| In the Depths of Winter...; [Open to respondents to the thread "Emergency."] | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Feb 3 2014, 09:44 AM (1,442 Views) | |
| Czernobog | Feb 7 2014, 08:55 AM Post #11 |
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Best Influence.
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Shin nodded, and started moving down the left hand path, it wound around the western face of the mountain, looping deeper into the woods and -- after a few hundred meters -- began to ascend the mountain in a switchback toward a pond higher up that was fed by snowmelt. He moved quickly, eyes peeled and ears open to the sounds of the forest. The wind made it hard to hear anything, with the dry leaves of the trees rustling and shaking. A swirl of leaves crossed their path, and Shin paused for a half-second, momentarily thinking it was a person. The group on the right hand path would head around the east face of the mountain, which was a gentler ascent. If they were looking for someone just out camping, it might have been the best place to look, as the rise in terrain was much gentler and smoother, the trees thicker. This was the longest path, though Shin had no way of knowing that off the top of his head: it looped up and around, and eventually came to meet the pond from the north side. As Daichi and Kyo continued, a rabbit with an injured hind-leg, limping slightly from an apparent injury, crossed their path. The group taking the middle path had a brief, sharp ascent at the beginning, and then their course would take them along the top of a ridge, leading up to a widening and a meadow where the ridge met the mountain, and curved off to the west, toward the pond. As the group continued they would begin to hear a sound: a combination of noises including a rapid ticking and a fluttering, coming from just up the path. |
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| The One True Nobody | Feb 7 2014, 06:27 PM Post #12 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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Kyo sighed, and just put her hands in her pockets, setting off up the right-hand path. She didn't know the area around here, but she did know that Naoya wasn't about to stick to the easily-walkable byways, though. He would be off the path, wherever he was, and even in groups it would be pointless sticking to one straight line through the trees. Daichi was a bit green when it came to climbing and things, however. It was probably better if he stayed where it was easier to walk, and she took the rougher terrain to the side. "Daichi," she said, moving off the path, a bit further from the mountain. "You keep over here. I'm gonna go a ways that-a-away. I'll keep in shoutin' distance, though, and loop back over every so often so we know we're still goin' the same way. Don't worry 'bout losin' me." And Kyo closed her right eye, looking to Daichi with her Left one. She could see someone hovering behind him, a small, petite woman with mousy blonde hair, the thread connecting them a solid green. Unhealthily thin, but smiling. She felt a twinge of unease mixed with pity for Daichi's loss, whoever this was, but focused her attention immediately on the strand between her and him. A green strand mixed with a bit of blue... "...I got a Persona spell that'll help me find my way back if I needta, but you gotta want me t' find ya, okay?" she evenly. "It don't let me find someone who don't wanna be found, otherwise I could use it t' find Naoya..." She grunted a bit, left eye seeking out the strand she knew belonged to her distant friend. Completely blue, but instead of continuing on like most of the others, or fraying, or just ending like a snipped string, this spirit-strand faded out as it gained distance from Kyo, until it was completely invisible. It also seemed to loop and twist around in ways the others never did, as if to declare its intention to confuse the direction she needed to go to reach its opposite end. If her apprentice were game for that, she would vanish into the trees. This would let her widen their search area, at the very least. She didn't know what good it would do... --- Chika didn't want to take the lead. Any surprises in the terrain would be far more dangerous for her. She did at least nod when Shin asked someone to message Kaede about staying at the base camp. It seemed a good idea, so she took out her phone and sent the following text to the number Kaede had listed in her emergency contacts post: Inspector Imoto says you should stay by his car so there's a point we can regroup at in case of injury. She put her phone away and focused on the path ahead. It would be down to Hanako and Kakeru to warn her if anything was coming up along the way. The noises, however, would reach her ears just as soon as it reached theirs, and Chika, ever the cautious one when she was in her right mind, stopped in place, instantly guarded. "...What's that noise...?" |
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| Prince Arjuna | Feb 8 2014, 03:38 AM Post #13 |
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-insert something witty here-
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Due to an obvious reason, Kakeru also didn't take a lead, leaving Hanako alone in that place instead, which wasn't exactly a bad thing. While in group, Kakeru wouldn't have to worry about getting lost, but he still needed to be careful to not unknowingly stray away from the group, giving the group more trouble by trying to find him. He also noticed the noises, and like Chika, he stopped walking. His fingers were clutching on the purple cloth that was wrapping his nodachi, preparing to pull it off in order to take it out. While his sense of direction was bad, the same thing couldn't be said about his other senses. He tried to pick up the direction of which the noises came from. "Should I go and look at it?" Kakeru offered, volunteering to check ahead. It might be dangerous if they carelessly went ahead to check it out, so Kakeru thought that he needed to go and see what those noises were about. |
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| Nonsequitur | Feb 8 2014, 10:45 PM Post #14 |
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Yellow Bubblegum
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She was ready to take the lead. Kakeru was out for obvious reasons and Chika was a sprained ankle, or trip away from a very bad day that would have further delayed their search. She could take the trail, keep an eye on Kakeru so he didn't stray and point out any problematic spots for her to avoid. But before all that? She heard the noise, she turned sharply and her hand was on the knife at her belt on instict. "No…no, you stay with Chika, I'll see what that is." She approached the source of the sound cautiously to find just that out, rather than going directly towards it, she moved around to try and draw near from the side. |
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| Exodin | Feb 10 2014, 01:31 AM Post #15 |
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MAHHA
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It felt good to have the blue haired man stir. More than that, Kamina actually seemed to be giving off a sort of general feeling of willingly helping. This, while hopefully not needed was good nonetheless. Jiro kept the pace with Shin. The blonde boy couldn't help but wonder if this meant the averse effect of the feeling of his body being on fire and the pounding headaches wouldn't happen. He couldn't help but think back on to Naoya discussing 'paths' with him. Was this a turn back onto the path he was supposed to go down? Like someone careening down the wrong side of the road, only to suddenly jerk back to the right side? He half expected a shrieking black void inside of his head. What he got instead, was an emptiness. Every attempt he made to reaffirm the whole connection between himself and his persona was denied. Kamina distanced himself back into the recesses every single time, only to come back out and show his willingness to work. An odd grin played on his face for a moment. He wasn't on speaking terms with himself. Still, he trudged on. Worry and anxiety burning a pit in his stomach. --- "Alright, don't worry Sensei. We'll be able to find each other. I'll keep heading this way." Daichi just had to trust Kyo on this, and he did. She knew what she was doing. Besides, with such a good skill handy it was a sure thing to find one another again. That and splitting up would mean covering more ground which seemed like more than a bit of a necessity in this situation. Of course, the tall young man was able to quickly realize that if Naoya were in this general area. Then of the two of them, Kyo would likely be the one to find him. He wasn't sure if he was okay with that, considering she was weak to fire spells and they would have no idea of Naoya's state of mind at the time. Then again, the boy had to realize that they weren't there to hurt them right? Only restrain him if necessary to ensure the safety of himself and others. Still, he walked along the more easily walkable path. Trying to ignore that somehow it still felt like the cold was seeping in. Perhaps he should have talked to the boy, he had been meaning to check in on him ever since the incident with the Reaper. A strange twinge of humor played in his brain, funny how he had helped save Naoya's life, only for the boy to do the same for him. |
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| Czernobog | Feb 10 2014, 09:45 AM Post #16 |
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Best Influence.
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Shin had never done much cross-country running, but he used to do track in high school and for a long time in college. He moved at a quick, loping pace, ears peeled for any sound. He felt tense, but didn't ball his hands into fists: he kept them straight, chopping the air as he pulled forward, only slightly outpacing Jiro. Still, he didn't hear anything. There was nothing on this path, it seemed. They slowly pulled around toward the pond. --- As Hanako crept through the woods, she might hear a creaking sound in the distance, off to the right side of the path. This would quickly be drowned out as the ticking-fluttering noise grew louder and the lightning bug burst out of the folliage and immediately headbutted her, not trying to stab her with its stinger but simply push her. It attempted to herd her back toward the path, the moonlight glinting off of its bronze-and-brass casing. The tiny automaton seemed to be trying to push her away, driving her back toward the path and down the mountain. --- The rabbit on the right hand path zipped away from the two searchers as quickly as its injured leg could take it. Of course, in the dark it was impossible to see too deep into the trees. The half-moon in the sky provided some illumination, but it wasn't much. Their other senses might carry some information to them. A whiff of char on the wind coming from the north-west, the cry of a night bird, and -- in the distance -- the clean, cold feel of the oncoming storm. |
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| The One True Nobody | Feb 10 2014, 11:02 AM Post #17 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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Kyo didn't notice anything peculiar about the rabbit--didn't pay it any notice at all, until it ran away. At that point she paused, and watched it run. ...Strange... But then if Naoya had left in enough of a hurry... he wouldn't have brought food, and if he didn't bring food he'd need to catch some, and then he'd need to kill it, and he didn't strike Kyo as the kind of person who could lightly kill something as intrinsically innocent-looking as a rabbit. "Daichi!" she called back. "That thing's prolly a sign that Naoya's not far from us! Keep an eye out! Might've been able t' get some distance from him, though." Distance in which direction, that was the real mystery. Animals could meander at random like nothing else. Their best bet was to keep going with the original search plan. And so she drifted even further away from the path, every so often opening her Left Eye to make sure she still had a fix on which thread would lead her back to Daichi. Then, the charred smell on the wind. "Daichi! Go against the wind! Go upwind!" Kyo called, changing her own direction to match her instruction. Not being able to see much was no impediment, nor were the thick and numerous trees. Kyo nimbly slipped from side to side, hopped over branches and roots as needed, with minimal rustling or snapping involved. Sneaking around a forest was something she'd gotten some practice at, ever since she'd started mixing up her routes to and from the ruins to keep herself from being easily tracked by ne'er-do-wells... --- "That's--?!" The lightning bug, or--what was it called? Chika leaped backward at the sight, nearly tripping over a root stretched across her path. "That's Naoya's! It's his! He's here! He has t' be close!" The thing wasn't terribly large, but... it was dangerous, if it used its stinger. But surely Naoya wouldn't make it try to hurt them, right? |
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| Prince Arjuna | Feb 10 2014, 11:51 AM Post #18 |
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-insert something witty here-
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Kakeru didn't expect the appearance of the metallic insect-like thing. He thought that he might have seen it somewhere once or twice, but he couldn't remember when. That thing belonged to Naoya, so it would be safe to assume that he might be around here somewhere. Judging from the way the lightning bug trying to push them away, it seemed that Naoya didn't want them to find him. "Naoya... he's telling us to back off..." Kakeru said to Hanako and Chika. "He doesn't want to be found..." he sighed after saying that. Now that their target was giving a hard time for them. He looked at the lightning bug, thinking whether it was possible or not to grab that thing with his hand. He looked around. He didn't know how Naoya could control the lightning bug. But there had to be some ways for him to make the insect-like thing to act like that. So, Naoya might even be aware of their presence here. And now that he didn't want to be found, this was one of his ways to dissuade, or discourage them to search for him. |
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| Nonsequitur | Feb 10 2014, 03:58 PM Post #19 |
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Yellow Bubblegum
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The sound wasn't immediately familiar to Hanako, not until she was face to face with the thing trying to ram its head into her chest. Despite the surprise, her reaction was quick and well-ingrained, she stepped to the side while she tried to force the attack away from her, in this case, by shoving the Bug in the opposite direction and towards the ground. "Yeah! If this is around, Naoya can't be that far behind, can he?" The question was what to do with it. She was reluctant to just destroy it, but what was the alternative? Having it keep pestering them from then on? Losing it somehow? |
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| Exodin | Feb 11 2014, 12:34 AM Post #20 |
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MAHHA
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Damn it all, they weren't on the right path! Maybe it was Jiro's impatience, but he'd expected something by now. The boy felt the familiar temptation to use a favored technique of his. Begin Bash leaping about until either he'd exhausted himself, or he found his friend and told him how much of an idiot he was and....how they all cared about him. So he couldn't just quit, couldn't just throw his hands up in the air and give up. Sure they depended on him too much, put too much on his shoulders all at once. Did they forget at the end of the day, that he was just a teenager still dealing with the loss of an old friend? Forget the specifications of why he was gone too, fact of the matter was that Naoya was probably more ripped up emotionally than he let on. Jiro felt like a moron for not trying to get him to open up more. No instead he had to go and whine about himself all the time. Or how he never measured up to his brother. He was damn sick of pitying himself when he could be helping make sure the one guy who he felt secure in calling friend in this entire city had some sort of semblance of happiness. No more, not after they found him. --- "Got it Sensei!" These were good signs. At least the smell on the wind was. The rabbit meant that Naoya may not have any food. Still he began trudging against the wind. Still, if they could find him before someone with a weapon did? That would be fantastic. Surely the best outcome would be for the inspector to find his nephew, but when did the best outcome ever happen when the situation involved the persona users? "Do you think he's close!?" Better to get Kyo's opinion on things, seeing as how she was the more experienced of the two. Of course he had no idea if she was much of a 'tracker' type. Hopefully she'd have some sort of idea whether or not as to his location. Even if only a vague one. For a moment he thought about producing a light source with an orb of Hama....but if Naoya were close then that might tip him off as to their location and he could run. |
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