Spirit World

"Ah... I'm sorry.. I must have lost my swords.. I will still try to help, though..."

They jump forward and kick at the serpent while it's down. They've clearly been trained to fight, judging by their form, but something about them seems off-balance.

off the shits

Tavern

Tenzo takes a moment to process what Sasuke's saying, and upon realization he takes a step back, blushing. "Um..." He stammers out, having no idea what to say until Tarou mercifully cuts the tension. He takes the scroll, and opens it somewhat without much thought. Upon reading the first couple sentences, however, he stops and rolls it back. "Uh, ok." He says, thinking for a moment. "I'd ask why you have something like this, but it's probably not my place. I'll... uh, find some other place to read this. ...Thank you." He awkwardly finishes.

edited 25th Jan '17 6:24:43 PM by AqueousBunnies

Serpent River:

Upon noticing that the spirit creature was stunned, the Outlander wasted no time to deal further damage as he unleashed a three hit combo with his bow staff, starting with a rightside strike, followed by a left side strike, and finishing off with a two-handed downward blow on the back of its head. "Begone foul spirit! You have no purpose terrorizing anyone here!" The Outlander demanded as he attacked, his accent notably apparent.

Living The Fever Dream

Tavern

As Sasuke takes Tarou by the hand, leading him upstairs and gently massaging at certain areas, the ancient sorceress behind the counter finally puts down her knitting of what turns out to have been a ward of sorts, which glimmers in the moonlight as she lays it on the counter.

"There, that should keep things from getting too out of hand." Then, looking to Tenzo, she chuckles a bit, Well, don't you look positively scarred. Would you like something to drink? Or maybe a lesson in something less...private?"

"I'm as free as the dust in the solar wind."

Sonome

Upstairs tavern - the Twin's room.

Ren leads Yoshiki upstairs towards his room, slowly, letting the boy keep up better. The room was nice, very nice, they had put out things all over the place, it was a little cluttered.

Notably though over on one side of the room, a small wooden chest is sitting with this strange blueish hue to those attuned to the spirits, it looks very expensive and its slightly open lid reveals if Yoshiki was to get close enough a lot of valuable things, a lot of money, books, strange objects, expensive clothing in quite a few sizes around Ren and Mana's some a few sizes smaller and some a few larger near adult size.

The bed in the center had extra pillows and blankets upon it, Ren meanwhile had gone over to one of his bags on a small table. Checking through and searching for something. "If you're sure. Just give me a minute please, just want to find something. Got something I want to show you."

Blacksmith Hut - Living Area

Another loud wince but Rhylu tried to not move, he did grit his teeth a little as his wounds were treated and the bandages were taken off, he did nod though to both of them letting them know it was okay.

Removing more bandages shows more wounds upon his body, in varying degrees of being healed, some raw. One additional thing, revealed is a set of black tattoos hidden on his back, a very strange, unusually designed but well done.

edited 29th Jan '17 4:13:27 PM by darkdestinysoul

"After time adrift among open stars, along tides of light and through shoals of dust, I will return to where I began."

Sonome Village, Blacksmith's Hut, Living Area

Kokoro silently powdered the wounds, flinching again as she saw how many wounds there actually were though still continued. "Its soon over, don't worry Rhylu." Seeing the tattoos she gave a slightly questioning look although for now kept quiet about them, guessing that Rhylu likely wouldn't be in a explain-y mood now though also looked to Date to see his reaction.

"One may feel fear in the face of danger so long as one banishes fear when danger actually arrives"

Sonome

Tavern -> Tarou's Room

Tarou lets Sasuke lead him up, giving Tenzo a wave and grin as he departs. He seems to appreciate the massaging from Sasuke, both physically and verbally. Once they arrive, he opens the door and quickly heads inside with Sasuke, closing it back just as quickly.

He doesn't waste any time and wraps his arms around Sasuke's waist, standing up a bit on his toes and attacking Sasuke's exposed neck with a fierce kiss.

---

Ren and Mana's Room

As he's led inside, Yoshiki pauses, taking a moment to take in the surroundings. "Wow. You guys have lotsa stuff!" he says, glancing over at the chest which immediately catches his eye thanks to his newly acquired sight. He nods to Ren as he idly wanders over in the direction of the chest to get a closer look.

---

Blacksmith Hut - Living Area

Date's face remains rather neutral as he assess the wounds in their entirety. "Hmm..." he idly raises two of his fingers, the tips glowing red hot. "None of them appear to be in need of cauterizing for now..." he takes some of the medical powder and proceeds to begin administering it to the wounds already healing, when he spots the tattoos. "Well. Those must have been painted by a skillful hand."

---

Spirit World

Serpent River

The unagi seems to slowly start to shake itself out of its stupor, only for it to get kicked just as it tries to recover, sending it back down where it skids back across the grass a bit. It hisses violent, and responds by whipping its tail in response in an attempt to swat the spirit who kicked it down. As is spasms a bit in its fury, it doesn't see the Outlander move and strike until its too late, and it reels back in agony, thrashing itself about more in pain than attempting to hit anyone, but might still hit someone if they aren't fast enough to move back.

edited 8th Feb '17 7:18:26 PM by BaronGreen

Old habits die hard, especially when no one else lets them die either.

Tavern

Tenzo takes a long look at the two of them as they go upstairs. He then turns to Polgara. "Er, perhaps. What do you have in mind?"

Serpent River

The spirit is knocked off their feet, though the unagi might find something strange start to happen wherever it touched them... The areas it attacked with would begin to feel cold, and might even freeze.

The spirit meanwhile struggles to their feet.

off the shits

Serpent River:

It was clear to the Outlander that this unagi was not going to disappear peacefully. Wasting no time, the Outlander leaped into the air and quickly slammed his bowstaff into the spirit creature's eye, determined to dissuade it from fighting and/or severely injure it depending on what would actually happen.

Living The Fever Dream

Ren and Mana's Room

"Yeah, we brought a lot of stuff from home." Ren continued to search on the far side of the room for something, sorting through vials and through paperwork on his little workspace he made in the tavern room.

Yoshiki can easily move over to the chest, the ghostly blue hue surrounding it. As was noted it has various bits of money, books, some scrolls with calligraphy designs on them, a fine necklace with a rabbit on it, a rosary similar to Rens, a second small blade similar to Ren's. As well as the variety of rather expensive, fancy looking foreign clothes, in various sizes larger and smaller and ofcourse designs, they picked up some more traveling. The only other thing that'd immediately catch anyone's eye on the top of the chests contents (it had a lot in it clearly if you were to dig deeper) perhaps is a fine metal bracelet studded with rubies with the designs of western style serpents upon it.

Blacksmith Hut - Living Area

Rhylu was still wincing in pain and discomfort, reasonably his everything hurt especially with the bandages being undressed and treated. "Thank you Kokoro for this, and do not worry Date-Sensei. I already closed my wounds using what power I had spare, and what holy water I had on me..."

Its a while more before he responds to the other comment before he nods. "My previous Sensei painted them, he was a great and kind man, and a good artist."

edited 12th Feb '17 9:25:47 AM by darkdestinysoul

"After time adrift among open stars, along tides of light and through shoals of dust, I will return to where I began."

Tavern

Downstairs

Pol reaches into the folds of the red cloak she has draped over the bar beside her and pulls out a trio of bound scrolls, laying them before her. Her fingers play at the air above rolls the yellowed, fraying parchment, eventually picking up the one in the middle and undoing its length of blue ribbon and examining the text. Looking over the top of the scroll at Tenzo, she lays the scroll covered in a several short lines of text before him, "Here we are. Seems like a good starting point. Why don't you read this for me?"

Upstairs

Sasuke trembles slightly and lets out a long, moaning whimper and wraps his arms around Tarou's waist, pulling their lower bodies closer together and starts pushing him up against the door, "Well, well, someone's very excited.~"

"I'm as free as the dust in the solar wind."

Sonome Village, Blacksmith's Hut, Living Area

Kokoro shook her head slightly "Nothing to thank me for Rhylu." She smiled as good as was possible before taking a deep breath "Don't worry, its soon over." Indeed Kokoro had applied the poweder on most of the wounds by now. After a bit of thinking Kokoro seemed to have and idea. "When I injured myself in the forge my mother always told me the story of the spirit kid. It helped me forget the pain... may I try it as well?" The Chōchin-obake swirled through the air rather aimlessly, sometimes emiting something sounding like a giggle but otherwise keeping quiet.

"One may feel fear in the face of danger so long as one banishes fear when danger actually arrives"

Tavern

Tenzo frowns for a moment, like he's deciphering something in his head. He eventually starts reading the scroll quite slowly and pausing repeatedly. While he manages to limp by, he's clearly having difficulty with it.

Tavern - Downstairs

Pol quietly rises to her feet and makes her way beside Tenzo, taking a seat next to him, nodding approvingly, "Did you teach yourself? And would you like some help?"

"I'm as free as the dust in the solar wind."

Tavern

"Yeah, when I was younger, mostly..." Tenzo admits, looking slightly embarrassed. "I guess I could use some help. I haven't had many opportunities to read the past few years, since I've been living in the forest."

"Apologies again for the hold up... >_<

Tavern - Tarou's Room

If your rather not read the romance, feel free to skip it. Nothing really important is going to transpire...I think.

Tarou doesn't resist as Sasuke backs him up against the wall, merely looking up at him with a clear smirk. "What can I say? It's been far too long..." He starts, grabbing at the folds of Sasuke robes and pulling them off to expose his upper body as well, following that by running his hands up Sasuke's back and pulling him in close. "You plan to help me with that, yes?"

---

Tavern - Ren and Mana's Room

"Yeah, I can tell..." Yoshiki says, still admiring the whole of the various items around the room. "Wasn't it hard to carry all of this stuff? My mom and dad needed a whole caravan to transport our goods, and this seems like just as much..." He continues, suddenly trailing off as he stops in from of the practically overflowing chest, the mysterious ruby bracelet catching his eyes. "Ooh...hey, Ren, what's this?? Is it magical??" He asks, picking up the bracelet and then looking over to Ren, eager for the answer.

---

Blacksmith Hut - Living Area

"I see. Well, I can definitely agree on the great artist part. You can clearly see the hard work put into every line." Date says aa he admires the tattoo. He considers asking more, but feeling he's already interrogated Rhylu enough in the past few hours, he decides to give him a bit of a break. At Kokoro's suggestion, he nods. "I think that's a wonderful idea, Kokoro. I would enjoy hearing it myself."

---

Spirit World

Serpent River

Seeing the other spirit's kick being effected, Tarou sprints forward, deciding to strike with one himself. He leaps kicks off the serpent, in an effort to stun it which...slightly works. It's forced back just a tad, but quickly retaliates why whipping Tarou away with it's tail, causing him to get sent flying back into one of the trees. "Rgh...shit..." He grunts, slowly picking himself up.

With Tarou dealt with, it then sets it's sights on the other downed spirit, heading over and attempting to sink it's power jaws into its leg...only for it to stall as ice seemingly starts to form on its body where the spirit had kicked it.

Before the unagi can fathom what's going on, the Outlander's strikes out again and his blow connects powerfully with its eye, causing it to lurch up violent with a wild screech before slamming back down into the ground, it's body spasming and gittering in pain from its wounded eye and leaving it completely vulnerable.

edited 26th Feb '17 2:52:10 PM by BaronGreen

Old habits die hard, especially when no one else lets them die either.

Serpent River

The spirit manages to get to their feet. Seeing an opportunity, they rush forward with another kick directed towards the serpent's face.

off the shits

Tavern - Ren and Mana's Room

"Mana can be thanked for that. After we arrived she spent hours to use her magic to make the chest and its stuff appear. We cant get to it while we're traveling and this one chest is the limit, just i've packed it well. We've thought about getting a actual caravan though, it'd be nicer than riding horseback." He comments as he's finishing searching grabbing a few things from the table before Yoshiki finds something.

He turns around quickly and curiously approaching over and crouching a little bringing him slightly down to Yoshiki's level. He nods with a small smile. "Yeah it is. It's called a Bloodserpent Charm, one of Mana's tutors made it. Sadly its a bit fickle and doesn't like either me or Mana, or anyone else we've shown it t, so it's never wanted to active."

Blacksmith Hut - Living Area

Rhylu nodded to Date's comment. "He spent days on it. It really hurt but it was worth it. It." A warm look before addressing the idea of Kokoro.

"The spirit kid? I don't know it." Rhylu responded a slightly distant look for a moment thinking before getting pulled back to reality by a sharp feeling of discomfort from the medical treatment which should be nearly done now luckily. At least as much as could be done for today.

Market Square

Mana was finally ready to begin what she had set up. Circle assembled around the entire towns perimeter, magic flowing through her and Xeo as she began to evoke it. It was slow, it was subtle. Mana sitting on the ground cross-legged in the exact center of the circle drawn around the town's edge.

Magic slowly beginning to flow, incredibly hard to detect unless you were already looking for such. Mana was being careful to not draw attention to it as she began to hum and chant in her native tongue slowly. The circle around the edge of town glimmering slightly if anybody was around to witness it. The noble girl, was doing something. Its power not feeling malevolent but it was large in scope.

"After time adrift among open stars, along tides of light and through shoals of dust, I will return to where I began."

Serpent River:

This time the Outlander pulled no punches. He appeared to grab a blade seemingly out of nowhere to attach onto his bowstaff, spinning it off both to ensure that it was tightly attached and for intimidation as he said in a tone that actually sounded pissed, "I will not tell you again! BEGONE!" He then pulled off a two-hit combo that consisted of an upward sweep followed by a downward hammer blow, sharp end facing the unagi.

Living The Fever Dream

Tarou's Room

Sasuke smirks and answers by pulling open Tarou's robe, running his hands along the scars covering his body, following one in particular down into his hakama, where he pauses, staring into Tarou's eyes and smiling widely.

Tavern

Pol nods, somewhat impressed that Tenzo managed to teach himself to read and settles down, pulling the sheet between them, ”You’re doing fairly well, what are you having the most trouble with, dear?”

"I'm as free as the dust in the solar wind."

Sonome Village, Blacksmith's Hut, Living Area

Kokoro bowed her head shortly. "Thank you" She shortly fell silent, trying to remember the whole story again. "Once there was a Zashiki Warashi, she lived in a smithy not far from Zenikamezawa Castle. She brought great blesings to the inhabitants of the house. One day, the Zashiki Warashi decided to leave the house..." She continued with the story for a while, how the residents tried to persuade the spirit to stay, how they decided to make her a shrine.

"One may feel fear in the face of danger so long as one banishes fear when danger actually arrives"

Tavern

Tenzo looks back and forth between the words and Pol before answering. "Reading kanji, I guess. It's so different from hiragana, and there are so many characters... it would be much easier if there was simplified text written beside them."

Sonome

Tavern -Tarou's Room

"Heh..." Tarou places his hands on Sasuke's hips and slipping his fingers into the hem of Sasuke's pants, leaning up to kiss him again as his hands slowly move downward, bringing the fabric with them. "Let's not waste any time then..."

Fade to Black

---

Tavern - Ren and Mana's Room

"Oh, wow. Mana can do a bunch of cool stuff with her powers, huh?" Yoshiki starts, clearly intrigued. "Bracelets can like people? Huh..." Yoshiki says, looking at the trinket strangely. "Hey, Mr. Bloodserpent, do you like me?" he asks with an innocent smile, not really expecting a serious response.

---

Blacksmith Hut - Living Area

Date smiles warmly as Kokoro completes her story. "Do they still maintain the shrine to this day?" he asks her, curious. As he does this, he finally lowers his hands away from Rhylu, taking another moment to look over his form. "Alright. I think this will do for tonight. Let us give the medicine a chance to do its work. Then in the morning, we can go from there." As he speaks, Date turns his head a bit, hearing the door open and Minami letting herself in.

"Master, Kokoro, I am finally back. Sorry for taking so long, I got held up at home for a while." she says, quietly bowing in greeting.

---

Spirit World

Serpent River

The unagi, still prone, is an easy target for the spirit and their second kick, which strikes true, making the beats rear its head up before it falls back towards the ground, stunned and dazed. Either it doesn't or can't register the Outlander's follow up attacks. The sweeping strike again, knocks the serpent's head upward. Unlike before, though, this strike seems to knock the unagi back into its senses briefly and it tries to counter by lunging forward, its maw opened and teeth bared, the Outlander in its sights...and right into his downward slash.

The blade cuts right through its head, and time seems to almost freeze for a moment as the beast goes still. Slowly, a wispy mist starts to trickle out of the beast's head, out of the wound, and it jerks back, letting out a dying screech and spasming weakly before falling over onto its side, seemingly dead.

edited 16th Mar '17 7:47:34 PM by BaronGreen

Old habits die hard, especially when no one else lets them die either.

Serpent River:

The Outlander quickly stabbed the fallen Unagi, intending to impale it for good measure before taking his bladed staff out of the spirit creature, removing the blade, cleaning off whatever might have been on it before putting it away, and spinning his staff around one more time for good measure. "You brought this upon yourself...." He coldly remarked at the creature, regardless of whether or not it actually understood him.

Living The Fever Dream