all of them unharmed.

Tsubaha shook her head.

"No, I'm not. I... managed to recover a bit faster than the others it seems. But, it looks like it's already to late." She said with a sigh. "It looks like whomever did all of this did so in order to get their hands on bells more than anything else. Which is surprising, since I don't think they took anything else."

Crossing her arms, Tsubaha thought a bit deeper.

"It's strange. It's like all they wanted out of us was to get those bells."

She shook her head.

"Well, it's no use thinking too had about it. This is still a tournament and, even starting off at such a big disadvantage means nothing if I can still fight. Noriko, I'd suggest you get moving too before the others here wake up. Some of them won't be in too good a mood, and they might just start swinging at each other when they come to."

A sigh of relief escaped the black haired swordsman's lips when Tsubaha had confirmed that she was relatively unharmed. If she was left in such an undisturbed state then it's safe to assume that the others weren't hurt as well.

"It looks like whomever did all of this did so in order to get their hands on bells more than anything else. Which is surprising, since I don't think they took anything else."

So Tsubaha's bells were missing as well and it seems she has come up with the same conclusion as him. To be honest, Noriko was feeling relieved more than worried that all they took from them were the bells. If they had taken their weapons and gear as well then they would not have any means of bouncing back from this situation. But more than that, he was thankful that the guys who did this seem to only have a one track mind regarding their goal of retrieving the bells. If they had done a better job then none of them would be waking up after falling for the bell thieves' trap.

"If I had to make a guess then this is the work of amateurs who only wanted an easy ticket of getting through the next round. We should be thankful that they weren't as thorough as we thought. We would have lost more than those bells if that had been the case."

If he were in the thieves' shoes, he would have finished the group off in order to hide the evidence and avoid the risk of the group chasing after him.

"We're all pretty much in the same boat here. I think it'd be best to start rounding up everyone and explain the situation to them. Fighting amongst ourselves would do us no good in a situation wherein we already have a huge handicap stacked against us. We should work together to track the ones who did this to us and exact justice for their actions."

Noriko dusted himself off and stretched a bit to regain feeling in his muscles a bit faster before addressing Tsubaha once more.

"I'll go wake up and explain the situation to the guys. You handle the girls, Tsubaha-san. The sooner we get ourselves back on our feet the higher the chance we have of recovering those bells."

"Hold up a second."

Tsubaha stopped Noriko. Her face already plainly expressed her disagreement with this plan of his to try to get everyone to work with each other.

"Where do you get off thinking that I automatically agree with this? I already said that I'm going on ahead. In the time it would take for us to get all these people awake, those people will have already made off with our bells beyond our reach. No..." Tsubaha pinched the bridge of her nose. "I mean... why would you even think I want to work with these people, with you even?"

Noriko knew it very well.
Tsubaha didn't get along with people very well. Not at the Wushu School, not with most people in town, not anyone really. Yes. Working together with people like this was a foreign concept to her.

"I don't need anyone's help in getting bells. I can beat through most anyone at the Wushu school just fine. Some coward who uses poison won't stand in a real fight against me. Fighting alongside these people... I'd be more worried about being back stabbed by them."

Noriko did know that Tsubaha did not get along well with the people. He was aware that she doesn't have the best reputation there for practicing the "sword style that the enemy uses". He, himself, was on the same boat because he was also practicing a sword style taught by a Tousa defector.

Due to the discrimination she had suffered she would always be alone wherever she went. Noriko recalled something that his master told him when he was still under her tutelage.

"Some people may choose isolation but none can stand it. Even a lone wolf seeks the company of another from time to time. We're human beings after all... we're not built to live by ourselves."

"While I do not doubt your prowess with the sword, I do have to question your ability in tracking the perpetrator of this mess. Do you have any idea where to start? You don't even have an idea who these guys are, how many of them are involved in this scheme, and how strong each of them are. Do you even have any idea how much time has passed since we passed out?"

For all they knew, the thieves may have had a lead on them ranging from several minutes to a few hours. And the chances of Tsubaha successfully tracking the enemy would drop significantly the longer the lead they had on her.

"While you may think that the only reason they went through such roundabout methods to obtain our bells is because they couldn't face us head on, there is a possibility that they chose such means because they would rather not needlessly spill blood in the name of obtaining those bells. Never underestimate the enemy... that's one of the first things they teach us at the school, right?" Noriko explained sternly.

There's a difference between knowledge you gain at school and practical experience out in the field. And as far as Noriko knew, Tsubaha had little to no actual practical experience.

"However, at least one of these guys should be capable of tracking the enemy. The mere fact that we've all been wronged by the same people should be enough motivation to work together and avoid betraying each other at least until we retrieve our bells. What we need right now is an exercise in trust. I know you do not work well with others but it wouldn't hurt to try putting some faith in others people now, right? Without the bells we already don't stand any chance of making it to the next round so you pretty much have nothing to lose and everything to gain from this arrangement."

To be honest, Noriko is capable of doing that himself. However, a lot of time passed since the last time he had to make use of those skills and as such he is not as confident as he once was before in regards to tracking the enemy group that poisoned them.

"Long story short, I believe it would be in our best interest to work together towards a common goal rather than go about it on our separate ways. We use each other's strength and skills to track down the enemy and retrieve their bells."

"...That's the part about you that Irritates me the most."

Tsubaha turned around, Facing Noriko with an annoyed expression.

"Everything you said just now. Everything. Was under the assumption that I want to go after those people who took our bells. Like it's the only thing I want to do. But, that isn't the case. While I'd surely want to exact revenge on those people, finding them at this point is secondary."

Secondary?
What sort of nonsense was she talking about?
The prize of this tournament was a wish from the King of Shang. And the only way to get that was to gain enough bells by the end of it to get that wish. Was that not why everyone joined?

"I joined this tournament to fight against Tsukaha. Nothing else matters. I need to prove to her that I'm strong enough now.... and dragging you or anyone else along with me isn't going to do anything to help with that."

Easing back her posture a little, Tsubaha rested one of her hands on her blades, sheathed at her side.

"You can go on about how I'd be more effective to go as a group. You can tell me how those people need to be punished and removed from the tournament. But, all of that isn't something I'm going to worry about. Right now, Tsukaha is out there beating people and gaining bells all on her own. I won't stand it, approaching her for a duel with a whole entourage of people trailing behind me."

"There's no way I could face Tsukaha, and challenge her to a duel with a whole group of people trailing behind. If I was seeing that from her perspective, I'd be laughing at how insecure my opponent looked."

So that was why she had joined the tournment. Yes, many of Noriko's arguments fell apart, with the new knowledge that the bells or getting back at the individuals who had done it was a secondary and optional goal at best.

"So give it a rest. Noriko. You may be the kind of person whose pleasant with everyone, but this isn't the School anymore. Me being in your clique isn't going to do anything for me, and what I want to do in this tournament. So give it a rest."

Noriko had stumbled upon a metaphorical brick wall. How else would he be able to convince her to help at this point?

"Heh... that's it huh? Interesting."

Noriko very well knew how much Tsubaha wanted to become a swordmaster. However, there was one obstacle that stood in her way to achieve that goal. And that obstacle was the very person who brought her to the school in the first place, Tsukaha Xu, the current renowned swordmistress in the Shang Kingdom.

"So your reason for coming all the way out here is to challenge Tsukaha-san? Well then, if that's your goal in the first place then I won't stop you anymore. But you do realize that we're inside a forest that spans several miles in all directions. Do you even know where to look for her? Are you a bloodhound that can smell the scent of its prey without fail? By the time the Festival is over you might not have been able to discover a single trace of her."

The forest was expansive. Looking for a single person here would be akin to finding a needle in a haystack. If Tsubaha Mori wanted to challenge Tsukaha Xu then the odds of their paths converging in this forest were infinitesimal. Thus, there was no guarantee that Tsubaha would be able to accomplish what she came here for... unless.

"However, there is one way to guarantee your challenge with Tsukaha-san. At the end of the Festival of Swords, the King of Shang fulfills the wish of those who manage to be victorious in this tournament. If you want to fight her so damn much then just ask the king to organize a fight between Tsubaha Mori and Tsukaha Xu. If you win, you are given the title of Swordmaster. If Tsukaha-san wins, she retains her title. Sounds simple enough, right?"

Indeed, arranging such a bout would be a simple matter for the King. Even then, Tsubaha coming out on top of this tournament would be enough reason for Tsukaha to accept her challenge.

"But if you don't get those bells, then you can kiss your chances of fighting Tsukaha-san goodbye!"

Noriko was well aware that he was provoking Tsubaha. Things could turn ugly real quick if he continues prodding her excessively but at the same time he needed to stop her from doing something reckless. Besides, what he told her was a fact... that getting those bells could be her key to the challenge she had sought for quite some time now.

"The best shot you have of getting those bells is to team up with every person here. Not only would we be able to locate the bastards who wronged us and recover our bells but we would also sweep through other competitors until all of us has three bells for themselves. Besides, there's no rule saying we can't team up. That's what free-for-all's are, after all."

If she tackles the situation by herself, Noriko will no longer stop her. She never treated him as a friend so he doesn't have a right to stop her beyond the offer he gave her.

"So what do you say, Tsubaha Mori? Will you participate in this exercise in trust?"

"Fighting her here is what I want! I have seven days... all I have to do is defeat every single person in my way, and I'll cleave a path to Tsukaha myself! I don't care about the bells or that dumb king's promise.. what I want is right here in this festival!"

Tsubaha put her had on both her blades.

"I don't just want to fight against Tsukaha. I want to WIN against Tsukaha...!"

Her arms tensed as if to draw them, but she shuddered and held herself back.

"...nnngh. There's no point in me fighting you here. I won't waste any energy and take unnecessary damage before running into her."

So, she was that serious about that match then. Fighting against Tsukaha in a one on one style duel, in this forest where the loser would likely die. Seeing Tsubaha now, it wouldn't surprise Noriko if in that fight, she'd keep going until she... forced Tsukaha to make a final strike.

The lone wolf style was Tsubaha's sort of affinity. Bringing people along with her was only a sign of weakness in her eyes. A bit hot-headedly, she said she'd basically defeat whatever obstacle or challenger that came across her until she found who she was going after.

But, for a moment, she was able to show a bit of reason. Just now, she held herself back so she wouldn't get needlessly injured. Didn't she just say earlier that she'd cleave through anyone to get to Tsukaha?

Noriko had to press that. She'd manage to keep herself at full strength for that final duel if...

"My my, so the rumors were true about you being a handful, huh?"

She was much too stubborn for her own good. Claiming that she'd fight her way through any opponent that stood in her way and reaching Tsukaha unscathed was nothing more than wishful thinking. After all, the other participants may be nearly as skilled in combat as Tsubaha or she could end up falling into another one of those traps set up by the other contestants.

With that in mind, Noriko calmly approached Tsubaha and... delivered a light karate chop on her head.

"Idiot. You're saying you would cleave a path to Tsukaha-san yet you also said that you want to save your strength. That doesn't make any sense you know. For all we know there are other monsters out there aside from Tsukaha-san. What are you gonna do if you encounter someone as skilled, if not more skilled than you in combat. You can't expect to come out of those fights unscathed and still be able to face that Swordmaster at full strength."

There was no guarantee that all the opponents she'll face before Tsukaha, if she does manage to find her, are all weaklings that would take minimal effort to take care of. That's why she cannot expect to fight her on an even playing field if she decides to go on her own. She'd be hurt, overcome with fatigue, or both by the time she manages to reach Tsukaha.

"You could go about it your way and face Tsukaha tired, injured, and worn down with zero chances of winning. Or convince these people to work with you to get their bells until we run into Tsukaha. By then, I'll convince them to let you fight her one on one. It's not shameful to rely on the help of others rather it is more shameful to think you can tackle every problem by yourself. So swallow your damn pride and team up with us already!"

"...So you're saying to use those people just so I can get to Tsukaha unscathed, then?"

Tsubaha said as she patted down her hair. Perceiving it to have been ruffled a little by Noriko.

"I suppose you would have a point. Fine. I'll go along with this ill convinced plan of yours. Don't blame me if I'm no good at trying to convince these strangers to just band together so casually."

Despite agreeing with him to assist. Her face still looked visibly displeased. She turned her back on Noriko, giving one of her side bangs a disgruntled flip.

"I'll go along with this. But, you better not start having second thought about interrupting my duel with Tsukaha." She began to walk off. "I won't forgive you if you do, you Jerk."

[/fieldbox]

[fieldbox= Noriko Amagawa, #99ccff, solid]

[ Month of Renewal 15th, Midday / Jiaojing Province, Maolan Forest, Worn Down Shrine ]

It really didn't make much sense... For gods' sake Noriko always carried several canteens of water around him to combat dehydration and to be used in actual combat as well. So he shouldn't have accepted those strangers' offers of a free drink when he already had an abundance of those available to him. Out of courtesy to a strangers kindness, he accepted their offer of drink but he did make sure to hold back on drinking too much of the water he was offered.

Still, he had seemingly drank enough of that peculiar water for the strangers' plans to work since he passed out within a matter of minutes after finishing that drink. The last thought on his mind before his consciousness wandered into the void was If they ever took his sword... then he would swear upon the gods that he would hunt them down to the ends of Rizen.

When he woke up, he could still feel the burning sensation of the poison coursing through his body. However, since he had only drank a considerably smaller amount of that poisoned water compared to the others, he found himself to be one of the first to be released from its paralyzing effect. It might have been surprising that the treacherous strangers had pretty much left them unharmed but he was thankful to know he had suffered little to no injuries from that incident and relieved to see that the bandits left all of their possessions intact save for the bells.

"So that's what they were after from the start huh?"

Surprisingly enough, Tsubaha seemed to have gone out of her way to convince this gathering of misfits into working together to recover their bells and exact justice upon the group that stabbed them in the back... and to think this was the girl who couldn't get along with anyone in the Wushu School.

Whilst he was meditating in an attempt to combat the sporadic pain that was still lingering in his body, he heard a commotion that prompted him to break his concentration and investigate its cause. Apparently, the very person who proposed the lot of them to work together was seemingly venturing on her own without so much as a warning.

Other people decided to follow in her path whilst some others decided to rest up some more or engage in other activities before heading out. The priestess, Rumiko, suggested that they should have a plan of sorts before doing anything. On the other hand, the assassin named Kei seemed to be eager to track down the treacherous group that stole their bells. Then there was all this talk about who the leader should be and it seemed that there was a consensus that it should be the person who brought them together, Tsubaha.

"Leader or not, we need to begin planning our course of action. Start throwing ideas and then we propose them to Tsubaha. In the end, she's gonna decide what would be the best action to take. However, I'm sure it would be helpful for her in making said decision if we each pitch in our ideas. By then she would have a general idea on what we need to do. "

Waiting for Tsubaha to come up with an idea by herself while they simply stand by would simply be a waste of time. And right now time was simply a commodity that was too precious to waste.

"As for my suggestion, then I propose the people that know how to track to go ahead and scout the area surrounding our current position and investigate if the bastards that did this to us ended up leaving a breadcrumb trail for us to follow. It sure beats going for a random direction and end up empty handed. The others should either rest if they're still not feeling well, or gather enough supplies for our journey. I volunteer to be on the tracking team if we're ever gonna put my suggestion into action."

@RedArmyShogun
@Karyra
@LowDefinition
@Ehb
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@Rithas
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@Akashi
@Luma

[/fieldbox]

Skyswimsky · Apr 17, 2018

[fieldbox= Ran Yiban, #4da6ff, solid]

[ Month of Renewal 15th, Midday / Jiaojing Province, Maolan Forest, Worn Down Shrine ]
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.

Three times.

"..." Of course. Ran was used to having a lot of people around. Props that never really bothered her while she performed. Some paid, others didn't. All Ran had to do was smile. Always smile and pretend. For Lan, however, it had been completely different, and the entire attention it put on her was, obviously, uncomfortable.

Now, it wouldn't be much of a problem if this was back at home. Both girls knew the streets of their district pretty good, but here? Running off into the forest? Alone? They both had to... adjust. For now, however, Ran knew she could definitely not let Lan run off alone. Not too far anyway.

Even if someone had addressed her just now, the white-hairs priorities were clear. There were so many heads thinking about this, anyway, what could go wrong?

Thus, without much hesitation, the older twin simply followed.

@Luma
@_Nobody in particular
[/fieldbox]

Miya · Apr 17, 2018

[fieldbox=The Eyebrows and the Washboard - Affinity Chapter 1 : Worn Down Shrine, lightgreen, solid]

[ Month of Renewal 15th, Dawn / Jiaojing Province, Maolan Forest, Worn Down Shrine ]

A white-haired young woman in a green outfit was lying on a worn straw mat, clutching her abdomen in pain. Groans and whimpers can be heard from her as she struggled to stay alive. A damaged warrior statue with a guandao was facing at her. Moments later, the woman suddenly got up, retching. She immediately closed her mouth, and quickly crawled for the nearest container. Tsubaki eventually found an abandoned pot, and vomited. It lasted for nearly a minute, before she slumped to the ground with a very sickly expression.

("Ugh... Where... am I?")

Her weakly eyes noticed a small figure was approaching her and stopped, as if it was attempting to establish a conversation.

"Are you... the one..." Tsubaki asked with a sickly voice. "... that escorts me... to Hell...?"

The person whom had been vomiting for some time had clearly gotten a really bad dose of whatever it was they were tricked into drinking. Her being convinced that Tsubaha was some kind of envoy from the afterlife wasn't completely out there. But, watching the dramatic motions of this person made Tsubaha feel bad.

Tsubaha simply opted to talk to this person straight and honestly.

"No, I'm not anyone who can take you to the afterlife or anything like that. Merely somone who got poisoned like you did, though it seems like you've gotten a more potent dose than I did."

Tsubaha's eyes narrowed. Speaking out of consideration to this person's situation, she asked.

"...I'm no doctor so I don't know anything about how to treat you. But, while I might not be the ferryman, I can send you his way if the pain is too much."

"Thank you... I appreciate your concern..." The poisoned noble replied. "I think... I'll live... I guess..."

Then Tsubaki attempted to sit upright, trying to get a better look at the person talking to her. Once she was done, her exhausted eyes began to examine the black haired girl. Tsubaki immediately noticed the funny eyebrows and her short height, which caused her to chuckle playfully. She began to muster more strength to shift into a kneeling position.

"Tsubaki Hanejima..." The white-haired noble began to introduce herself. "... now dying... at your service."

Tsubaki gave a weakly smile at the short girl in front of her. However, the dizziness in her head becomes unbearable, and she crumbled to the ground, eyes closed.

"My apologies... The world has spun too quick for me..."

"First you say you're living, and then you say you're dying. Make up your mind already." Tsubaha said. Rather harsh considering Tsubaki was still struggling to recover. Regardless, Tsubaha moved over to her. Tsubaki felt the girl take hold of her shoulders....

But. Tsubaki Blacked out.

...
..
.

When she cam back to. She found herself laying on her back. Looking to the side, she saw the same girl with dark hair seated with her two blades at her side. Moving around, she felt it. She was in a makeshift bed of sorts. It seemed like the sun had moved a little too.

"Here. One of the others said that drinking water is important if you've been poisoned. You can trust me. It's not poisoned this time."

Tsubaha motioned to a clay cup salvaged from the ruined shrine that was sitting nearby.

"Or don't trust me. I'm just here because that half naked charge of yours wanted to stretch their legs. If you want to go ahead and let this whole day of us waiting on you to get better to go to waste - then go with the ferryman then. Don't matter much anyway. The people who ran off with our bells are way far out now."

Once again, the Hanejima noble blacked out before any further interactions can be done. Fortunately, she managed to wake up with makeshift bed on her back, and Tsubaha offering her a cup of water, although she mentioned about trust issues. Since Tsubaha has stood with her from the beginning, whatever doubts that the noble has were dispelled.

"You have my gratitude..." Tsubaki thanked the short girl, and took the cup of water.

While drinking it, certain words coming from Tsubaha struck her thoughts repeatedly. Half naked charge, bells. Half naked charge, bells...

Then, the white-haired noble lets out an audible gasp, as if she finally realized something important. With her widened eyes, Tsubaki immediately questioned the girl with two Dai Blades, as if her malaise was completely gone.

"D-did you met a Fox Doven named Runara Blazeheart?! If so, where is she?!" She said with a mortified expression. "Bells... did you just said that we're now the participants of Kenno Matsuri, the Festival of Swords?!"

"Kenno Matsuri? You say? That sounds a lot like the jibberish that the elders in my household talk in. But, yes. The fact that you're here means that you are in the Festival of Swords. Why such a surprised reaction?"

Yes. That was indeed an overactive exclamation of surprise. Before they got poisoned, they had to sign up for the tournament at Jiaojing, walk together to the tournament grounds outside the city - a good walk that took several hours - and finally, they had to have their bells given to them while the rules of the tournament were explained.

How could she has possibly forgotten all of that, unless her memory got all jumbled from being poisoned so badly. If that was the case, Tsubaha only had pity for how effective that poison had been and her - and thankful that she managed to shrug it off rather quickly.

"Anyway... Runara. Yes. That was her name. Like I just said she stepped out to stretch her legs. I woudln't recommend chasing after her since she said she'd be back, after all."

Tsubaha put her hand on her cheek and looked at Tsubaki for a moment.

"She said she was traveling with you ...How do you stand her?"

The Hanejima noble buried her face into her hands when Tsubaha confirmed that she has joined the Festival of Swords. Memories of her begrudgingly signed up for the sake of Runara slowly came to her. Tsubaki lets out grunts of sheer disappointment, with her face still buried into her hands.

When the funny eyebrow girl asked how the noble managed to tolerate Runara in her travels, Tsubaki turned to her.

"I just..." The white-haired girl replied with a tired expression. "... tolerate, I guess. There are times I just turn a blind eye to the harmless shenanigans that she did. There are times that I simply laugh or reprimand her as well. All in all, I tried to direct her to be a better person, but..."

Tsubaki lets out an exasperated sigh.

"That fox just simply don't listen to me. Well, most of the time that is..."

"Then again, I owe Runara my life and my freedom..." The noble explained. "That's why I ended up with her."

"Must be nice for Runara, then. Actually has somone to look after her so she can fumble and fail all she wants... so a Washboard like you'll be able to clean up after her."

After hearing Tsubaki's answers, Tsubaha seemed a little... unhappy with the answer somehow? Or maybe a bit disgruntled even. Regaurdless, Tsubaha turned away, seeming to indicate that she didn't want to continue the conversation any longer. But, looking at the girl's eyes, there was a hint of sadness in them.

But, upon realizing it... did she just get called a 'washboard' by this girl? Because she cleans up after Runara's messes? A washboard?

"Well, here she comes back then. I've done my job."

Tsubaha said, pointing to the figure approaching with the distinctive ears and scantily clad outfit.

"I have a really hard time looking at what she wears, so I'll see myself out." She stood up. "Nice to meet you anyways, then."

"Have a good day, miss. I shall repay your gratitude, whenever I can."

Tsubaki replied as politely as possible.

As Tsubaha left the Hanejima noble, her thoughts began to spiral, analyzing the words that she has said to her. If she is a washboard, then Tsubaha's parents, the noble's parents, the city guards, the...

("Tsubaki, stop. I guess she just had a hard life...")

Right.

[/fieldbox]

[fieldbox= Tsubaki Hanejima, lightgreen, solid]

[ Month of Renewal 15th, Midday / Jiaojing Province, Maolan Forest, Worn Down Shrine ]

As more and more are focused to Runara who was now hiding behind her, Tsubaki remained in her servile, friendly expression. She merely smiled and nodded at Lan when she apologized. On the other hand, the noble did keep in mind who made the rowdy comments to her employer. The other Yi Ban twin with an energetic voice politely requested for a feel of Runara's ears too. Tsubaki also heard from the Kousen Priestess that she was done sanctifying the shrine, and was ready to move out. The other Tousawa Migrant with a naginata started moving out as well, though she 'accidentally' bumped into the Shang guy with leering eyes.

Tsubaki merely stared at the Yi Ban twins as they went into the jungles, perhaps trying to do their part on getting supplies? Noriko also gave his thoughts about the current situation as well. Once the situation has settled down, Tsubaki turned to Runara.

"I think it's safe now. Plus we need to do something soon..."

@LowDefinition

[/fieldbox]

Akashi · Apr 17, 2018

[fieldbox= Nanami Houhou, #FFFF99]

[ Month of Renewal 15th, Midday / Jiaojing Province, Maolan Forest, Worn Down Shrine ]

Even if she did give her input on the matter at hand, there was just too much discussion about how to proceed next. The Miko decided to sanctify the Shrine, which took her a few minutes. Whatever, or however she did that to calm the spirits or whatever was over and done with.

Meanwhile, others were taken by curiosity when a Doven was amongst them. Yes, judging by what she had seen thus far, she piqued Nanami's interest. It was tempting to follow the others and touch her ears as well, but obviously with permission. Well, that was Runara's request for the future.

A deadpan expression was plastered on her face, watching it all unfold, though the attention quickly turned over to Noriko and the others who wanted to move on. "Then I guess I'll join you Noriko. I can help with tracking, and keep an eye out."

Turning over to Tsubaha and the others who were so eager to decide on a leader, Nanami had to point out something. "Lets rather not jump to the conclusion that Tsubaha-chan wanted to leave us all behind. Maybe she's eager to get what was stolen from her back. I am sure we all are."

Walking towards the forest, Nanami stopped in her tracks. "So what'll it be? I mean, amidst all of this, the Miko is done sanctifying the Shrine. Now her mind is at ease as well. Lets move on together and find the people who poisoned us!"

Tightening her grip around the scabbard, a rather thrilling, cocky expression was plastered on her face. "And make them regret doing this to us.. Heh."

'Feel the tip of my blade cutting them down.' [/fieldbox]

@Ehb @Everyone

ShiroKiyoshi · Apr 17, 2018

[ Month of Renewal 15th, Midday / Jiaojing Province, Maolan Forest, Worn Down Shirine ]

"I feel like I drank an entire barrel of wine." Black said as he stretched out his back. He then looked to the shortstack in front of him as he continued stretching. She looked like she could fight well enough and he had indeed been put at an advantage with this sudden poisoning. He sucked his teeth and stopped stretching, folding his arms, and glaring down at the little girl. She had two swords and was extremely short, Black studied her for a while longer before he started to groan. His head started to throb and he made his way over to a nearby structure and knelt over ready to hurl. When nothing came up he stood up and spit to his side to confirm he was really okay.

He then looked over the group he was with and noticed the many colorful characters. His eyes scanned them quickly only picking out ones that were visibly strong such as the giantress, the small girl with the horribly worn sword and her twin with the crossbow, and then the practically naked Doven girl. He lingered there for a moment, his tail flicking, but eventually he pulled his attention away and reluctantly focused on the shortstack. "I've never worked well with others, but I can put that aside if you can help me get the bastard who did this to us. Hell you can have my bells if you can do that." Black put his hand out for Tsubaha to shake. "You can fight right?"
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Yes... I can."

The girl named Tsubaha...
Immediately put her hand on one of her sheathed shortblades. Black instinctively winced. No way, was she really going to just start having them duke it out here!? He just asked a question!

But that never happened though.

"...What? My blade was starting to slip down a little."

After readjusting a little, she again put her hand on her blades. But it was more resting in a relaxed pose as opposed to going battle ready.

"While I said that I'd keep track and hold onto bells for everyone, I don't have any intention of hoarding them or running off with them either. Even though this entire debacle has been a setback, my objective remains the same. I'm in this tournament to find someone and settle the score. Traveling with you all and defeating other participants will increase the chances of me finding that person."

"But, if we can find those people who offered us that water, then surely we'll get them back for what they did. There is no doubt about that. But, you don't need to go offering them to me or anything. Some of the people here need those bells to attain freedom, so they could probably use it more than me."

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Hmm." Black said now with his arms crossed. "Missed opportunity if you ask me, but who am I to judge, I have no need for these bells either."

Black studied Tsubaha again and really stared at the girl. It was enough to make one quite uncomfortable, he then leaned back and stuck his thumb up in front of her and laughed. "Shortstack." He covered his mouth, sorta just hovering his hand lazily in front of it, to achieve some level of decency, but he didn't really care. After, he had his fun he took a breath and looked at her seriously with his hands clamped together as if he were praying.

"Sorry." He said, clearing his throat. "I'm Black."

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

This person's actions was only met with only an inkling of a response. It was just Tsubaha didn't quite get what he was doing. She wasn't quite sure how she should reply.

"Yeah. It would be pointless of me to try to argue otherwise. So yes, I'm quite short. Just as I find you particularly strange."

She looked over Black with great restraint.

"I've never actually met a Doven before. So, I wonder if your people get amused over how long your horns or fangs are. If so, I guess both of our races are alike then. Just as capable of being cruel to their own kind."

"I was surprised when the dancing girl earlier said that you were one of her kind. But, outwardly, you look just like any other Sapien. Does that means that your horns and tail are really small too, then? Black?"

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Yeah, don't most? It's competition. Inbred. Whenever someone can show they're better they do it. My race being no exception there." Black stated.

He then noticed the little girl glancing at him. Her eyes fell in key places; his head and where a tail would be. Black yawned casually (covering his mouth as he had before) as she talked and blinked a couple of times to get the water out of his eyes. He raised a brow when she mentioned that she never met a Doven before.

"So they got you all cooped up in that Wushu school, Shortstack? Kinda surprised, got to be honest. Though, the majority of your day is probably body training or something."

"Oh, she mentioned me? Huh? Look I just don't have any ears, born without them. I do however have a tail." Black said as his tail snaked around his leg. It was a big bushy thing and completely black."Though, I hear I'm not the only odd one out among my people."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

"That makes the two of us then, Nanban. Training daily, and being different is something I know a bit too well. You could even say they go hand-in-hand in my case."

Where had he heard that before? No, for sure he hadn't ever heard that one. Maybe she was slurring her speech or something.

"But, don't be mistaken. Just because I have swords dosen't mean I'm a part of that Wushu School. If someone who was actually a part of it was here they'd say something along the lines of me being some sort of freeloader who dosen't conform to using the accepted style."

It sounded like there was a whole story behind that. But Before continuing on, Tsubaha waived her hands.

"Well... no. That's not something that I'll bore you with. But, I will say that I'm thankful that the smith there is kind enough to help maintain my blades. Probably the only person there I can get along with."

"But, I have one really important question though. Based on what you said, if you were born without any ears, how are you even hearing what I'm saying? I'm very curious."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Black listened to Tsubaha's story, swinging his tail back and forth to keep himself entertained, but stopped when she mentioned him not having ears. He laughed, at his own mistake granted, but he interpreted as her own.

"Well, yes, I do not have Doven ears." Black lifted his hair back to reveal some furry like sapien ears. "My ears are more akin to your kind than my own. Luckily, they are easy to hide because of the fur, but my hair wasn't always this long."

He said the last part with a bit of a sigh and his tail started drooping down lower than it had been. He let his hair down and crossed his arms. Looking out straight, feeling uncomfortable to say this to Tsubaha's face, her features just made her seem angry. Especially, the eyebrows.

"I can't find any trace of a Sapien in my bloodline, so it must be the unluckiest stroke of luck there is. Not to say that Sapiens are bad, but looking a bit like one didn't help my case any. Kids can be mean y'know? Anyways, yeah, I have ears. Rather silly to think I don't, Shortstack."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Some of Tsubaha's aristocratic background started to leak into her speech. Playing footsies with Black without intending to.

"When you say that you don't have ears I'm naturally interested. Anyone would be. But, I guess you weren't as impressive in that regard as I had been imagining then. I apologize for finding you more interesting than you actually were."

She breathed out.

"That aside, kids and people can be cruel and judgemental just by how you look. Family too even, I know that very well."

Catching what she was unconsciously doing, she went back to the most important point at this stage of the conversation.

"But, more importantly. It's Tsubaha. That's my actual name. Not this shortstack you keep on using. I'd appreciate if you'd address me properly, thank you."

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

[fieldbox=Black Nightingale, #D3D3D3, solid]

[ Month of Renewal 15th, Midday / Jiaojing Province, Maolan Forest, Worn Down Shrine ]
Black was sound asleep. It was nothing out of the ordinary for the guy, but he seemed pretty content on staying that way, even with all the bickering going on around him. How he ended up in this group though and in his particular spot perched in a tree with enough shade to keep him comfy? Simple. The man accepted some water from a group of strangers and upon recognizing the pain in his chest he found him a spot to die comfortably, but that didn't happen, he must've only taken a sip. Relieved, he stayed asleep, or tried to, but the people around him were really loud and refused to shut up.

Around the time someone decided they'd kill Tsubaha if she were worthless he stood up and dropped down from the tree. Despite his appearance he landed relatively quiet, but given he wasn't trying to be stealthy the thud of metal still rang when he hit the ground. Standing he examined the ragtag group of loud mouths. Assassins, criminals, lolis, and a freakishly buff woman, and then Rizen. There was no category for that kid, he didn't stand out like the rest, but that in itself made him stand out to Black. It was a compliment the guy would never give.

"Can't get a break around here, jeez." Black said aloud as he stormed over to the group, his hands at his hips, and head low. He looked at the group infatuated with the Doven's ears, which slightly made him cringe and subconsciously hide his big bushy tail. He tried to be discreet in staring at her other features, but it wasn't hard given that all the pests were blocking the view. His glance hopped around taking quick note of who was present, and the fact that half of them stood below his pecs, which really bothered him. "If this doesn't work out we can start a circus and make all the criminals wear clown getups..." Black chuckled to himself before seeing that Tsubaha was taking off. Seeing as he agreed to help her gain the bells he thought it be obvious to follow her, finding no need to voice his opinion.

@Ehb
@Love
@PeopleAtTehShrine
[/fieldbox]

Zombehs · Apr 17, 2018

[fieldbox= Haruki Rinko, #0059b3, solid]

[ Month of Renewal 15th, Midday / Jiaojing Province, Maolan Forest, Worn Down Shrine ]

While unsurprising that his attempt had been a bust, Haruki couldn't keep the disappointment out of his sigh as he halted his kata. Breathing deeply, he tried to reach out and grasp the connection with his element before it slipped away completely. Ultimately though… he came away with little for his troubles which would have to be enough he supposed. He got a vague feeling of his element all around him really, but the strongest sensation came from the west… At least that's what he thought, but maybe some of the more in tune could help clear things up? Hopefully at the least.

Brushing a few strands of hair clinging to his forehead aside, Haruki twirled his weapon once more before setting it on his shoulder. If he stopped to listen he could hear the sounds of conversation coming from the shrine, enough that it seemed like almost everyone had awoken. In any case it was probably time for him to rejoin them and see if any course of action had been decided on, or if he could influence it in any shape. Spinning on a heel, he left the slightly trimmed clearing behind even as numerous slashed apart leaves drifted down to the ground behind him.

It wasn't really a surprise to see that the twins were by themselves given the sounds of conversation that had only grown louder as he got closer to the shrine. Lan had probably found the place too stifling at the moment and of course Ran dutifully followed her sister around. Though he raised his free hand politely towards the two in greeting, he otherwise left them alone and passed by them without much thought.

Stepping into the clearing that held the ruined shrine, Haruki took a moment to take in the others that were present before he gave a general wave towards them all. For a moment his attention lingered on the so called Pirate Lord before he focused his attention on Noriko instead. He was just as skilled when it came to manipulating his Element and seemed like a pretty accommodating guy after all. "Hey Amagawa. Think you can confirm something for me? Sensing what seems to be a larger presence of water to the west, but you can probably get a better feel for it then I can."

"And what's going on anyways? Has there been a decision on how to proceed yet, or people still trying to sort out how this whole group dynamics going to work?" Though still mostly directed at the fellow Water user, the way he had looked over those gathered by the shrine sort of invited anyone to answer.

@Accelerator
[/fieldbox]

Psyker Landshark · Apr 18, 2018

[fieldbox= Yuan and Tsubaha Affinity Chapter 1: Shrine, #808080, solid]

[ Month of Renewal 15th, Midday / Jiaojing Province, Maolan Forest, Worn Down Shrine ]

Runara groaned at the fact that she's stuck with this outfit for the remainder of the tournament. "Geez... I'll get a lot of... I don't want to imagine what sort of looks those people would look at me wearing this outfit." She lamented, adjusting her own outfit while looking around the shrine. Considering the mood recently after the fact that everyone got tricked and well... robbed. Runara wondered if she should try to cheer everyone up and raise their morale with her dance. But maybe she shouldn't do it now.

"Not like my dance would help return the stolen bells..." She said to herself before wandering around the shrine.

While wandering around the shrine, she wondered if there would be another competitor approaching this very shrine. But it seemed like it wouldn't be the case. And suddenly, Runara bumped herself to someone...

"Kyah!" She exclaimed in surprise as she fall to the floor. She laid down on the floor for a while before dusting herself off.

"Sorry... I wasn't looking." She said as she slowly rise. Her tail swipes around the floor as she turned to the stranger.

Yuan cheerfully whistled to himself as he paced around the shrine. With nothing better to do until everyone was prepared to move out, he'd been visualizing past battles in his head, going over missed strokes and what he could have done better in old fights. But before he could visualize too hard, a very soft something bumped into him.

Oh. It was just that Doven girl. That very well dressed Doven girl. While she was exactly his type in terms of appearance, there were more important things at hand at the moment, like fighting. A shame. Oh, well. At least he had time to try to make a good impression, right?

"Ah, don't worry about it." Yuan laughed good-naturedly, offering a hand to help her up. "Happens to the best of us at times. Anyways, you're Runara, right? Name's Yuan."

"Oh, thank you..." Runara took Yuan's hand and get up with the help of Yuan.

"Yes, I'm Runara, Runara Blazeheart. Pleased to meet you." Runara smiled, maybe this person would be an exception...

"Um... My face is up here you know." If not for the man ogling her breasts. Runara looked rather unamused noticing this.

"I know what you're probably thinking, oh I'm lost here, I'm not a fighter, and such... Right?" Giving Yuan a judging look, Runara swipes her tail back and forth. Uh oh... This wouldn't be a good start...

"I know, I know, your face is nice to look at too." Yuan grinned with good cheer, leaning back slightly in a relaxed stance.

"And I wouldn't say that. You've got blades on you, and you weren't one of the criminals put in, so you've got some kind of wish you want fulfilled, right? If you're in here, I'm gonna assume you know what you're doing." He shrugged nonchalantly, pointing to the twin swords on her person. "I don't only look at tits, you know. Weapons first. The rest is just a bonus."

Yuan paused, a thought coming to his mind. "Actually, you mind if I inspect them? I've never seen Doven blades before. Be nice to see how the craftsmanship differs from Shang or Tousawa swords."

"Uh huh... Sure..." Said in a rather dismissive tone. "The swords huh?" Runara's attention turned to her own swords. The pair dangling between her hips.

"I'm not sure... Not a weapon experts myself but..." She took out one of her swords. While by looks, it looked similar to a Tousawa blade. Though it seemed like it's not a regular one fit for a soldier, it looked more like one that fits for a royalty to wield.

"This here is called Crimson, the other one is called Azure. Don't mind the name, it's just a name I came up by myself." Runara explained, she then turns her blade around so that she could lend the hilt over to Yuan.

"Surprisingly light too, maybe you want to give it a try?" She offered.

Yuan took the blade with a nod of thanks, stepping back for a moment to have some space. He tested the weight and balance before twirling the short blade around in his hand, nodding to himself. When he was finished, he handed the sword back to Runara hilt-first.

"Not bad. Well balanced, and they're of fine make. Dual-wielding isn't my thing, but they're definitely made for such. You've got a pair of fine swords there. I'm jealous." Yuan chuckled, though he raised a brow.

"I'm curious, though. Are all Doven blades this richly decorated? Here, this'd be the sidearm of a noble or a particularly wealthy officer. I know Doven craftsmen are supposed to be some of the most skilled around, but sheesh. This'd be a decorative piece of art if it weren't a perfectly functional blade."

Runara takes her blade back. Nodding and smiling confirming Yuan's review. And when he asked about why it was richly decorated... No good, Runara can't honestly say she's actually a royalty. She better think of what lie she's going to make.

"Ah, no actually... I was a favorite student of the dancing school I attended. The mistress handed these to me as a gift for me to start my travels." Ah yes, the classic 'Master's Favorite' excuse. "I was quite honored to be bestowed with these blades. Fits quite well with the dance too, helps drawing nobles to request my performance."

"I'm not the kind that would steal from someone anyway..." She added on.

"I see, I see." Yuan nodded. "You must've been pretty damned good if your master sent you off with blades like these." He grinned, shrugging the stealing comment off completely.

"Well, blatant theft is overrated. In my case, it's technically spoils of battle. Trophies of victory are always nice to have, yeah?" With that said, Yuan turned to leave, still smiling. "Anyways, good talk, Runara. We all make it out of this alive, you could show everyone one of those dances. Looking forward to seeing that."
[/fieldbox]

[fieldbox= Yuan Liwei, #4dff4d, solid]

[ Month of Renewal 15th, Midday / Jiaojing Province, Maolan Forest, Worn Down Shrine ]

"Oh, don't worry about it, no harm done. Accidents happen, I get you." Yuan replied to the woman who'd hit him over the head with good cheer. It would be difficult for anyone to tell if he was actually being sarcastic or not. "And relax, would ya?" He shrugged at Runara, still not looking that bothered. "I ain't implying anything. Didn't say anything about a brothel."

Still, at least now this not-so-little group of theirs was actually beginning to organize itself. Sending a tracking party off was a good idea, as was scavenging for further supplies. He figured he could apply some experience here.

"Take this from someone used to scavenging in the wild, first thing we'll need is water. We can get by without food for a few days, but thirst kills and weakens faster than starvation. Trust me, I had a guy who nearly died of thirst. Wasn't pretty. If we've got any water affinities, that'll make this easier to find water." Fucking Zheng. Idiot went stark raving mad and figured he didn't need water to live. Something about enlightenment. Moron was nearly on his deathbed before himself and the rest of the bandit gang took matters in their own hands and started shoving water down his throat.

Yuan glanced to the girly rich boy who'd spoken up, nodding at him. "Yeah, so far it looks like everyone's just about recovered and ready to go. So probably a better idea to split into two groups rather than three. Tracking group and scavenging group. I could go along with either. Can follow a trail decent enough, and I loot stuff all the time."

@Ehb
@Asuras
@LowDefinition
@Zombehs
[/fieldbox]

Karyra · Apr 18, 2018

[fieldbox=Kei Daidouji, #00ffff, solid]

[ Month of Renewal 15th, Midday / Jiaojing Province, Maolan Forest, Worn Down Shrine ]

It started to feel like there were three different conversation going on at once. His head hurt.The twins were sincerely asking to touch the doven's ears. Points were made and thrown around like candy. The priestess finished doing her spirit thing with the shrine.

Kei couldn't keep up.

The yelling jolted him out of his confusion. "What- That's not-" Kei spluttered. "Of course not. Someone who was actually cunning wouldn't be here. Much less have a servant in tow. Besides," Kei walked over and grabbed her tail. "You're going to hit someone with that thing if you keep swinging it that aggressively. And don't yell, for the gods sake, unless you want to get into a huge fight with everything for miles around."

He let the tail go. No doubt it felt as bad as the ears when someone grabbed it like that. But damn it, she really was going to hit someone with that thing.

Kei blushed deeply when the Pirate King pointed out the tail thing. "Th-that isn't what I was doing. I was keeping you from calling attention to the group, which is noisy enough as is without yelling."

This was dumb. He was going to go scouting or something.

"I'm going hunting for food while others find water and scout ahead. No point in waiting around for people to finally make their choices. Anyone who wants to come had better keep up."

With that, Kei started walking off into the forest. They wouldn't need food right away, but there were methods to gather food and have it keep. While it wasn't their greatest concern at the moment, he also didn't want to stick around in the huge group of people arguing over what to do next."

@LowDefinition
@everyone
[/fieldbox]

[ Month of Renewal 15th, Midday / Jiaojing Province, Maolan Forest, Worn Down Shrine ]

Waiting around the shrine for the poison to ease off sucked. Kei paced mercilessly within the walls, back and forth despite his leg complaining about needing the rest. Before he started to count how long it'd take to walk from one wall to the other, he noticed the man that Kei recognized as the 'Pirate King'. Maybe talking to people would ease the sheer anxiety of waiting for something to happen within the walls of the shrine. It was better than his other option to ease the boredom by juggling knives.

He had to be casual, because he was pretty sure that if he wasn't careful this Pirate King would probably chop him in half for talking to him. So, Kei had to be friendly at the very least. He could contain all his questions for after he introduced himself.

"Hey." Kei said, walking up the man. "What's the ocean like?"

Smooth.

"Err, I mean it's nice to meet you. You're Saburo the Pirate King, right? My name is Kei Daidouji. I was wondering if you had any stories of being a pirate. It sounds like a profession that has some stories. I'm going stir crazy in this place waiting for people to recover, so might as well talk to people to pass the time. I figure if I get my wish, I'll start traveling so knowing more about the world as a whole never hurt anyone."

Casual conversation. Plus, the great Pirate King no doubt was as eager to do something productive as Kei was. Knowing more about other people was productive, right?

Kei could totally contain the fact that he had wondered what an infamous pirate was like, too. All he had to do was hold a normal conversation and not anger anyone. If he mis-stepped, being kicked out of the temple while recovering from the poison would be the least of his problems.

"Knowing more about the world as a whole never hurt anyone?" He repeated Kei's words without thinking about it.

Having watched him pace around the shrine, Saburo was a little uneasy when Kei decide to go up and talk to him.

Deciding the best way to look neutral was to rest his head on his hand. He had listened to what Mr.Knife had to say.

"Ah, you wish for knowledge, I see." He patted next to him. "Sit." He declared, still looking at the ground. As if Kei was not worthy to head his gaze yet.

Shit.

"I...." Saburo paused for a second,"Have seen many wonders of this world. Braved terrors that drove others mad. Fought off beasts thought only fairytales."

Saburo gave off his best smug grin. "Warred with nobles." While most things the Pirate King had done made him slightly queasy. This one was at least something he was alright with. Seeing as nobles were one of the reasons he was stuck here.

"When you get your wish you want to travel, eh? The freedom of the world. That's what I have." Saburo frowned for a second. "Had."

Saburo cracked his neck. Which as soon as he did it, realised that it was a lot more painful then people made it out to be. And had to clench his free hand not to moan about it.

"Aye, you seem the fair sort. What do you wish to learn about," Saburo grinned. "Lad."

He was genuniely pleased with sounding slightly pirate-y there.

Kei tensed as Saburo repeated the words back to him. It was an innocent though, right? Kei hadn't asked any number of questions that seemed out of place. It wasn't as if he asked to kill a man. So why did it feel like he had?

"No, I'd prefer to stand. Sorry," Kei said. Already by standing still the walls felt like they were closing in. Kei could stand and not touch the ceiling in here, but that hardly alleviated the ominous atmosphere and the fact that people were everywhere, resting up. "No offense, I've just done enough sitting today."

Kei shifted on his feet. A small part of him was worried the rejection to sit was going to set off the pirate. The mention of fighting impossible beasts and nobles had the thought sit even more uncomfortably in his stomach.

"... nobles, huh." Kei said. "Surprised that you're still standing here. If you fought nobles your head would probably roll sooner than mine. So how did you end up in prison? Guards are awful gossips, you know. I was surprised that someone like you was finally caught."

Kei suppressed his pang of jealousy at the mention of freedom that Saburo said he'd once had. Freedom must mean a lot, and Kei kind of understood that. Freedom was more of a mystery to him, but people deeply valued it.

From this day forth, you are a tool to be used by us. Your fate is tied to our whims.

"But you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, of course. I was just wondering what finally got you. Sounds like you've really lived."

"Really lived?" The atmosphere seemed to turn sour for a moment. "Y-Yeah, you could say that." If you wanted to.

Saburo coughed. "You want to know the tale of how the great pirate lord was caught." He smiled outwardly, though it seemed painful somewhat. "Sure, we still have some time left lad. Head my words, if you must."

This was fine. He had practiced this story while in prison.

"It all started with a woman."

She was so hungry.

"A lusty wrench. Aye, saw her at the harbour. Knew she was a fine catch as soon as I looked at her with my good eye." Which was both of them.

"Why, usually I'd just take her in the street right there and then. But this one, why, her eyes alone could take the words out of a man's mouth. The rest of her didn't hurt either." He gave Kei a friendly nudge, which Saburo was told was supposed to mean something between two male companions.

"Treated her special, Aye, I did."

Do anything for her.

"Little did I know. She was a Siren, that wrench."

When did the phrase wrench become a thing to describe a woman? Saburo wondered.

"Brought me to a little village shop."

The closest place that had food.

"Usually would only be at a place like that while setting fire to it, but alas, women am I right?" Was he right? Saburo left that to the gods to decide. "Soon I know, fourty guards surrounded me."

And they took him, all he wanted was that rice. She needed the rice.

"Would have fought them off and laughed about it later with my crew, aye, but that lass. Why, her lips. Poisoned. A clever trick." Thank you recent events for inspiration.

"And they had me. Like that..." Saburo tried to laugh heartily, but it came out as an awkward chuckle.

All she needed...

"I guess, Lad, what I'm trying to tell you is..." Saburo got up, smiling more as he began patting Kei on the shoulder.

"....Dont trust....wooooooomen. I guess. Yes, women. Dont trust them. Aye, This is the lesson of that tale." He feared at any moment he would feel the backhand of his mother swatting him across the shrine, through the walls and into the nearest tree.

"Anything else?"

Kei picked up on the uncertainty Saburo gave off at the beginning. It bothered him, but not really all that much. He still listened intently to the story. He... Kei wasn't sure really how to feel about the nudging. Was that something he was supposed to react to? He'd never encountered this behavior before. Plus, the nudging was on his leg. It was awkward.

"Uhm, I regret to inform you that Tsubaha, our fearless leader, is a woman. Not to mention half of our group here is as well. Are you..." Kei tiled his head to the side. "Saying not to trust them?"

Of course he didn't. He didn't trust anyone. He repeated it as a mantra in jail, and he'd continue to do so here.

He tried not to tense up too visibly as if expecting to be hit more harshly when Saburo stood up to start patting him on the shoulder. He wouldn't flinch, he wouldn't flinch...

"It's fine, it's just an odd moral to point out." Kei sighed. He should sit, he should and it'd be less awkward, but... this room was so small. He couldn't sit still in here, it was just too small. Bigger than what he was used to, but still small. "I suppose we're in the same boat, then. I was betrayed too," Kei said. He tried not to let the bitter pain enter his voice. "Though not by a woman. It's nobody you know."

Ugh, what a rotten lie. Who didn't know the Crown Prince?

"If you want to know more, you can ask, though I can't say it's a fun tale, and I don't particularly like remembering it. Honestly, yours seem almost like they're a fake story by comparison. It's exciting. I mean, you weren't in jail for too long, right? You'll win this Festival and then be on to the next big adventure." Kei decided a smile would help. Saburo seemed off.

Smiles were supposed to make people feel better, right?

"Besides, being poisoned often just means you build an immunity to it right? Like a sort of way to defend yourself for the future?" he swore that he could make people feel better before. Why was this so hard? "So uh, don't worry? I'm sure at you will make it through this."

"Tsubaha did threaten to stab me within the first thirty seconds I talked to her." Saburo did his best to supress a shiver about that girl.

Kei's comment about his story seemed to make Saburo laugh suddenly. "F-fake!? Hoho, I s-suppose that's just how crazy my adventures are!"

Kei did raise the general point the guards had as well, winning this competition. He stared at his male companion. "Aye, this tournament poses no challenge to me." Wouldn't that be nice. "Good thing you have me then."

Kei had mentioned being betrayed as well. Curiousity on the background of his conversation partner was there. But he had mentioned not liking to talk about it.

Say anything about the Pirate King, say he's emotionally senstive.

"Alas, we all get betrayed by people across our lives. Sure, it's easy to watch everyone with distrust." Saburo raised his hand to the sky. Which didn't exactly have the effect he wanted with the fact that they were under a roof. "The real trick is still believing in people. Only the weak distrust those who show companionship to them . It shows they are afraid to leave their backs open."

Well, that sounded deep enough didn't it?

"Yeah, she threatened me too. I was pretty sure she was gonna stab me with both of her swords. Pretty sure that if we ever had a straight up fight I'd lose. Miserably."

Sabura nearly jumped at the comment about his story being fake. Well, if he was lying or was anxious that Kei didn't believe him, Kei was inclined to let it slide. There was really no point in angering the Pirate King.

Kei tried very hard to not remember that they were in a small shrine and that Saburo had just pointed at the roof.

"Yeah, but I bet you're still bitter about getting betrayed. Imagine if it was someone that you'd known your whole life. Scars like that don't really fade, mister pirate." Kei kind of wished it was a real wound. It'd be proof that he was right. "Even then, people are easy to fool if you believe in that. All you have to do is act nice and kind until the moment you strike. Not everyone is out to get me, but if I act like it then I'll be right at least some of the time."

"Surely, you would have done something different if you knew what you knew about that 'wench' then, right? You'd know that she was just pretending to be nice, and so you'd avoid her, or try to betray her first. Hindsight is twenty twenty, but betrayal still stings deep."

"Aye, betrayal is as deep a wound as any other." Saburo sighed. This person seemed like the person to let the past get to him. If there one good thing about being the Pirate King. He could say some weird shit without being questioned.

"But that proves my point. Does it not? Those who do not let those wounds heal are prone to letting them fester. Till they see betrayal everywhere they look." Saburo pondered for a moment. Goodness, it really was easy to say cliche things when your pretending to be bigger then you are.

"You may be able to fool more people if you act like that. And you may even be a bit safer from further events..."

Saburo always found one issue with this line of thinking.

"Is it....well...is it worth...er..." Saburo blew his cheeks out. "Being a dick?" He looked up to the roof. "No one likes a dick, Kei."

The Pirate King laughed again. But it sounded more genuine and warm. It was quite feminine. Like one would expect a village girl to have.

"That's the real lesson!"

Kei listened seriously to Saburo's advice. However, some small part of him wanted to scream and cry 'What do you know about what I experienced?' it wanted to scream about injustice and unfairness. It wanted to cry about how for four years the wound was open and raw because there was nothing else to hold it shut. Not other people, not anything except the scratches on the wall. He lived for the day when he'd finally return the favor. That was all he had. It was Kei and that stone wall with guards outside for years and don't you know how much it hurts and so on.

Kei did none of those things that the small part screamed at him.

Saburo laughed, and it sounded different. Kei wasn't really sure what to make of it. Kei didn't laugh, but watched Saburo laugh for a while. It looked like the Pirate Lord had cheered up, after all. That laugh was odd, though. He'd expected that the Pirate King's laugh would be deeper than that.

"I suppose they don't," was his ultimate response. He really didn't know what the joke was, there. "But it's not like it really matters, when all is said and done."

Something about the second comment rang oddly in even Kei's ears.

"Anyway, I meant to ask you for stories about the ocean. Seems like we've gotten a bit to philosophical too fast. How about we change gears and talk about that for a while. I've never seen the ocean, but maybe someday I'll visit it. I hear it's beautiful."

"Never?" Saburo felt a touch of sadness for Kei. Saburo had only seem a glimpse of it once. Seeing an Aunt on a coastal town as a child. He remembered the ocean not tasting great.

But it sounded like Kei really wanted to see it. Saburo wondered. A criminal, just like he was. But, he had the sense that Kei was locked up a little longer then he was.

"Well, I could tell you've never seen it even if you didn't tell me. The ocean. There's more then one, I'll tell you that lad. The Jade Ocean to the west. Where the Sappihire isles lay, a land of endless joy. There's the sunset ocean to the east. Said to lead to the underworld. Though I've never quite seemed to find it. There's even more then that, though I have little want to count them all." Saburo was half/half on if even one of them was the correct name.

"But yes. The Ocean can be beautiful. On a warm day. Blue as far as one can see, the sun rising. Aye, the mirror to the afterworld. They call that sight." The memory of seagulls swooping down and stealing his lunch flooded back to him.

"But the Ocean can be harsh as well. Like a mile high wave crashing over your ship during a storm. Or a great bloody kraken wrapping itself around your mast from the depths." Saburo flailed his hands in the air to add effect.

"Impress me, and maybe I'll show you it one day. Eh, lad?"

Why was he even offering stupid promises like that!? Stupid people with stupid sad eyes!

"Nope, never. There's a lot of places I want to go when I'm free, but I heard the ocean's the best."

They said it tasted salty, that the ocean was undrinkable and the depths held so, so many krakens and unknown beasts. Poetry was the closest he'd ever gotten. This story would be even closer than vague images. Yet, it seemed like Kei was still sad. He wiped away that expression and started to smile instead.

"Yeah, I really hope that we can fulfill that promise. Imagine, me being able to impress the Pirate King himself!" Kei laughed. "Though I doubt it, as I'm not off to a great start."

Might as well go through the motions. Might as well make that promise. Maybe things would go better than he thought. Or maybe Saburo would find more than just the reflection of the underworld.

"So, we both make it out this alive. We go find an ocean and look at it. Don't even have to do anything. Just... experience it."

"Ah, sorry it's a dumb wish." Kei waved his hand back and forth in front of his face. "Just forget about it. That way if something happens, nobody is sad, yeah?"

Of course something was going to happen. Whether or not it was something that Kei would come back from was debatable. He was being an idiot again. He couldn't keep this promise, it was selfish of him to agree to it in the first place, anyway. Trusting people had landed him where he was. He couldn't ever forgive or forget that.

The Pirate King lies. That's what he does. Yeah, he was definitely lying about that promise, Kei told himself.

"Don't worry about it. No promises made, no promises broken. Besides, heheh, if I don't get those bells I'm going back to jail anyway."

Saburo puckered his lips in agreement. "Me too buddy. Me too..." He guessed you could say the two of them were in similar situations. Aside from the obvious difference, of course.

"Still, promise or no promise. We can hope to look forward towards just experiencing it!" Saburo put a finger to his lips in thought. "Though I guess that's actually just another promise to yourself, if you think about it."

Saburo gave an apologetic smile, "Ah, sorry. I'm going all philosophical again."

"I'm sure we'll get to do it." Saburo patted Kei on the shoulder again. "Now, if you excuse me. I need to find some privacy. I appear to have drank a little too much water."

Ehb · Apr 18, 2018

[fieldbox=Tsubaha Mori, Red, Solid]

[ Month of Renewal 15th, Midday / Jiaojing Province, Maolan Forest, Worn Down Shirine ]

There was a whole lot going on.
In fact, the funny thing that while the entire gathering around her had been precipitated by her making a move, the conversation naturally sort of drew itself away from what her own intentions were. The reason? She didn't respond. She simply didn't know how.

There were at least 16 of them, gathered around in this shrine. That was big. It was a big enough group that they might as well be considered their own faction within this tournament at this point. But, the words of 'having Tsubaha as a leader by default' and 'getting rid of her if she was useless' really drove home to Tsubaha that the assorted individuals around her were mostly of a criminal background. And in a way, that really scared her.

Was this idea that Noriko had talked her into just as ill conceived as she thought?
Letting herself be lost in the fact of the many voices speaking out, the movers of the group began to head out do do things as well. Some to the forest, some to the shrine, some to the Runara's ears. That was fine. They were able to come up with something to do without her saying anything.

She could guess leading an entire faction was real easy!
But Tsubaha's heart quickly dropped, as she failed to even convince her own mind of that delusion.

There was one thing she was certain of, though.
She didn't want all fifteen of this individuals trailing around her. It was inefficient and bound to be annoying in general.

"Um..."
"Everyone."

"...Everyone!"

It took a couple of tries. But Tsubaha was finally able to get everyone's attention.

"...Let's well. Um..."
Abruptly, Tsubaha slapped the sides of her face with both of her hands.

"Let's not just run around as a jumble of people! Look..."

Tsubaha explained herself.
The party was large. They were large enough that they could be their own faction in this tournament. The shrine that they had came upon could serve as a potential base of operations, while sending out teams of people to scout the area for supplies and other participants.

There was so many of them there, even with a short time-span of a week, they had to be able to not starve or get dehydrated.

"...There's no use in all of us working together if we can't support this many people. That's why I wanted to go out and scout for sources of food and water. We've already spent a day to have most of us get over the poison."

Tsubaha felt that there would be at least one person who wouldn't be on board with her version of the plan. So...

"I thought that going as a big group would draw other contestants back to this shrine. So I believed that it would be best to go it alone. Guess I was incorrect. Sorry."

Tsubaha's eyes turned to Noriko @Accelerator. All the way from the beginning, Noriko had professed that they should work together to track down the people whom had taken the bells. People who wanted to do that would probably be best suited to a team being lead by him. She knew him from the Sword School After all.

"Noriko. You said that you'd scout out the area. Go for it. We have no idea of what's around here so let's try to find out what's directly around the shrine."

Tsubaha then looked towards the next most responsible (at least by appearance) looking person.

"Tsubaki... (@Miya) was it? We need someone to keep the shrine safe since it's our home base. Since you seem dependable enough, for now I'll put you in charge to make sure it's guarded."

Internally, Tsubaha braced for people to start trying to discuss something about this that they didn't agree with. A part of her hoped that they'd be able to go along with it, and just pick a team. But, having them go at it again was fine too. Trying to talk to them all at once was somehow exhausting.

Looking around though, it already looked like a few people had already made their way into the forest on their own.
Well, hopefully things'll work out on their own.

"...For me, looking for necessities aside, there's something I want to check out. I'll go along with the scouting party for now."

@_Everyone
[/fieldbox]

Choose A Party: Choose A Party
Due to the size of the cast, it's been decided that we might need to divide things up a little! It's been decided that the group be split into 3 parties, for the purposes of exploring the tournament area (Sweeping Party) and scavenging/guarding (Garrison Party) their basecamp (The shrine). At the moment, barring discussion on heads - the parties, and their respective heads are as follows:

Noriko - Scouting Party
(Default for Higher Posting Rates, May Get Split Up Later On)

Tsubaki - Garrison/Scavange Party
(Default for Slower Posting Rates, of people who want to banter over Runara)

ERode · Apr 18, 2018

[fieldbox=Yu Ri, #DDA0DD, solid]

[ Month of Renewal 15th, Midday / Jiaojing Province, Maolan Forest, Worn Down Shrine ]

Uwah. That furry was certainly getting lots of attention. Good, maybe Yu Ri can use her as bait some time.

Ignoring the antics of those animal-obssessed perverts, the lithe assassin kept an ear on the actual conversation instead, remaining quiet as others brought up a flurry of points. Utashou's opinion was a non-opinion in the end, worthless to consider, while the others were quick enough to go off about other, more important concerns, such as finding water.

Great, so none of them had thought to bring any worthwhile supplies within them to this one week battle royale either. This was going to go great.

"I'll join with scouting," Yu Ri said, a lazy nod towards that broken tool, "More suited for dangerous tasks."

Well, no, that wasn't right.

In a festival of murderers, where men hunted men, staying in one place was much more dangerous.
@Ehb @Accelerator @punks wanting to get in on the 'faster post rate' train
[/fieldbox]

RedArmyShogun · Apr 18, 2018

[Fieldbox= Rumiko Mitsurugi, #b30000, solid]

[ Month of Renewal 15th, Midday / Jiaojing Province, Maolan Forest, Worn Down Shirine ]

Having finished up her other tasks and listening into the conversations, Rumiko adds in her own opinions were apt to the group discussion which seemed a little too big all things considered.

"Well I would say it's as we got our bells too soon and too many were still left alive. I try and think the best of others, but this is the Shang Rulers running this and they haven't been all that honest here lately since the War." (@Accelerator)

Bowing to the young woman among them who seemed to be understanding of her task, and then it wasKei speaking up and Yuan as well both offering sensible suggestions at that. (@Akashi) (acell again)(@Psyker Landshark)

"Well, I'm no tracker past the basics but I'm used to foraging, plus might need some heavy lifting or Earth moving too you know, plus I make a big target."

Then next it was the unfortunately conscripted leader of the party, who seemed understandably upset, being beset with questions and following en masse, plus the causal quip on being murdered and replaced. "Going alone would be unwise, most of us simply do not trust one another. I can say though, I likely would not sit by and watch something happen to you."

"As to the Teams.. I shall go scouting. Being out there and active suits me, even if this were my Shrine I would still do as much. We may want to set a time to regroup or if possible a way to pass messages quickly.. More so if tracks split us up more.."

Speaking up quickly, she expected most of them would want to go with the scouting team, with things escalating into a debate. Even then this team may be split up, it wasn't likely that one person or group there of took all the bells alone. Pondering the communication issues, the Miko at least seemed settled in on her own position in all of this. So far among the others the young girl also marked as a prisoner among their number.

@Ehb

[/fieldbox]

Rithas · Apr 18, 2018

[fieldbox= Saburo and Runara: Chapter 1 Shrine: 'What do you want?', gray, solid]

Despite the rather harsh reception from some people, Saburo was undeterred from proper introductions with the other members of this makeshift party. Especially at this moment as the party took a small moment to rest.

The doven girl seemed to relatively by herself at the moment. Never a better situation to talk, he supposed.

"Greetings..." He said, announcing his presence to her. He sighed inwardly, what was he a merchant saying hello to a new customer? Sitting down next to the Doven. "Runara, wasn't it?" he had heard it mentioned as they had walked.

"So, you must have come from somewhere a bit away then?" The being Doven was kind of a hint. He fiddled with his silk sleves, amazingly it seemed no dirt had gotten on his clothes despite being knocked out on the dirt for however long.

"What brings you to this tournament?" Not that Saburo was gonna say it, but she didn't look like she was exactly ready to fight. Or, for instance, that she was wary of others. She hadn't hit him or told him to die yet, which was a good start.

"You know you're asking an obvious question right?" Runara tilted her head at Saburo hearing his question on coming from a far away. Considering her obvious physical trait and everything. "But yes, I came from a Doven Kingdom. Namely the Moonsky Kingdom." Yet she answered the question nonetheless.

"You know... I'm not supposed to be in this tournament. But somehow, a charming man lured me in." Runara looked outside, seemingly disappointed. "And he... well, you know, pretty much did the same thing to me the same thing that happened to you and everyone else here."

Runara turned to Saburo, looking over all of his appearance.

"Um... Saburo was it? You know... For a famed pirate lord you sure look like a charming man." Runara threw a compliment...? Was that even supposed to be a compliment for a pirate lord? "I mean... I imagine pirate lords are supposed to look menacing and all that."

She said while she leaned closer to the pirate lord. "Are you... really that legendary pirate lord Saburo?"

Strange the moments you suddenly become very aware of the amount of saliva going down your throat.

"Y-y-yes?" Saburo sputtered. Goodness, she smelt nice. "Of course I'm the Pirate Lord. Dare someone take the title away from me?" Saburo stood up, taking a step away from Saburo.

Facing away from her, He seemed to take a large inhale.

Alright.

He turned around to face her again. "Charmed you say. Well, you better be wary then. Because you might not think I look menancing. But...." He snapped his fingers at her, "I have menancingly good charm!"

He had once followed his brother through the town as he tried to pick up girls. As a child, he could never understand why his brother's lines never seemed to work. Now, he was beginning to get a inkling.

"Moonsky Kingdom, you said." He uttered afterward, quick to change the topic. "Sounds like a nice-" His brain reminded him who he was supposed to be. "place I've probably....been to...already....."

"Uh huh..." Runara nodded dismissing the Pirate Lord's pickup line. "You do realize that line is... Um... How would I rate it... A 2 out of 10? Wait that's too generous of me, should be 0 out of 10." She said bluntly. "But pickup line don't say much about your charm no?" Giggling, she leaned even closer, rubbing her shoulder along Saburo's arm.

Maybe she shouldn't tease him too much, but she can't help it. To see the rumored Pirate Lord in the flesh and it was pretty much against what she heard about him. She wanted to play more with this man.

"Well? What about Moonsky Kingdom that you remember?" Runara questioned the pirate lord, trying to find out if he knew a thing about her home. One of her hand travelled to his cheek, touching it softly. "Was it the girls?"

"Oh~ er, well." This girl certainly did not understand personal space did she!?

Well, he couldn't make up shit about a kingdom he's never been to a previous residence of the place. Ah....curses. He was gonna have to do it wasn't he.

"T-the girls? Hah...I'll admit. Your little kingdom certainly holds beautiful girls. Their allure took the breath of some of my men. And that's saying something with the things we've done and seen."

Her touch was warm on his cheek. It wasn't uncomfortable per say, so he didn't move it. Plus, he didn't want to go through the awkwardness of having to move it like it digusted him. Which it didn't. Which was why he wasn't doing it.

Saburo smiled to himself a little bit. "Fishing for compliments from the Pirate King, are you?"

"Hm... Of all the beautiful land, you only remembered the girls huh... Typical." Runara was not amused with Saburo's answer. Retracting her hand from his cheek, she looked away.

"Somewhat..." She twirls her hair, looking back at Saburo with a mischievous smile. "Do you really think I've fallen for you already?" Her tail swings around softly in a playful manner. "Maybe... Maybe not... Who knows? Maybe it's the opposite." Playing around with her own answer to the question. Perhaps she was gauging whether he was interested in her or not.

"So... Random question, what do you wish for when you get out of this festival with enough bells?" Runara changed the topic abruptly

Saburo finally broke from his expression of 'Girl I seriously don't know what you mean right now' when she asked him her question.

"What do I wish for?" He placed a finger to his lips. "Freedom, obviously." He shrugged. "Deeper then that..."

Saburo supposed there was no harm in letting the Pirate Lord have dreams. "A better life for me and the ones I care about." Saburo looked to the sky. "Wherever they are."

He turned his head towards her, though still didn't look directly at her. "Well what about you then? You were tricked into this, yeah? So if do you manage to get a wish, what would it be?"

"A better life huh..." Runara already had that even before she set off on her journey, while not exactly better. It was one that most people would wish they had. She threw that away for her own dream... her own wish...

"Me? You know... my wish is but a simple one." She said as she looked up to the sky. "And... What it is? That... Is. A. Secret." She laughed softly after.

"Maybe I'll tell you about it later~" She said as she taps Saburo's nose before walking away.

Watching the Doven walk away. Saburo put his hand up to his nose.

"What?"

[/fieldbox]

[fieldbox= Saburo and Ran Affinity Chapter 1 Shrine: 'Stage Combat', gray, solid]

ThE Pirate King.
Ran had heard rumors about him.
The Terror of the Jade Sea.
The Man who tamed the Hellfire Kraken.
The Man who killed the Hydra of Seven Sins single-handedly.
The Man who had a Harem full of cat-eared Doven.
The Man who was in possession of the Three Heavenly Treasures.
The Man who had a fleet, an Armada, bigger than the three powers combined.
And many more...
The Living Legend.
A God amongst Men.
The Pirate King.

BUT... rumors were rumors. They always had a certain truth to it. Nonetheless, there he stood. Chained, branded, like a filthy Criminal. Not any different from a simple cow-thief. Not any different from a clumsy back-alley murder.

Here he was indeed. The difference was astounding. Ran's own mental image and... him. Him! The Pirate King! Yet, the white-hair had already accepted it. The circumstances. Clearly, this was just trickery. Clearly, he was the most dangerous of all. But... Tsubaha had him as one of her allies. So she had to...trust(?) him? Keep friends close, and enemies closer? The enemy of my enemy is my friend?

Ran couldn't be all too sure, but what she could be sure about was that THIS MAN had to stay the hell away from her sister. He was Devil Incarnate. Conquerer of some dumb puddle, owner of some stupid treasure, it all didn't matter in front of her sisterly compassion. If he would get in their way, she'd give her everything to cut him down.

Right now, Ran would make sure to let him know. His limits.

"Pirate King!" Ran called out. Her smile? Not present at all. "Let me be perfectly clear with you. I'll work with you, all the same, but if I see you pull anything shady with my sister, I WILL cut you down."

/hr]

"Huh."

That certainly was a clear statement from...oh, what was the angry one called again....raging...ran? Yes, that was it!

Saburo gazed raised from his feet onto hers. Slowly he seemed to bring his eyes across her body upwards. Before looking away just as he reached her face. Ran got the feeling that the Pirate King was in some thought. "I-if that's what you want." Saburo seemed to whimper.

Sibiling love. It was sweet to see, he supposed. It reminded him of his siblings. Those they spent most of their love on punching him and playing the classic game of 'dodge this rock Saburo'. He never seemed to win that game.

Still, even if she was threatening to slice him in two he guessed it was at least an opportunity to get some talk from her. "Don't know why you think I would, really. Your twin looks nice." He swore in his mind. "I'm joking about that last part" He swore even louder in his head.

"Er, both of you are of a reasonable attractiveness b-but not at a necessary level to cause any unwanted reactions from me that may be seen as uncomfortable, harmful or traumatising." He said, the words rolling off his tongue. "Certainly one may s-suuuurmise you are pretty but that in no way changes my opinion of y-you in anyway."

His eyes swam up her body again, meeting her own. "Well."

And then his body convulsed as a small whining groan grew into a cackling laughter. It certainly sounded a little evil. Or at least what one may guess a 'evil' laugh sounded like.

Kill me.

He punched a nearby resting shrine ornament. His fist going right through it as his laughter abruptly stopped.

His face, having never turned away from her. Formed back into to a small friendly smile. "Sure, you won't see me do anything shady to your sister."

"..." Ran's serious face slowly turned into a smile. She didn't seem flustered, neither did his comments get a 'Kyyaaa you perv perv perv! Just die!' kind-of-deal, no. She was... pleased?

"Of course, Lan and me very adorable! Duh. You're all the same. Disgusting pigs." Ran sighed. The PIRATE KING shouldn't be... like that, right? And, as if on cue, there it was! He punched. He punched the stupid thing apart. Just. Like. That. With some evil laughter! THE PIRATE KING WAS REAL!

"Your stupid farce won't fool me, so you can drop it all together. But is it that what you want? Another girlfriend for your hidden away harem? I can pretend for the time being, though I won't sully myself. As long as you don't touch Lan. Then again... how much is a pirate's word worth?" Did she just suggest something... weird? A misunderstanding? Or a calculated risk?

Ran was too much of a realist. If he was the real deal, some girl that performed a bit and trusted her guts wouldn't get very far in protecting her one-and-all with a simple threat.

Offering to be his girlfriend. Truly this woman could see deep in his heart. Deep as in he was a young male who wasn't exactly the attractive bachelor type. Or she was a prostitute. Probably the latter. A fighter prostitute. What an interesting combination.

"A pirate's word? The same worth as anyone else?" Saburo answered. Though it sounded more like a question then an answer.

Urgh, he was supposed to be the Pirate King. Yeah, the terrible Pirate King! The great and horrible Pirate King!

All the same....all the same pigs.....

Pop, went the idea.

"If I wanted you in my harem, well." He faked a chuckle. "I could have you at any moment I wanted really... I...I..." Quick, think of something horrible! "I'd have you chained up and naked. Your only thoughts wanting to fill my needs. Me being the only thing that could ever be in your pretty little mind ever again."

Gross.

"Doesn't that sound nice to you?"

Grooossssssss

"Ah, but now not's the time for that, I suppose." He tilted his head.

"B-but since you did mention it."

His eyes rolled over her body again. "Declare your love for me." He was going to be sick. "If you want to keep your twin safe. Then say that you love me, and act like it!" Yes, he could feel the bile rising at his own words.

"Or, er, else. I guess."

Yes. If he wanted her in his Harem he could just...
So... why exactly didn't he? Because they were temporary allies? Or was it because...?

Why exactly did she suggest this insanity again? Ah, right. It just went how she wanted. Males were such detestable pigs in human clothing. Only, always, thinking with their D—

"S-Say that I love you?" Ran suddenly blushed as she seemed to become a lot timider. Just... what did the Pirate King actually like? Defiance? Falling head over heels? Ran didn't really have any pointers.

"Out of the blue? T-That is... a bit much..." Ran made a few steps forward as she cast her gaze downwards, her hands trying to find something to occupy themselves with. Fidgeting on her own clothes, pulling her shirt a bit down.

Another step. Slow, but steady. The girl, red as a tomato, looked up again. Her face full of confidence!

"Saboru!" She called out. Full of hope, dreams, innocence. Like a bud, that had yet to bloom, calling for her prince. Her first. Her one and only. Saboru... Was the name real? Fake? She did not know.

Hasty steps, closer and closer. Too close. She had done this done countless times before.

The girl looked up. The Pirate King, a head taller. "Saboru..." She whispered his name. "Saboru..." His sweet, sweet name, like chocolate. Her arms embraced the Pirate King. Pressing him gently against her delicate self.

Slayer of Beasts or not. Men were all the same when it came to this. Only thinking with their Disjointed Brain.

"I..." Her face went closer and closer. A kiss? Not quite. Standing on her toes, she gently breathed into his ear. "I~~ love~~ you~~"

One hand, caressing his fluffy hair. The other?

The cold feeling of metal against the side of his neck.

The tip of the small dagger dug slightly into his smooth skin, while the hand on the back of his head kept him close.

"I won't kill you." Her emotions. Her love. Her affection. All gone. Left? A nice tone with a Big Friendly Smile!

"We're allies, after all." Not lovers? "BUT..." But? "I figured it out..." Finally, Ran took a few steps back. "The reason you're here! Fufufu~" Yes! She did it. She exposed the Pirate King.

"If you had the power to have me in your Harem any moment you'd want, why not just do it? I tell you why: Because you can't! You aren't..." So much for his facade. So much for his foolery.

"...AS POWERFUL AS YOU USED TO BE!" She pointed her weapon at him. Yes. This was it. Why else would he be here? Why else would he even ally with us weaklings? "But why? I tell you why. Clearly, someone stole some sort of Artifact from you! So, now you want it back." It was simple, really.

No mortal could be as powerful as The Pirate King unless they had the aid of some Heavenly Treasure."If... If it is for Lan, I'll even fight the Gods if I have to."

She made a promise to her sister. Even if she could guarantee her safety by pawning of her own body, she'd break this promise. No can do.

So that what that felt like.

Being told someone loved you romantically, not the whole blade to the throat thing. The Shang Guards had already given him a lot of that.

She was a good actor. He knew it was fake and yet he still couldn't help but get goosebumps from her words and touch.

Albeit, the knife was helping the goosebumps stay for a bit longer.

Saburo swallowed the sigh of relief that threatened to come out when she took the blade away from his neck.

She went on to talk about her theory. It certainly would be an astute one if it was in any way accurate. Still, as the feeling of shitting himself slowly faded away. Saburo was left with a choice.

Either he could say she was right, in which would give a handy explaination when they eventually got into the conflict and he wasn't chokeslamming bears. But on the other side, that just announced to everyone that he was no longer this (percieved) unstoppable monster. Which would eventually lead to him getting stabbed.

Or he could tell her she was wrong. In which case if they did get into conflict he would have to find....

Ah.

"A-Artifcact, eh? Buut which one?" Saburo took a step forward. A sneer across his face. "The spear of Raslion? The Heart of Mother Chou? The Guantlets of the emperor. Thought loss for decades until I found it!" The air around the two grew colder. Ran could see her breath in the air now.

"Those who rely on tools to bring them to greatness are nothing but filthy frauds!" Frost was growing on their surroundings. On Ran's clothes. She could sense it. The air was thick with danger.

"Y-you make me laugh." Saburo sat down against a nearby wall. Suddenly looking relaxed as one could be. The frosty magic in the air dissipating.

The real reason he was sitting down was that the little magic trick he pulled there, something his mother taught him to pass the time, took a lot out of him. But she didn't need to know that.

"Your pride for such little things is cute, it really is." Saburo clasped his hands.

"This has given me a great understanding of you. I wanted to know what would you to protect your twin. In fairness, the little act was nice. But only fools fall for that." And he basically did despite knowing it was fake.

Saburo grinned. "I am the pirate king. Please, do not rate yourself that highly"

"But the reasonable performance means you've done it before. Faking this sort of stuff. Called my 'kind' a pig. My my, not the greatest fan of your sexual counterpart are you?

"If I was you. I would have acted the fool longer. Make me at least think you were at least a bit more of a bumbling fool then you actually are. Maybe you could catch me by suprise to get away with your sister if needed. But declaring it like that. When you're a ant compared to me? And then showing off your tricks right at the beginning?" Saburo's grin widened.

"You couldn't protect your sister from a being that was a mere fraction of the threat I am."

All he actually wanted when he ask her to see if she would say it to him.

"At least you amused me."

Suddenly, it became colder. A. Lot. Colder. Ran was shivering. What was this? Had she been a Fool? Was this how she'd die now? Was this his true power? It disappeared as fast as it came, however.

The... The Pirate King was right. He had MANY Treasures but... but... why was he with them then?! If he was still THAT powerful? Damn it! Here she hoped she could threaten him! Enough that he would leave the two of them alone... she should have known better.

Maybe... Tsubaha had some sort of leverage against this man? If Ran was wrong about this, then clearly Tsubaha would know something! She had... she had to find out more. For her Sister. But... for now... maybe...

Though, he did not kill her on the spot. She was still alive. And... he did compliment her? Maybe... just. Yes, he wasn't wrong... .

Her smile disappeared. Instead, despair.

A tear.
Ran started crying.
The woman started crying.
Saburo made a twin cry.
Good job!

At first, just a few, but then a small stream. Ran's dagger clattered to the ground as her legs gave in. Stumbling to the ground she burrowed her face in her arms. "I-I'm so, so, sorry! I just... I just wanted to protect... my only family left... I... please..." Boohoohoo! It was hard to understand Ran with her teary voice.

"I... I should have ki... no... but... I can't just kill someone... I did EVERYTHING but that... t-that's... please... please... forgive me...I- I could..." Ran looked at him with puppy eyes.

What would the Great Pirate King, Lord, or whatever, do? To do the crying girl whose name he didn't even know?[/coide]

She was crying. The girl who had a knife at his throat about thirty seconds ago was crying.

Saburo mouth scrunched up to one side.

"Huh."

What was the word his mother use to use for people like this?

Interesting? Special? Sensitive?

Liar?

Saburo was certain there should be guilt wrecking his system right now. He made a poor girl cry. She was getting all snotty and a little gross and in general was a rather poor sight.

He inhaled in irritation.

He had been the baby of the family once.

"What do you have to be crying about? You come up to me declaring you would 'cut me down' if I did anything to your sister. I say I won't do anything to your sister. That's not enough for you. I call you out on your bullshit. You cry? After you just showed you can act?"

Saburo face seemed to scrunch up in mild disgust.

"Ugh, I bet some people actually like that. Gross~. Men are digusting sometimes." Frowning slightly, Saburo took out a small piece of cloth. He threw it towards Ran.

"Whether you mean it or not. Use that to clean your face. Can't be walking around with mucus on your face and sleeves now, er, can you?"

"Speaking of which. Crying girl who put a blade to my throat." His mouth widened into a small friendly smile. "What's your name?"

Did it... work? Or not? The Pirate Lord kept talking. Some of the words, she understood. Others, she did not. Despite her act just now, Ran was just honestly, confused.

The grief on her face? An act.
Her empty eyes, not sure what to make of this? Her honest feelings.

She felt empty. Scared?

Was HE acting? Was he for real? Did he fool her? Did he tell the truth? Disgusting pig. Her mental image. HIS image. Two worlds colliding. She could feel a slight headache. Was this mental warfare — Pirate Lord Style?

This encounter was weird.
This encounter went places.
This encounter was supposed to be over!

And now... he smiled?
His warm, friendly smile at the end? Welcome. What? NO!

...
...
...

Ran smiled back as she accepted his cloth. Was it poisoned? Did she have a choice? "I'm Ran!" She nodded.

Just where was this supposed to go? Ran rarely felt as insecure as she did right now. She just wanted someone to hold her.

Their first meeting. A weird, and wild, ride.

For now, however, it should be over...

Saburo let a small sigh escape from his lips. "Nice to meet you Ran"

He could feel a slight headache. Was this mental warfare — Crazy Girl Style?

"I hope..." He hoped for a lot of things. Like not nearly get stabbed. And for him to just be set free. And to be able to look people in the eyes. And not have to pretend to be some evil criminal.

"We can get along well. L-like friends." Maybe that was the first true thing he had said to her, he didn't know yet.

He walked past her without any further words. He needed to go somewhere shady and pretty. This was stressful.

[/hr][/fieldbox]

[fieldbox= Saburo, #FF00FF, solid]

So they were being split into two. This was less then ideal for Saburo. Less people to shield him for getting a sword through the chest. Gah, he hated that he thought like that but it was true. He wasn't exactly suited to the dangerous life.

Still, who was it safer to be with. His first thought that sitting in the shelter of the shrine was the safer bet. But sitting there in the open, just waiting for someone to shoot him from afar with an arrow. It didn't give him the best of hope.

At least in the forest he could be a little useful since he had a water affinity and that was their main objective. Plus, he could hide in a bush or something if shit went south. Ah, truly he was a brave warrior.

Standing up, Saburo loudly clapped his hands together. "Right then."

Walking with a certain goal in mind, he walked past Tsubaki. "Yes, yes. You seem to have that certain spirit in your eyes. You lead the defence here, eh?" He raised his hand to pat her shoulder, but quickly deciding against it. He simply turned the motion into scratching the back of head.

"For, er, me..."

He stretched out. "L-looking for necessities aside, there's something I want to check out. I'll go along with the scouting party for now."

Saburo cleared his throat as he walked past Tsubaha. "Onwards you fools!"

@Ehb @Miya @Everyoneyo[/fieldbox][/hr]

Accelerator · Apr 18, 2018

[fieldbox= Noriko Amagawa, #99ccff, solid]

[ Month of Renewal 15th, Midday / Jiaojing Province, Maolan Forest, Worn Down Shrine ]

Just as he had given his two cents regarding on how they should proceed, someone came up to him asking whether or not there was a large body of water nearby. Turning to face the person in question, he came face to face with the androgynous blue haired noble, Haruki (@Zombehs ). Aside from finding a potential water source for the group, he did not have any ideas why Haruki was curious about the presence of bodies of water in the area but nonetheless he decided to entertain his inquiry.

Focusing on the "flow" around him, he began to thoroughly search for the water source in the direction the noble suggested. Since the body of water in question was indeed expansive, it didn't take long for him to detect its presence.

"Good find, I can confirm that there is a large body of water 1 kilometer to the west. We can re-stock our supply of water there. We're going to need it if we're gonna keep all these people hydrated. However, I advise not to drink that water before we manage to sterilize it. We've already been poisoned once and getting sick from dirty water might be the final nail in the coffin for our chances of recovering enough bells for everyone."

Next, Tsubaha(@Ehb ) was finally able to share what she wanted to happen and from what she said, it seemed like they were more or les going with his plan. It sure beats idling here for a single second too. Though it looks like the other half of the group were to stay here and recover or

"I'm not gonna question the tracking abilities of those who want to join the scouting team. Just proceed with caution so you don't miss anything. Even the smallest of clues could give us an idea where the people who have our bells went."

It looked like the blue haired assassin, Kei(@Karyra ) was already intent on gathering food supplies while the bandit Yuan (@Psyker Landshark ) went out of his way to explain the situation to Haruki.

Others were indulging themselves on fondling the Doven, Runara's(@LowDefinition ) ears while the twins were nowhere to be found, presumably they've already gone into the forest.

The muscled priestess, Rumiko(@RedArmyShogun ) started sharing her thoughts on the matter as well and it seems like she was convinced this betrayal was perpetuated by the government for some reason. While he was well aware that there's quite a lot of corruption surrounding the High Officials of the Shang, Noriko doubted that they'd go out of their way to sabotage this group's chances of success. Well not like he had any interest with politics anyways.

"Whether the government screwed us or not doesn't change the fact that we need to get those bells back as soon as possible."

The assassin, Yu Ri (@ERode ) on the other hand was starting to make Noriko anxious. For a while now, he could feel the petite girl's gaze tailing him as if she knew something about him. While it wasn't strange for the assassin to know the existence of the Daimyo's child assassins, could she somehow already be aware that he was one of them?

"Was the wakizashi too much of a give away then? If so, then perhaps she's already encountered the others a couple of times before... well no use attracting attention to the subject. That thing of the past is of no importance at the moment." He thought.

Suddenly, the man who claimed to be the legendary Pirate began speaking up and bossing people around. With utmost confidence, Saburo (@Rithas ) began strutting towards the forest claiming to be joining the scouting party. If Noriko was asked his honest opinion... he didn't buy a single second of Saburo's pirate act. Although he wouldn't be the douchebag to spill the beans on him. If the purple haired guy was that intent to adopt the pirate lord persona then he must have a good reason to. Besides, it's not like he's the only one here with something to hide.

@Zombehs
@ERode
@RedArmyShogun
@Rithas
@Ehb
@everyone

[/fieldbox]

Karyra · Apr 18, 2018

[fieldbox=Kei Daidouji, #00ffff, solid]

[ Month of Renewal 15th, Midday / Jiaojing Province, Maolan Forest, Worn Down Shrine ]

Kei heard Tsubaha yell for attention and quietly turned around to the group to listen to whatever she had decided. So, two groups, huh? Stay and wait for people to return to the tiny, dark shrine or go scouting around the area. He sighed.

"I'll go with the scouting party. I doubt we'll be attacked right away, anyway. Plus, if we are attacked I'd rather not add another bad memory to this shrine."

He really didn't want to be cooped up and waiting for a group of people, anyway. It sounded extremely boring, and he'd already spent enough time in that shrine, thank you very much.

"I don't have any water affinity, though. I'm not bad at foraging, can set snares, and can be pretty quiet. While I'm good at those things somewhat, I'd prefer just scouting as opposed to finding food. Those that are good at it can take priority."

Like that preistess. She was probably able to spot an edible shrub at a distance. Kei would probably feed it other others before eating anything he found himself. Skinning and eating things was a whole over mess, too. It wasn't like they had salt to use on the animals they caught. Much less any other kind of nicer seasoning. Kei would be more useful in a fully stocked kitchen than out in the woods.

Not that he'd admit to that, of course.

@Ehb @RedArmyShogun
@everyone
[/fieldbox]

Zombehs · Apr 18, 2018

[fieldbox= Haruki Rinko, #0059b3, solid]

[ Month of Renewal 15th, Midday / Jiaojing Province, Maolan Forest, Worn Down Shrine ]

Managing to keep his expression neutral as it turned out to be the bandit that answered his question, Haruki gave him a thumbs up as he nodded towards Noriko. "We're already on it." Nodding again at the overview of the situation, he frowned briefly at the mention of looting, but otherwise didn't seem to put off by Yuan any more. "Good, good. Seems like we've got at least a few survivalists at the least…" That he was not among their numbers was something that was left unvoiced as he turned his attention back to his fellow water elementalist for the moment, curious to hear what he had discovered.

"Swell. Good to hear I wasn't that off." Nodding to himself as he stood a bit straighter and seemed a bit livelier, he turned to face the one that had gathered them all together in the first place.

Well, at least she didn't seem adverse to owning up to her mistakes and taking into consideration everything the others had said. Points for her Haruki supposed. Looking around as people latched onto the suggested plan quite readily, and ignoring the presence of some more detestable individuals, he settled on remaining by the shrine as part of the defenders. Between staying here by a building, even if it was run down, or bushwhacking through a forest? It wasn't even a choice in Haruki's mind. Sides, even if he thought his eyes were rather keen, it wasn't like he knew much of what he was supposed to look for anyways. Best to leave the job to a group of experts rather than eat up their attention with his experience.

No, he wasn't just looking for an excuse. This was justification!

"Ah, I'll stay here by the shrine then. Guess I'll be working with ya, Hanejima." Dipping his head towards Tsubaki, it wasn't quite a bow, but certainly recognizable as a greeting at the least. Though he did turn to those that were going to scout, and tapped his yari against a nearby tree to catch their attention. "Amagawa here knows where, but there's water to the west of us. It should be easy to find animals going there to drink, or smaller streams that lead away. Course, other participants might be going there as well to get their own drinks, so it's up to you all. Figured I'd mention it since he hadn't brought it up yet."

@Psyker Landshark
@Miya
@People on Scouting Duty
[/fieldbox]

ShiroKiyoshi · Apr 18, 2018

[fieldbox=Black Nightingale, #D3D3D3, solid]

[ Month of Renewal 15th, Midday / Jiaojing Province, Maolan Forest, Worn Down Shrine ]
Well, there went the simplicity of his idea. Tsubaha in her sudden need to speak proposed they split into two groups, though to Black it seemed like she merely stated what others had already been intent on doing, but that was neither here or there. What really mattered was now a majority of people who had been flapping their gums were going off and seeing as Black had jackshit experience in doing much else other than sleeping and fighting, he decided that following Tsubaha was not in his best interest, nor the group's and stayed behind at the Shrine, promptly halting in his walk and leaning against a broken statue as people passed him to join the scouting group.

He then turned to see the Doven girl still wrapped up with people. What was really interesting was seeing the knife boy's flustered look when he grabbed her tail. At a glance he didn't appear to have that character at all and with the way he had been talking up until now, it really never would've crossed Black's mind, but he left, so there was one less surprise to worry about. With him went the ninja girl and the Saburo, Black heard of him, was warned to steer clear if he stumbled across him a few hundred moons ago, it seems time changes a man because the real thing didn't live up to expectation at all.

For a quick moment Black found himself looking toward Runara again, but his gaze was just as quickly pulled away when rich boy spoke up. He wreaked of money, it flowed off the guy like water, not to say Black had anything against that, just the personality that often followed. You could be a jerk and Black still have no issue with you, if anything he'll kick your face in, but pompous jerks really irritated him. However, this guy didn't come off like that, pompous for sure, but jerk was a little far fetched. Still certainly not the guy he was looking forward to spending his time with at the Shrine, but nonetheless, money usually meant education and some level of skill, if someone were to stay and lead a charge Black felt confident this guy could do a better job than himself.

After, standing there like the silent creep he was, Black had finally got to thinking that he wasn't contributing much to this conversation. Merely standing around and judging everyone, which was normal, and usually didn't bother him, but this situation made him feel as if he had to have something to say. A bad mix. Pushing off the ground and landing on the shrine with his hands folded confidently and chest puffed out he exclaimed, "I'll stay here and defend. If this our camp for the time being, I'll pound any sucker that comes near six-feet under!" Black unfolded his arms and gestured to those around him, "Except all of you of course."

With that he felt sated and sat down on the sculpture, kicking his foot while crossing the other over his lap so he could lean on it. He then proceeded to keep watch which mainly consisted of lazily looking ahead and using his hearing to keep an eye out. As per usual when he got bored, he started playing with his tail, swinging it back and forth against the sculpture.

@Zombehs
@Karyra
@LowDefinition
@PeopleAtTehShrine
[/fieldbox]

Aachen Rizen Compile - Kenno Matsuri [ In Character ]

Literal No One

Yes, I die a lot

Who?

Asuras

Guest

Ohio go sigh moss

Deus Lo Vult

Nien Scheiße!

"If you survive this, meet me where Heaven falls."

~Shall we?~

Neko Smasher of Iwaku's Walls

Maximum Weeb.

monke mode

Feral Wanderer