Festival of Blood [Ended!]

Seresana was just about done inspecting the naginata and was in the process of leaning it back down when Rosie suddenly spoke to a newcomer. Seresana looked back over her shoulder and saw that it was none other than Dust who stood by the tent's entry flap. She flashed the other girl a cheerful smile before saying, "hi Dust, I'm so glad you could make it." Seresana was about to start with introductions but Rosie was already taking care of her own so Seresana bothered with the rest. "And that's... Jirou? And this here's Sylvan," she went on with a gesture to each person as their name was mentioned. In the act though, she'd neglected to actually finish setting down the weapon. Then the scream happened and the cheeriness vanished from Seresana's face as she cocked her head to point an ear towards the source. That didn't sound like a scream of excitement, there was terror and panic in that, and there were a lot of anbu scattered about tonight patrolling. Maybe this is why, Seresana thought to herself quickly while Jirou came forward to proclaim the weapon, that she all too readily gave up.

The peddler was a little flabbergasted by the suddenness of events, and was left stammering for a moment as Jirou ran out of the tent with the new purchase. Though he still pocketed the money and then turned about to start putting a few things away, likely the actually valuable pieces that he didn't want to risk getting broken if things were going to start getting 'exciting'.

Seresana however was growing concerned as she glanced towards Sylvan with a serious and apologetic look. She nodded just once to silently say that it was time for them to actually be shinobi of the leaf village even with Sylvan's recent attack. Seresana reached into her yukata and pulled out her headband, quickly tying it off around her forehead in the traditional manner. "I'm sorry I can't stay and chat Dust, Rosie, but Sylvan and I have to respond to that scream now that we're genin, at least to see what's going on. It might be helpful if you two came along, but if there's enemies about, I don't want either of you to risk fighting them head on. I doubt it'll be anything too serious, but best to be on the side of care, right?," Seresana said to them all with a soft smile that would only just hide how worried she actually was, as she finished tying off her headband. She would have also passed on that warning to Jirou if he had bothered to stick around, but seeing as he'd ran off ahead of them, she'd have to catch up. That however was exactly what she'd planned to do and with a good bit of haste, the little girl shot out of the tent and began bounding towards the source of the scream, possibly with Sylvan still clinging to her and the others behind her.

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Sylvan looks at Dust thoughtfully when she steps into the tent. Then the scream happened. Like Sena, Sylvan put on her forehead protector. Unlike Sena, Sylvan had come armed. As Sena addresses her and Dust, she offers them both Kunai. Once they have either accepted or rejected the offer, she draws her own curved blade and runs after Sena. She wasn't entirely sure what was causing the panic, but she really hoped it was vulnerable to Genjutsu. Close Quarters combat wasn't fun, especially in a densely crowded area like this one.
The ANBU presence made a little more sense now. In all honesty, a festival was the best time to sneak in. In hindsight, perhaps perching on a roof wasn't the best idea Sylvan had ever had. She'd do so again if caught between the crowd and the roof, but perhaps she wouldn't go all the way up to the roof. She had no illusions that ANBU would at worst kill her if she tried that again. 'Perhaps a bit more focus on the situation at hand is in order, considering we are running towards screams.' 'Right, right. Wait, what if they're already there?' 'Then we still get points for trying. Besides, Sena is going there, and we need her to avoid being stranded in the crowd.' 'Oh yeah. Hope she's okay.' 'It's Sena. She can handle herself considerably better than we can, at the moment. ' 'She won't just charge in and get ambushed, right?' 'I doubt it. She's been on missions before, and is still alive. Odds are she's already learned that particular lesson.'
{265 Words}

"Oh, Dust then." Rosie nods, retaining the small and almost shy smile as she looks at the other girl. "It's a..."
"Pretty."
"...pretty name, actually. Short, and pleasant without pesky diminutives." She nods in the direction of Serasena. "I take it you must know Serasena then if she recognizes you. Then again, Sera appears to notice everyone."
Just as she finishes saying this, she'd hear the horrified and terrified scream from the direction of the food booth and her head snaps around to look in that direction, missing any reply Dust might make and the entirety of Jirou's actions--up until the point where he practically bowls her over on his way out of the tent. Being nearly crashed into causes Rosie to stumble out the door before she catches herself, mainly by virtue of bouncing off the mass of people who, in true herd mentality fashion, are working themselves up into Mindlessly Panicking Crowd©, before returning to fully upright.
"I think it came from the direction of the food area, one of the tents," Kitty says, looking directly at the source of the scream although logically, her vision would be blocked by the crowd and the other stands in the area. She makes no attempt to reconcile her existence and the reality, people running through her hallucinated image as if she doesn't exist.
"You know, watching people run through you as if you're not there is a bit distracting," Rosie replies, speaking normally to someone that is emphatically not there.
"Oh, I'm sorry, is your hallucination not making an effort to play 'real kitsune' for you?" Kitty asks, her voice oozing sarcasm. She then sighs. "That was cruel, I'm sorry."
"Crisis situation, Kit, no time for me to be hurt or you to be sorry." Rosie looks in the same direction that Kitty is looking as Serasena emerges from the tent. "Food tents," she says to the smaller girl. "I don't suppose we're lucky enough for you to be hiding weapons in that fetching outfit of yours?"
"You could check..."
Lewdness at a time like this? Really?
"I didn't mean it like that! I meant, you could have taken a passing glance and seen that she's unarmed."
Sure you did. "Well, even if you're not, I can't imagine you're a jonin without having training in taijutsu and throwing kunai--or anything that might be handy for that matter--and I saw how deadly your aim is when we met in the woods once." She smiles at Sera very briefly and lightly before her expression because focused and deadly serious. "ANBU might not need us to address this danger but we wouldn't be shinobi if we didn't go to the sounds of danger without hesitation."
"Girl with a gift for bows alongside you, and the talents of Sylvan and that Jirou fellow." Kitty nods. "This should work. But while we move, I think a division of labor would help keep everyone on task when we arrive."
Rosie nods sharply and slightly to Kitty's comment and looks to Sera as they move through the crowd. "I've skill with taijutsu; I'll lead in. Sound good?"

{Word Count: 520 | 4853}

"Hi, Sena," Dust said, although she quickly caught on to Sylvan looking at her. Did this girl know her? Dust didn't know the girl... Perhaps they had stood next to each other in the line to get in, or she'd bumped into the girl while she was w-- Just as she was thinking that, Sylvan looked away, only to look at her again a couple seconds later. What the hell? Why was she... nevermind, it wasn't important. She was Sena's friend, so she must be at least somewhat safe. Then again, Sena did seem to try to befriend everyone in sight, so perhaps Sena wasn't a good model to judge her friends by...

Dust thoughts were interrupted once again by an unfamiliar voice saying her name. Dust's head snapped in that direction, but she quickly kicked herself mentally. It was just the redhead... Although Dust did glance away when the redhead talked about her name. She did like the name, but she also had to agree with the girl when she said Sena notices everybody... Maybe redheads did tend to g--

Dust then heard the scream too. "What the fuck was that?!" she hissed under her breath. It wasn't just pain; she knew that much. It was actually fear, and she definitely didn't see haunted houses. Besides, carnival-type haunted houses were rarely good enough to evoke a scream that powerful. Shaking her head at Sylvan's offer, she took out a kunai from each of her pockets. The kunai were wrapped in a heavy cloth to prevent them cutting her clothes. Dust quickly unwrapped the kunai one at a time, stuffing the cloth back into her pockets as she did so. "I... don't know any jutsu yet, but... uh... strength in numbers, I guess?" she mumbled, trying to keep up with the others. She was too surprised to think about much now, and instead focused on the redhead's hair as they navigated the crowd. It was easy to pick out in a crowd, after all...

Word count: 332, total 982

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There was some amusement for her watching the street crowd entertainers do their shtick. Though she couldn't' have enjoyed it for all that much longer when she had managed to hear the screaming pick up. Almost like someone gradually increasing the volume. She would turn her head quickly in that direction and her eyes widened as she began to see people starting to run. At first it was a small amount of people and then gradually more and more and it was like a domino effect as people began to run, some bumping into others and trying to get themselves to safety. Shinobi's began to appear within the crowd, ushering people away and trying to minimize the amount of craze that was beginning to show itself with people bumping and pushing others over if they weren't fast enough. Kisayuri had quickly moved out the way, dodging the regular crowd with ease and moving to a place that was still in public, but out of the way so she wouldn't get ran over. Though just after she moved out the way, she spotted some young people running past her heading towards where the screaming was occurring.

GM POST

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In a short time the pleasantness of the festival turned into tragedy, a death most gruesome. Three men appearing to have been killed at some point within the festival. Within view, yet not, this murder had happened, exactly who could have done such a thing? What danger is happening now?

The crowd near the tent quickly emptied out as people began to quickly run away screaming, It ha only gotten worse when the first man, who had sharp spider like leg's creeping out his mouth, split apart, his skin tearing like a dried out balloon, whatever blood there may have been was absent and in his place, was this large organic centipede looking creature of biological blasphemy. It's main head resembling that of a spiders main body, with it's thorax portion extending out like the body of a centipede. It's 'legs' around it's mouth were actually, to this creature, teeth, the leg's it had were upon it's centipede like body, seeming to be this strange mutate parts of the mans organs and bones. Such a creature should not exist that is for certain.

the other two seemed to break apart just like that man did and two more similar creatures began to show themselves. All three shares this strange, thick gooey slime coating over their bodies. Of course, it didn't take long before that area had been surrounded by shinobis of varying ranking.

Other shinobis, mostly those of Genin rank, that did work on the day of the festival, were busy guiding people away and trying to keep people from running other people over. So many were quite busy.

When Seresana arrived at the scene, she immediately wished she hadn't. The sight of people splitting open to reveal these abominations was more than enough to make the young girl's eyes go wide and her pupils shrink in shock of the sight. Grotesque fear slowly wormed it's way into her mind, and she took an involuntary step backwards, even at her considerable distance from these living nightmares. When one of the other higher ranking shinobi landed before her it barely even registered in her mind as she took yet another step back and her sandal caught on a stone causing the girl to stumble and fall back. Seresana's mouth opened, but nothing came out, as her gaze continued to remain locked on what limited view she had of the creatures that had burst forth from people and almost seemed to have taken part of their prior host with them. But then a sandal descended upon Seresana's outstretched hand, and even though it'd only been there for a second, it'd hurt severely all the same. On instinct, Seresana withdrew the limb, to cradle it while turning on her side as another sandal clad foot came down on her shoulder. When the third blow came in the form of something almost like a kick, Seresana's mind finally found itself pulled back to one of her missions, the one where she'd nearly been blown up and then repeatedly kicked and hit until she was about like she was now. That memory followed her mind back into the real world, and with it came the realization that not only could other people end up like this, but possibly worse. She had to do something about that.

Still the matter of getting up was going to be a slight issue, but with a bit of struggling, and maybe the help of one of the people she'd arrived with, Seresana would come to standing again, though there was a fairly obvious effort to not look in the direction of the nightmares. "Al-alright everyone, more powerful shinobi seem to be handling tha- that fight, but it's still a crowded area here," she paused for a moment to make sure she had her breath and to steel her nerves again. "And there's lots of people trying to flee," Seresana started as she turned her head about to look at the group she had with her and make sure they were all paying attention to her. "Sylvan, I'd like you to share at least one kunai with Rosie since Dust has her own. Then Sylvan, Dust, I want you both to help our fellow shinobi with the enemy. Mostly keep your eyes out for surprise attacks and ambushes against them. We don't know how strong or what all these things are capable of," she paused again as another shudder worked it's way through her body as the image of one of the freeing itself tried to find purchase in her mind. "And we don't want to get in the way of superiors, so try to keep your distance," Seresana hurriedly added at the end to just get past that bit of orders.

Then she would look over to Rosie and Jirou if he was close enough to hear her. "We'll be helping keep the civilians away from those... things," she said with another shudder. "And keep a careful eye out for anyone who falls, we really don't want anyone getting trampled or injured to where they... they couldn't.... escape," Seresana added with a couple nervous glances towards the fight. "C'mon Seresana, you're one of two genin in this group and the senior one, get a grip on yourself and quit shaking so much." "I'll try to summon some golems for you to stand on. That should help wi-" a sudden scream locked Seresana mid sentence but after a couple deep breaths, she was able to continue. "With being able to see and not get knocked down yourselves. Keep an eye on them though, they don't always behave."

"Fffinally, if anyone get's into trouble of..." Seresana had to pause for another moment as she mentally argued with herself about whether she'd actually be able to leap to their aid should one of the monsters come attacking them. Luckily, she won that argument. "Any kind, call out. I don't want any of you to get hurt and I will do all that I can to keep that from happening. Now let's help defend our villiage!" Seresana finished with a still slightly shakey, but fairly determined expression. Then Seresana went right into a series of handsigns that paused a couple times when pain erupted from moving her fingers into a particularly painful sign. "Earth Golem Summoning Jutsu," Seresana said though grit teeth from using the injured hand as she slammed it to the ground only for a tall humanoid like being made of earth to be standing before her. Seresana however didn't let up and performed the jutsu a second time with much the same result and expressions of pain. She regarded each golem and gave each individually the very simple instructions of stand in a designated spot, with arms held outward and do nothing more until new instructions arrive. As the two golems began to move to their spots and so to hopefully did her friends so they weren't looking directly at her, Seresana performed another series of handsigns with her one uninjured hand instead of both. "Levitation jutsu," she said before a sharp gust picked up and Seresana rose up off the ground until she was hovering at about the second story floor level of an average building. From this aerial vantage, Seresana began looking up and down the street since she could finally see over the throng of bodies and taller people's heads, searching for additional signs of trouble as well as being unimpaired by the crowd should a call for help reach her ears while panting with the effort of using the three jutsu after being stepped on.

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Jirou's eyes threatened to jump out of their sockets as he arrived at the scene early, being disgusted to the core by the abominations that crawled out of the corpses of those that once called themselves men. "N-n-nanda kore wa!?" He stuttered as he felt panic rising within his own chest, sympathising with the fleeing civilians and how they were hurrying away from the fight, but that stopped as he noticed how it was every man for himself. Those who fell were trampled until shinobi came in to help, some having shattered limbs. This made him feel angry at those who would save themselves at the cost of the potential lives of others.

He then heard Seresana catching up, along with everyone else, and listened to their plan. Using golems to provide extra vision was a sound thing to do. Once one of them got close to him and he got on top of it, he differed from the plan however.
Ram. Snake. Tiger.
"Ninpou. Bunshin no Jutsu!" He said, disappearing in a poof of smoke and reappearing with a clone at his side. The clone and real one nodded to eachother and then quickly began to scan the area for civilians in need of help. Spotting one, Jirou jumped off the golem and began to dart off in the direction where the man was in need of assistance, one of his legs being twisted and being in obvious pain. While the real one was off rescuing people, the clone searched for others in need, making motions with it's and looking outright silly until it got one of his friend's attention, then it would point in the direction of the person in need, while also motioning for the citizens below to get out of here. Once Jirou was done helping the man with the twisted leg, having gotten the man to a place where being trampled was far less likely, he told him to ask someone to bring a medical nin to help him out with his leg. He then got back, only to be motioned and waved at by his clone to help another in need.

Word Count: 354 | 1351

Rosie sticks behind Serasena as they approach the area from which the screams came from, waiting several moments for Sera to answer her question about whether Rosie charging into close quarters for taijutsu sounded like a good idea. When more moments went by and they continued to quickly approach the tent, wading through the torrent of swirling bodies teetering on mindless madness from fear, she gathers her breath and voice to repeat the question, this time louder, and get closer so her diminutive friend could hear her clearly. "Sera! Does it sound good for me to...?"
It was approximately at this point in her joruney that she arrived at the tent, just a moment behind Sera, and was greeted by the sight of the strange and terrible man-sized spider-centipedes pulling themselves free of their fleshy cocoons that had previously been ordinary people.

Time stopped.

It hadn't really stopped or even slowed down, but the rush of thoughts and spike of adrenaline made it seem as if everything was happening slowly: Jirou reacting, Sera freezing with terror at the horrifying sight... and her personal hallucination throwing up an imaginary arm to block Rosie's way.
"Monsters."
"Monsters pulling themselves free of the torn pieces of the bodies they used to be in."
"How do we know?"
"We can see the pieces, the emaciated shreds of flesh on the ground, the resemblance to pieces of the people's bodies in the monsters'."
"We know nothing of this."
"We know of it, but the incubation period is long, the signs impossible to miss."
"And they don't do it to humans."
Too small."
"And humans too large. A similarity?"
"Yes. Inspired a jutsu?"
"No other explanation."
"Couldn't have been an active jutsu, cast directly in front of anyone."
"ANBU would have noticed."
"Something subtle."
"Poison?"
"Far more than poison, but like it."
"Unknown jutsu."
"Twisting the jutsu of the clan with insect symbiotes."
"Combination of that with other things."
"Far beyond anything a student can do."
"Far beyond anything even a jonin could be doing."
There was a mental pause.
"ANBU will settle the debt."
"Best to let them."
"Meanwhile, these are beyond any of us here."
"Perhaps even the chunin."
"Perhaps. But beyond all possible gifts of a student."
"Tricking them will do no good."
"The optimal weapon is not perfect yet."
"Student taijutsu cannot work here."
"There is nothing to do but help the helpless."
"And listen to Sera."

"Sera!" Rosie came out of her several-second stupor to see that Sersena had fallen to the ground and was being kicked and stepped on by the panicking crowd, but seemed to still be stunned by the sight of the monsters before them. In the next instant, the smaller girl had come back to herself and was struggling to her feet, still being hit and stepped on, the crowd still trying to escape in every direction at once and getting in each other's way, starting to push Rosie back and away from her friend in distress.
"She's... she's being trampled...!"
"No, but the crowd has turned into a stampeding herd. Words will not touch them. She might get hurt."
"But..."
"Rosie." Kitty was suddenly at her side, touching her, the touch even feeling tangible for a moment. "They need help. Sera is a jonin, and has done at least one mission; she can make sure help is given. To help them, you must help Sera. To help Sera, you must inflict small pain to stop larger pain. You know this."
Outwardly, Rosie's face becomes blank to all that's around her, even the horrors in the tent in front of her, and she spreads her legs very slightly and locks her knees, squatting a little to make her all the more stable  against the pressure of the crowd. She takes a deep breath and lets it out, forcing herself to be calm and focus on the moment and the techniques she had practiced every morning and in the weekend in the forest. She raises her hands with her palms facing the milling crowds, moves her arms out until the crowd just barely brushes against the outward-facing palms, and in that moment shoves hard. The force is concentrated into the thrust of her arms and yet the impact is diluted by spread hands so as to inflict only a little pain, but far, far more than the panicked shoving and milling that the crowd was doing, sending the ones nearest her stumbling away with enough force to crash into the wall and actually make an impact, opening the way to Sera just as an unwary foot kicked the struggling girl again. Rosie steps forward to nearly stand at Sera's shoulders and with another shove, pushes people back enough that she can stoop and lift Sera back to vertical.
Rosie then takes up position just behind Sea and to her left, watching the crowd for signs of anyone else approaching that might knock the girl over again, while listening carefully to what the genin instructs. When Sera is done and pushes forward to start working her jutsu, Rosie turns her attention aside to Sylvan and looks at her expectantly, extending a hand to the other shinobi to wait for a kunai to be put into her. When it is, she gives Sylvan a curt nod of thanks and a brief flash of a small smile before tucking the weapon into a sash and looking next to Jirou.
"I will watch left to help people," she tells him at the top of her lungs, trying to make sure he can definately hear her before she takes action to do just that. Even in her moment of determination to obey Sera's instructions and do as she's told, she can't help but pause and watch as Sera summons two constructs of earth to help direct the crowd away from the area as safely as possible.
"Such power..."
"She is a genin, you know. There's a damn good reason for it."
"I quite agree." Kitty smiles sightly at Rosie as she steps from the ground to the top of the food tent, now perched on cloth that most certainly can't hold the weight of someone of her size and measurements, and yet does. "Shinobi training can lead to many abilities, some considered unnatural."
"Now you're just being creepy."
"It's a gift, what can I say? But seriously, you have an exampler."
"Quite." Rosie blinks and shakes herself free of her astonishment, and then movies to a side and forward, staying out of the way of more senior shinobi and yet putting herself within reach of anyone who might accidentally stumble into the fight with the monsters or conversely, placing herself in the direct path the monsters might take to bull-rush their attackers and go after softer prey. She places herself in the same highly stable taijutsu stance she'd held when she shoved the crowd clear of Sera, making a barrier of herself to the crowd even as she begins to go through her mental exercises to gently gather her chakra in case battle needed to be joined to protect the village.
"I still think this is beyond us."
"It doesn't matter. This is something that must be done, even it it cannot be done, especially if it's impossible to do."
Kitty looks down from her perch at Rosie steadily for several moments. "The ultimate end in Budo is that the shinobi strikes always with purpose."
Rosie takes in a breath and swallows. "Taking into herself the pain she will inflict, to reach for that greater perfection in herself."
"And in protecting her own, she is enlarged and extends that perfection to that simple duty that is the only purpose for which there is shinobi." Kitty smiles. "Protect."
Rosie lets out the breath she was holding and hardens her expression, turning her face first towards the fleeing crowd and then back to the monsters in the tent. "Protect."

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Dust herself was nearly hurt as well. She wasn't as small as Sena, but the onrushing crowd kept bumping into her and other short people anyway, threatening to knock her to the ground. She was too focused to feel fear at this point. Dust wrapped up her kunai, stowing them back in her pockets now. She didn't want to accidentally injure anybody with them. She didn't know any jutsu, but she knew full well how to use kunai quite well. She really liked the throwing knives for some reason. They were very accurate if used correctly.

As people bumped into her, she shouldered her way through the crowd. She saw someone on the ground, suffering being stepped on and being kicked already. She didn't observe enough details to figure out what they looked like; she just knew that there was somebody on the ground. Bending down, Dust quickly pulled the person to their feet. They said something she couldn't hear before hurrying off carefully. Dust repeated the same process multiple times, not really pausing to consider the gravity of the situation.

Dust observed, however, that the crowd would eventually grow thinner, at least in this location as people cleared out. She had to wait for that to happen before she could use her kunai. She couldn't risk a civilian being hit by one. She kept going through the crowd, trying to make her way towards the epicenter of this situation. At the very least, if someone was injured enough so that they were unable to walk or were unconscious, she could get them out of there when the crowd thinned. She didn't care about being a hero or saving the day or even where these things came from. She had something to do, and she was damned if she wasn't going to do it.

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The night was, and heavy emphasis on was, going to well for Kisayuri, that is until the screaming began and the high alert that was placed onto the shinobi's in the area. It would be best for her to leave the area, there really wasn't much she could do, right? She wasn't even a full-fledged shinobi, let alone being in a capable outfit that she could comfortably move around it. Part of her grumbled a little as she looked down to how the outfit was tied and she couldn't exactly adjust it in a manner that wouldn't undo it completely. Well she had enough movement at least she could move quickly if she needed to, but that was the least of her concern. The reason why all these people were running and screaming is the biggest concern to her. While she didn't exactly have a fondness for humans, there are still a curiosity about them that made her wonder about it.

Was someone attacking? It couldn't exactly be something small to cause this amount of terror. So Kisayuri moved closer to the scene, though she did keep a good far distance. From what she could see through the shinobi's that made a perimeter, her eyes fell upon these strange creatures. Her brow furrowed together as something about them didn't sit well with her. Fear wasn't the thing that entered her, it was confusion, and partially a little anger. To her they appeared like overgrown insects, but there was something different about them entirely and she couldn't quite well place it. Rather it wasn't until she spoted the final man turning on the spot that the fear suddenly hit her like a truck.

Her eyes widening in horror as she took a couple steps back and quickly she covered her mouth with a small gasp escaping her. This was to prevent herself from screaming. Can human's do that?! N-no, they can't! Can they?! H-how is this possible?! Her thoughts ran through her mind as she wasn't sure at all what to make of this. She began to look around, almost in a paranoid fashion as if any other human around her would turn at any second. Though what next grabbed her attention were the large golems that had appeared through the jutsu of another young shinobi. It seemed like her and a group of others were assisting. Kisayuri would take more step's back before she backed up into a pole. Once bumping into the pole, she slide down along it until she fell onto her butt and stared at the monsters with her hands still covering her mouth.

GM POST

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The Jounin that had been closest to Seresana had taken notice of the golem's that she had summoned. This jounin, who was not a inuzuka clan member would turn to look back at Seresana and then her group of friends. The golem's appearance did scare many of the civilian's, but they were already running in terror, so that didn't matter as much. It just meant they also had to run from the golem's as well now. The jounin, would then grab Seresana by the leg when she attempting to levitate higher and brought her back down. "Do not make yourself a target." he told her sternly. "Keep to the ground and continue to guide the civilian's to safety and you guys move far away." He held a point, putting yourself high in the air was an easy way of making yourself a target, especially when you are the only one who would be in the air. After he put her on the ground he had released her. "Now get moving."

It wasn't long before that area around the tent was clear of civilian's and the only one's left in the area were shinobi. The one's that were the first to surround the area were members of the inuzuka clan, there was a total of six pairs of them, Inuzuka member and their pet, making a large semi circle perimeter around the tent. The semi-circle was large enough that if a fight broke out, there was room for them to move within it. The three monsters had left the small tent and were now within the semi-circle looking in different direction's. Squelching noises unleashed from what looked to be their maws, and the sound of what could be akin to metal scraping against metal could be heard as well as the mandible's very quickly moved. Then the series of smaller spider like legs would wriggle, the one's at least that weren't touching the ground.

There was a short stand-off between the creatures and the inuzuka clan member's that surrounded them. Many didn't know exactly what to do, did taijutsu and ninken even work on these creatures? Though they all held some sort of fear of the creatures transformation, they had more than enough experience to prevent themselves from freaking out entirely.

But if it was one thing the Inuzuka clan were confident in was their speed. Each in succession would would perform their clan's technique, Shikyaku no jutsu, the four leg's technique. One by one they would all drop down onto all fours, those with a good view and keen senses would be able to take notice that the Inuzuka clan members did change someone, their teeth turned to fangs, their nails turned to claws, toenail included and they seemed to have a more feral appearance, and each one began to growl and look rather mean, like an angry dog.

If Seresana had been on the ground, there would be absolutely no doubt that she would have jumped higher than she was currently floating when the jounin grabbed her. She was already on edge from the horrific sight of the bugs and to have someone grab onto her as she was beginning to float upwards was just about enough to set her the screaming panic stage. In fact, if it wasn't for her own hand that clamped over her mouth, the scream she did let out would have been much worse, but as it was, the scream just came out a muffled and fairly quiet sound when compared to the ambient noise around them all. Still, it was with wide, terror filled eyes that looked to the jounin and tried to listen to what he said while her senses tried to come back to her, and her brain tried to relax just enough to where she wasn't just freaking out.

Seresana nodded to him as he made his points and that gave her something else to focus on besides the horrifying bugs. As something of a coping mechanism, she tried focusing on the first bit of what he'd said. "Don't make yourself a target," that much was in the basics and now that she was thinking about it, Seresana almost cringed at how she'd come to breaking that rule. As he went on, Seresana lowered herself back to the ground and dismissed the levitation jutsu early. Whoever this jounin was, he was a god-send for the little girl right then, giving her those orders and taking her focus just a little bit more off the bugs. "R-right, yes sir," Seresana responded with a hesitant snap to attention before turning about to look where her friends had positioned themselves.

First she called out to Sylvan and Dust, making sure she had their attention before relaying the new orders. "Hey, we're pulling back with the crowd, keep them safe and help any who get injured, but we're not in this fight," she said before turning back towards her golems and getting them to follow the crowd a short ways behind them. She'd relay the instructions to Rosie and Jirou as well while the tactical retreat was in effect, and then finally resume her own part in trying to help any who fell or got injured away from the nightmarish scene. As the golems got a short ways away from the actual fight, Seresana took another look at them and decided that their service as a physical barrier between the now mostly fled crowd and the fight was then outweighed by the fear and additional panic they were causing, so she dismissed them both. Then her eyes fell on a slightly familiar, panic stricken face sitting next to a pole.

"H-hey it's you, from the lake right?" Seresana started but she knew where the girl's eyes were facing. So she moved to where her body was directly blocking Kisayuri's sight of the fight. "C'mon, we need to go and let the jounin and other ninja handle this," she added while reaching out a hand to help Kisayuri up.

Word Count: 526
Total: 6,154

Jirou was just about finished with helping some of the last people that were near him when he saw his clone wave to him and motion towards Seresana who was up in the air and the jounin that was with him. Once he managed to get close to them he and Rosie were up in being given instructions, which he nodded to and dismissed his clone as it's task was done for now. He then moved to where the clone and the golem had been and climbed up to a terrace where he could keep an eye on the few remaining people still fleeing, while also allowing him to keep an eye on the weird spider creatures just in case they would try and target him. He was also keeping an eye out for his father, in case he was in there, fighting these creatures. He didn't see Hideo.

Word Count: 149 | 1500

Rosie's entire focus remained on the insects as they shambled their way out of the tent, drawing in a deep breath and letting it slip slowly out of her as she picked the insect nearest her to be the first one smashed, eyes locking on where to strike it to disable: the side of the mandibles, the eyes, the trachea, and anywhere along the trunk that brought air from the mouth to the rest of the body.
"Um, Rose?"
"Don't break my focus, please."
"This is sort of important."
"Not more than..."
"As in, critically important."
Rosie sighs. "Fine, what?"
"You're not fighting humans, you silly goose." Kitty smirks. "Also..." She clears her throat and says in a monotone and somewhat flattened voice. "Allied reinforcements have arrived from the north."
Rose loses her stance and focus slightly as her eyes go up to look at the kitsune. "...what?"
It was about this point that the Inzuka Clan members pushed passed her and very likely firmly move her out of the way and back behind them as they got set to confront the insects. Rose looks momentarily surprised at this before her eyes return to a smug-looking kitsune sitting on top of the tent. "And you couldn't have just told me that jounin were arriving to take over?"
"That's what I said," Kitty replies cheerfully as she steps off the tent, uses the head of one of the bugs as a springboard, and lands weightlessly on top of the head of one of the Inzuku jounin.
"You said north."
"North, east, north by northwest, point is that you were getting reinforced by most powerful and experienced shinobi." Kitty casually steps down from the clan member she's standing on as they drop to all fours as part of their clan bloodline technique. "Speaking of experience, you really need to learn how to do that. You'd make an awesome kitsune."
"I think it's just a bit outside my abilities," Rosie retorts dryly, and audibly, as she turns away to look for Serasena.
"Excuses, excuses, and hey look walking salad."
Rosie turns sharply towards Kitty. "KITTY!"
"Hey, she looks like a plant. It's cute. I'm hungry, and a good salad seems like just the thing. Ktity tapped her chin in an exaggerated pose of thoughtfulness. Do you suppose she'd object if I had a taste?"
"To anyone but me, you don't even exist," Rosie points out dryly. "I'm pretty sure she couldn't care less, because she couldn't tell that you'd done anything."
"Outstanding." Kitty grins toothily as Rosie comes within sight of Kisayuri with Sera extending a hand to the plant-looking girl and trying to separate her from the scary sight of the insects and the shinobi preparing to fight them. "I've always wanted to try vegetarian."
"You're lucky that I've become immune to your perversity," Rosie informs her before she steps up to stand beside Sera. "Hello Serasena, hello vegetation-looking young lady whom I've not been introduced to yet." She gives Kisayuri her best smile, which is oddly shy-looking for her otherwise hard face and eyes. "Sera, you're the highest-ranked among us... what would you like me to do?"

{Word Count: 565 | 6760}

Dust shot a withering glare towards Sena. She could handle herself. Why should some-- forget it. New situations always did this to her. Fine, help the civilians. You know what would help the civilians? Killing those fucking demons. Oh well. People always want to be inefficient. She backpedaled towards the retreating crowd only to nearly trip over a fallen person. She tried to help them to their feet. They took a few steps, not saying anything, only to fall again.

This had better not be one of the damn bugs. Dust was momentarily distracted by the redhead yelling "KITTY!" and staring off into space. "Why the fuck..." she muttered. Dust sighed as she didn't help the person to their feet again, and just started to drag them out of the dangerous area. They didn't seem to mind.

Word count: 136, total 1422

Yuki Vales ♂ ►Status: Academy Student [Konoha] ►Stamina: 100 ►Chakra: 100 ►S.Chakra: 50 ►Attributes: Att:3 | Str:1 | Tou:1 | Agi:1 | Spd:4 ►Word: 709

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Yusuri had disappeared for a long moment unable to react to her surroundings. She had lost herself in her mind as the crowd slowly shifted like waking flames, and when screaming villagers passed by her she was deaf to the sound, but the world's night sky was filled with vibrant colors from kimonos and yukata as people were shuffled away from the chaotic scene in the crowd. As she returned to the blank reality she lived in she shifted her weight into the opposite direction of the crown and began to swivel and twirl through the hysteric people, looking for people she could distinguish. Vales was the first, followed by Seresana and posy of others she had been with earlier. She noticed Dust dragging someone out of the crowd, and a group of Inuzuka surrounding more than likely what caused the problem. Twisting around one last person she dashed towards Seresana and skid to a halt, pulling out her twin wooden pata. Wordlessly understanding the withdraw she began to move with the group, though her sudden appearance and readied combat stance seemed almost like a delayed reaction. She was uneasy with this, crowds didn't go into hysterics for nothing.

Iku had been at the unusual tent, observing it quite intently, before any of the commotion had undergone. She was feeling the fabric, staring at it, unusual markings, colorfully mysterious stripes. This tent seemingly came from places currently unknown to her, she wanted to study it for much much longer than she was going to get, unfortunately. The young Uchiha girl had spotted the movements of the ANBU earlier; they moved quickly, but even the Sharingan wasn't so easily fooled during night time, with shinobi wearing dark clothes. The ANBU's movements had been somewhat intriguing, but to Iku it made sense. This festival needed protection. So it was only natural that the ANBU would be around, on the job. She had been interested in following more of their movements, effectively spying on them, but even for her, and her Sharingan, that was too much too soon. It wouldn't be until later in her Shinobi career she could easily keep up with Jonin level ninja.

So she had quieted herself, by the unusual tent, from whereabouts unknown when a scream shook her ears. People who some of which she recognized darted out of the tent, quickly, ready for action. Her eyes spotted the intricacies just within the loosened flaps, Sharingan allowing her eyes more range, mesmerized by the precious, mysterious valuables inside. Frustration gripped the Uchiha girl. She wanted more time to study such oddities, but the screams of dread -and screams that followed, of panic, called for attention. Even if they weren't calling for her, her sense of duty made her respond. Or rather, sense of curiosity.

So instead of entering the odd tent, she took off after the others, towards the screams that were now harshly assaulting her ears. Iku arrived at the scene not long after everyone else did, who took the screams as a calling. She stood there, staring intently as the men sprouted legs like spiders, and centipede like bodies. These monstrosities onto this earthly plane frightened most, but instead, they intrigued the young Uchiha girl. She stared at them impressed. She shifted her Sharingan on, wanting to study, and know as much as possible from these things before her.

Was this a jutsu? It had to be right? If so, then who cast it? That was what interested her the most. The person with this power. She scanned the violent ocean-like crowd, searching for anyone who could be matched to such design. Who? Who could preform such heinous jutsu. Iku was not asking herself why. She did not care the reason. She just wanted to know how.

words: 429

ooc: Merry Christmas!

The weapons display was amazing like always! He could see the men and women twirling their weapons with grace and amazing perception. He clapped for the show when they finally finished. Obviously, his sisters were entertained at the sight though not to the awestruck level that he was in. Pallas patted her elder brother's head and he simply responded. "Yeah, we can go see the fun stuff." He said while moving outside of the crowd. They traveled out of the small crowd without much trouble and were making good time over to the game booths. The only issue at the time were just the lines. After a short while of waiting, Nathan's shoulders started to ache as his the little girl finally began to weigh down in him, having him place Pallas down on the ground beside him. Athena had kept silent for all of it and her gaze shifted over to the rooftops every so often to look for the blurs she had seen earlier, but didn't catch sight of anything. Nathan noticed her gaze and it soon shifted further above, having mistaken her gaze directed the rooftops to be aimed at the night sky instead.

"Yeah, the stars look pretty tonight don't they?"

The small outburst caught the young Uchiha by surprise and her attention quickly shifted up to the stars that hung just above them. "They do." She said simply as her gaze shifted over them for a few seconds longer before refocusing her gaze onto the nearby rooftops.

Things quieted between them for a moment and the line continued for much longer than he expected to have between his two sisters, especially from Pallas. His head glanced down at where she should be to only see an empty space instead. His heart rate increased as he quickly looked over the festival in order to find her. He quickly tapped Athena's shoulder to get her attention.

"Did you see where Pallas went?"
"No, why?"
"Crap."
"What happened Nathan?"
Nathan gulped as he came to the realization of what happened. "She wandered off"

Athena was about to complain before her brother tugged on her arm to begin the search, making the people behind them happy. It took about ten minutes to fully figure out what happened and where Pallas had gone. She had followed the "puppies" and due to her small size combined with the largeness of the crowd meant it was hard for anyone to notice her or were too busy enjoying themselves to care. Then, the scream that signaled the horror that had been brought to the festival. The crowds were rushing away from the tents and unfortunately, that was where Pallas had gone. Luckily, they young girl had enough sense to stay away and was lucky enough for her elder siblings to find her before she could be trampled by the crowd.

He hugged Pallas quickly before letting her climb onto his back so that they could find their parents. Then, Athena caught sight of the monstrosities and stopping her dead in her tracks. Nathan took a quick glance and his urge to run intensified and took ahold of Athena's wrist before running away from the monsters. The shiniboi had things covered and if they didn't, then it would be best not to be around them when they lost. Right now, they needed to find their parents and get out of the festival.

His gaze shifted wildly, hoping to spot his family and with nothing helping him inside of the clustered ground of fleeing civilians. He caught sight of a few familiar faces though he wasn't even sure that they who he thought they were. If he had stopped to do a double take, he might have been able to figure out who he actually saw, but he wasn't wasting a second for something like that. Anyone that was running would be okay.
((648))

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Word count: 102 | 2703
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"Don't touch me! Keep your filthy hands away from me!" She moved back away from Serasana, but halted by the pole behind her, she quickly would get back up and move behind the pole to keep distance and something between her and Serasana. Her eyes shot around looking at the different people around her, that were within vision, and she kept moving away so that she wouldn't get to close. "You abysmal freaks of nature. Mother should get rid of you all!" Kisayuri would turn and run away from everyone there. Trying to put a lot of distance between herself and others.

GM POST

Word count: 677 | 3918

The face off between the Inuzuka and the inhumane beasts didn't last to long. After the Inuzuka had prepared themselves, them all parted into different directions. surrounding the inhumane beasts in a large circle. The creatures would make squishy clicking noises. They would reposition themselves so they were 'back-to-back' from each other facing out to some of the inuzuka.

The Inuzuka's made the first move, and they charged in. One after the other, each Inuzuka, headed in. "Tsuga!" they uttered under their breath in a growl as they blasted foreword at much greater speeds and began to spin in the direction they were moving at such a velocity they appeared to look like a spinning formless drill with a life of it's own.

Firing towards the creatures, they passed by them landed. They appeared to have torn through the creatures as the creatures were torn asunder by the Inuzuka's abilities. It appeared to have ended fairly quickly and all seemed well. That is until two of the inuzuka's began convulsing.

The others who seemed fine looked to the two convulsing Inuzuka's and attempted to try and help, but as they ran towards their brethren, the two conculving inuzuka's transformed, much like the three men and they formed, not into centipede like creatures, but this one turned them into grotesque looking inside-out wolf like creatures. Though they appeared are more mutated as their heads seemed to be formed mostly of teeth and when it opened it split in four directions with three tongues whipping out.

This certainly caused an the other Inuzuka's to be afraid and moved away from them. This posed a problem as they didn't know exactly what caused this second group of transformation. Most of the members touched the creatures, but why didn't they all transform, but these two did?

"Take them down!" shouted one of the Inuzuka, who seemed to be the lead of the group.

"But sir! What if we turn like they did?"

He growled and looked to the other member and sucked his teeth. "Tch, fine them, resort to the long range cavalry. Call for the Aburame clan."

"Sir!" the subordinate stated in a 'yes, sir' kind of way as he placed a hand to his ear and began to speak.

Though while this happened the two wolf-like creatures began to assault the other Inuzuka members, who didn't want to attack them, but in the midst of them trying to defend themselves, two more got bitten and shortly afterwards, those two began to convulse and change into two more wolf like mutant creatures.

Time shortly passed as this battle happened over the span of a few minutes and it only seemed to have gotten worse, but it didn't take long before more shinobi's arrived. These shinobi clad in heavy robes, and wore different style of shades of their eyes. A squadron of Aburame had arrived onto the scene and quickly acted upon their arrive, a mass of blackness shot out from the sleeves from one of the members arms and it shot out to cover all four of the wolves.

consuming them quickly, the wolves tried to fight back but were powerless against this mass of black kikaichu that devours them rather quickly.

They dropped nothing more than husk's onto the group, their muscle dried to the point that it could possibly be considered jerky.

Shortly afterwards the black mass began to attempt to make it's way back to it's host, but before arriving to it's host a large bubble trapped them inside.

A new voice echoed. "Don't let them back inside you, if you know what's good for you."

The aburame seemed confused and on guard. Though from behind the group appeared a blue robed man, the very same one who stood by the Hokage's side; Shura.

"What do you mean?" spoke the Aburame who has his bugs trapped in a bubble.

"This is the work of a mad-man, he's released a virus, and currently your bugs are carriers. You wouldn't want to turn into what happened to them....now do you?"

Seresana recoiled at the unexpected reaction of the mysterious pale girl, her hand retracting as if it'd been slapped and her face adopting a similar hurt expression. The following things Kisayuri said added confusion to the mix for Seresana as well, leaving her rather stupefied as Kisayuri turned and began to run away. Seresana was about to give chase after them until new sounds from behind her reached her ears and drew her ever curious eyes that direction. By whatever small amount of luck, good fortune, or fate, Seresana had been spared the scaring sight of their actual transformation, but the visage of the horribly mutated dog like monsters that had once been leaf ninja was burned right into the back of her mind. All the confusion and uncertainty surrounding Kisayuri was quickly overwritten, as fear and horror flooded her young mind.

Acting on fear driven impulse rather than though, Seresana's hands came together and began to make a new series of signs, one that would be new to any who were able to tear their eyes away from the monstrosities that were beginning their attack. When Seresana finished her handsigns the water from a nearby game booth began to freeze over, and pinpoints began to form up across that sheet. As the ice continued to spread, the points grew upwards and started taking on the shape of needles. Before the jutsu was complete however, the Aburame's showed up, knocking Seresana out of her panic driven state and forcing her jutsu to cancel. The young girl however didn't even seem to notice the ice that had formed, or it's rather quick return to water with a splash. Seresana however once more clenched her eyes shut and turned away as the Aburame dispatched the most recent abominations. When Seresana opened them again, she recalled the pale girl and how fearful she'd been. "Rosie, I- I'm going to go, a-and make sure she's... okay," Seresana said with barely restrained fear in her voice. Though she wasn't even sure if Rosie was still around her, Seresana's attention had been so focused on the monsters that a lot of her other surroundings had more or less fallen into the background. With that said though, Seresana started off in the direction Kisayuri had fled, walking at first but going into a run if nothing stopped her shortly after. As such, she'd missed Shura's sudden appearance and following explanation on why such horror had happened.

Word Count: 408
Total: 6,562

Rosie blinks at the strangely extreme reaction of Kisayuri to the manifestly harmless and rather sweet-looking Serasena trying to help her, and the panicked reaction to the rest of them rallying around the fairly newly-minted jonin. "Um, ought someone to go after her and stop her from getting herself hurt in the midst of her hysterics?"
"At least it was a fairly entertaining sight," Kitty comments from her seat on top of the pole that Kisayuri had backed into. "The walking salad snapped like a twig and is probably going to end up as a lettuce wrap shortly."
Rosie tilts her head up and stares at Kitty, utterly aghast. "Is there no end to your insensitivity? The poor thing was..."
"Terrified beyond reason?" Kitty filled in, her expression suddenly extremely serious. "Hysterical beyond function? So fragile that she broke immediately at a source of reasonable fear, and passed directly into unreasoning panic? Fled from allies in the midst of this unreasoning fear of a manifestly contained threat? Perhaps it would be more fair to say that she's the perfect manifestation of the kind of 'ally' that bears closer watching than an enemy, lest she be more an enemy to you without intention than enemies that mean to be? There is learning in everything, Rose, and especially what we just watched happen."
Rosie shakes her head and looks away from Kitty, just in time to see the Aburame arrive to take down the mutated dog creatures that she could have sworn weren't there moments ago, somehow replacing the nightmarish insects that had ripped their way free of their fleshy coverings at first and had initiated the panic that they'd arrived to try to stem. Her eyes narrowed and her brows furrowed as she watched the Aburame take position and unleash their own insects. "What... happened? What happened to the horrors that were there but moments ago?"
"I was watching Tossed Salad run in mindless panic," Kitty says. "But offhand, given that Most Adorable Jonin is descending into her own terror right at this moment, I'd say that whatever did that to the men will do the same thing to shinobi that touch it."
"...you mean?"
"The most likely explanation is that the wolves are what happens when the plague touches a shinobi with the jutsu of the Inzuka Clan."
Rosie is so surprised by what is meant to be the representative of her emotions and feelings being calmly logical and applying reasoning that she quite nearly misses Kitty mentioning Serasena beginning to panic, and she turns as the other girl speaks in a shaky and fearful voice. "I was going to ask you if... wait! Wait Sera! We're supposed to..." But Sera is already slipping into the crowd and going after Kisayuri and Rosie frowns.
"Go after her."
"What?"
"Go after her, Rose," Kitty says. "I think that the situation is well in hand. Glance back; we caught the arrival of an unfamiliar figure that the Aburame are listening to. I think it must be someone in authority, who means to make order out of this. So go see to your friend and that panicked idiot of a leafhead."
Rosie glances back to see that Shura is telling the Aburame something but over the hubbub and the movement of bodies between her and the scene of the battle, she can't hear what. She notes that a bubble of chakra has formed to prevent the swarms of insects from rejoining their bonded masters before she turns away from it. "I know I have no rank or authority to tell any of you to do anything, but please stay here and help the more experienced shinobi. Do as they say; they know what'll be best to do," she says to those nearest her as loudly as it takes for them to hear her clearly. "I need to go after Serasena and make sure she's kept out of danger while she chases... whoever the plant girl is."
With that, she heads off through the crowd, the invisible mental figment of Kitty leaping gracefully ahead of her as she wades through the panic, trying to catch up to Sera, using her fairly unusual stature to try to gain an advantage in her running search.

{Word Count: 709 | 7469}

Jirou was starting to get worried if any ninjas were going to arrive when he let out an audible sigh of relief at the sight of the Inuzuka clan's members arriving with their furry companions. The devastation they left in their wake left Jirou awed at the Tsuga technique that they used. It started to look like that the threat was over and dealt with. As he was getting ready to hop back down however, he heard some of the Inuzuka members hurrying over to their fellow clan-mates, before said mates turned into even more horrifying monstrosities. As this was happening, he didn't pay much attention to Rosemarius and the flower girl, nor their departure.
The Inuzuka monsters had then attacked their former friends and family, soon having more wolf-like creatures in their ranks.

However, the Aburame clan had arrived. Their bugs were, it is told, able to leave a fresh corpse nothing more than a skeleton in less than half a minute. The tales were given a lot of credibility as they showed firsthand how it worked, their small black bugs swarming over the beasts and leaving them nothing more than husks. But as the bugs were retracting, he recoiled at the bubble that appeared around some of them. Shura's subsequent conversation made Jirou wonder. He was no medical-nin by any means, but it still begged the question.
"Gomenasai, but wouldn't a virus work differently than this? A parasite being responsible for this, I could understand, but this? It makes no sense!" He exclaimed. He then realized that his friends were missing. But having said what he had, he had to stay and at least hear an explanation of any sort. He also needed to stay in case the ninjas were called elsewhere and Jirou would have to help clean up if needed.

Word Count: 301 | 1801