Festival of Blood [Ended!]

Subject: Re: Festival of Blood [Ended!] Sat Feb 06, 2016 10:07 am

Dust was too busy dragging the person in shock to witness the transformation, but didn't miss what they looked like afterwards after she dragged the person twenty to twenty five yards or so. "You know what?" Dust muttered to herself. "Fuck it... We need to get out of here and let whoever is foolish enough to try to beat these things do it herself." After putting the person she was dragging fully on her feet, she gave them a little shove in the opposite direction. Luckily for her, they were not far enough into shock to know when to run away.

Dust started running for the festival's exits to hopefully coordinate people out of there, as those were sure to be bottlenecks in and of themselves. The streets were narrow at times with all the tents and stalls. She did not want to look for the others she had seen earlier. Naturally, they were stronger than her and probably did not need whatever help she could provide.

Word count: 166, total 1588

Posts : 159 Join date : 2014-11-25 Age : 24

Yusuri seeing the situation was for a moment frozen by the monster's appearances. The Inuzuka's quick dispersal of the threat and fast becoming of the threat. The Aburame's sudden appearance was at first met with strong confusion, but on sight of the insects the young deafened girl understood who it was. This was the first time she had seen them, and it was... an odd sight to put it at the very least. But the presence of these powerful people brought her to putting up her weapon, Even though the party of people she had joined was slowly disbanding and separating. Watching as the bugs were encased in a bubble? Yusuri shuffled a bit to the side towards the only other people left near her, though she was not sure as to were exactly they were in the direction she moved except the direction.

Admin Posts : 509 Join date : 2014-11-13 Age : 33

Festival of Blood [Ended!] - Page 4 Ecccde7e692a958ab03312e558bba1faf41

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Kisayuri ran as quickly as her kimono allowed for her to move, which it wasn't too much of a stride, but that was fine. She was still quicker than most of the regular citizen's even with the limited stride, but that simply just meant she'd get tired a bit quicker given that she would have to put in more effort to move the greater distance. She headed down the main stretch of road that most of the citizen's had ran down. Making it down about two full city blocks before she slowed down to a halt and took a corner into a alleyway to hide and catch her breath.

Admin Posts : 509 Join date : 2014-11-13 Age : 33

GM POST

Word count: 322 | 4240

The aburame had no response and just looked back to this bugs that were trapped within the bubble. He didn't appear to be bothered, but deep down he was, the way the aburame dressed did a fantastic job in keeping their appearance stoic and emotionless. One couldn't really tell what an aburame were thinking due to the high collars usually covering their mouths, and the dark shades they always wore.

Shura would move closer to the edge of the building and glanced down to see all the others. "If you come across any of these abominations, do not engage in close quarters combat. Eliminate with long range and eradicate completely. There is to be absolutely nothing left behind of the corpses." He announced to all the shinobi within hearing range, though his voice seemed to carry really well.

He made a quick motion with his hand and the bubble suddenly turned red and the bugs inside began moving around erratically and then caught flames and the bubble now became this floating ball of fire. It didn't take long before the bugs were burns to nothing but ashes, but even after they were turned to ash, the bubble didn't release, but it did change back to it's original blue color.

Two dogs came running through, rather large dogs. They were instantly recognized by the Inuzuka and were quickly made to stop. The sounds of them barking could be heard as the Inuzuka who stopped them conversed with them.

Shura looked to the corpses. He lifted a hand to the side of his helmet and touched it. "We need a hazmat disposal team out here. There was several corpses that need to be destroyed....yes. right now." After that he lowered his hands and glanced around.

The robed bandaged man from earlier was calmly walking up to the scene, though he walked up from a position that brought him up from behind Yusuri.

Admin Posts : 509 Join date : 2014-11-13 Age : 33

OOC: to make this clear, Shura and the aburame are on a building roof top looking down at the scene below.

Posts : 159 Join date : 2014-11-25 Age : 24

Yusuri sighed in relief, laying her wooden pata in a wedge between the ground and her knees. Feeling highly warm from the previous, quick rush of adrenaline, since it was a festival Yusuri began to remove her coat. Exposing the symbol that represented her family hotspring. Her thin, board figure being exposed from beneath the robe, as she draped it over her pata. She let off a very faint devoid smile as she turned to Jirou with a look that would likely scare him a bit, but was nonetheless peaceful, "Well it seems the situation is taken care of at the very least eh?" Yusuri said flatly, her face and eyes didn't show it, but she felt a slight feeling of something, she wondered if this was what it was to be at peace, if just for a moment.

Posts : 21 Join date : 2016-02-10 Age : 28

Hideyoshi could hear the laughing and cheering of people, he can see the glow of lanterns beginning to be lit in the setting sun as fireworks boomed into the sky. Hideyoshi didn’t know anything about this village, or the people here at all. However he did know from all his traveling with his father; that a festival, included a plethora of pretty girls.

"hey dad, do you know where my kimono is in all this junk?" said Hideyoshi as he rushed down the stairs from his room on the second story to the main living room where his father stood surrounded by their belongings still in boxes from the recent move.

"umm, I'm pretty sure it's around here…in this general area?" his dad said as he motioned to a cluster of boxes towards the back corner of the room. "I think at least."

"gee thanks dad, that was so much help" hideyoshi said with a heavy layer of sarcasm, and he began rummaging through the boxes in the corner.

"What do you need that for, you're not going to be skipping out on helping me unpack all this are ya?" he smirked to see the his son had already left the room and he was talking to himself by the time he finished. "gee thanks son, that was so much help" he spoke to himself with an equally sarcastic tone mocking his sons words just before.

Hideyoshi had picked up the box holding what he was looking for and went back to his room. Once he was back in his room he began putting on his kimono, that was thankfully not wrinkled from being packed away. He smoothed over the silky material with his hands, his mother had given him this last time he had seen her. She said she had picked it out just for him because the colors reminded her of his eyes. She was right, the colors of the kimono mimicked his eyes perfectly starting with a vibrant gold yellow at the top only to fade to a deep purplish blue at the bottom. It had the imprints of some flower all over it as well and it fit him wonderfully, how she knew what size he was after not seeing him for so long was beyond him; mothers intuition maybe.

Once he was dressed he brushed through his hair "I probably should have done this first" he thought to himself frustrated with the lose material getting in his way slightly as he tried to pull his long soft blonde hair behind him to be tied back. Instead of getting his usual black plain hair tie that he used on his everyday basis he went back to the box that had held his kimono and he pulled out a dark purplish blue band with two dangling gold ribbons, matching the colors of the kimono. He skillfully pulled back his locks avoiding missing any strands of hair and pulled it through the decorative hair band. "there, now I just need the shoes and I'm good" he spoke to himself admiring his own reflection in the mirror.

Hideyoshi went back to the box one last time and pulled out his shoes, got them on and did one last check in the mirror before heading down the stairs.

As he came to the bottom of the steps his dad let out a whistle "damn pretty lady, where you going all dressed up?" he said mockingly.

Hideyoshi sent back a cold glare "you know damn well I'm a boy, you old man" he said crossing his arms attempting to look slightly more manly.

"awh come on, you look just like your mother, so soft and delicate" he said swooning at the woman who he had entertained in the past.

Hideyoshi's glare only getting colder "that isn't a complement for a guy dad." he harshly brushed past him and towards the door, hitting his dad in the shoulder on his way. "I'm heading out, see you in a bit."

"oh darn, and here I thought you got all dressed up for me" he dad spoke teasingly. Only to be returned a middle finger disappearing out the door.

Hideyoshi wasn’t completely sure where he was going, this was the first venture out of the house since moving in just the other day. He only knew to follow the sounds of the people. As the laughing and people got closer he began picking up his pace, even though he didn’t have any friends here to hang out with he always loved festivals and was sure he wouldn’t be on his own for long. He had a knack almost as good as his old man at acquiring company of some sort.

He found himself quickly at the outskirts of the festival and could see a healthy cluster of people enjoying the games, food and items being sold at the various booths. His heart picked up a little in his growing excitement and he stepped into the crowd.

"excuse me, are you here alone?" a flirty soft voice rang behind him. He smirked, pivoting on his heals to face the lovely girl who had spoke to him while putting one hand on his hip and using the other to reach out to her. "yes, I just got here too, what about a pretty lady like yourself?" "smooth" he though to himself seeing the young girl blush profusely, but then look slightly disappointed.

"Oh I'm very sorry…I thought you were a boy…I umm, I have to go" the girl said before turning away.

Flabbergasted and very defeated by his pretty face he wasn’t even able to correct her before she was gone from his sight fusing back into the crowd she had emerged from.

He just began wondering through the crowd towards the center of the festival, feeling disheartened by his rejection only to realize slowly that the happy laughing was beginning to turn into panic. He suddenly found himself being passed in a frantic herd of people running away from the heart of the festival. He stood there confused for a moment, thinking perhaps this was just some weird game they played here, like a vicious game of tag or something. As he got farther and farther in his heart rate quickened. "this isn't a game" he thought, the happy aura of the party had completely disappeared and was now replaced by nothing but sheer terror and rushing streams of people fleeing the scene.

A small girl in a light pink flowery kimono garnished with a large pink flower in her red hair caught Hideyoshis eye. The girl looked terrified as she ran past and duck into an ally. She was being followed by two other girls it seemed, as they were coming in his direction as well. One very small with short dark hair dressed in a dark purple gradient to white kimono coupled with a much taller girl with long red tied back hair. Partly desperate to get answers as to what is going on and partly worried about the little girl Hideyoshi turns towards the ally the pink dressed girl ran into. Entering the ally quietly in hopes to not frighten the already scared girl Hideyoshi softly called out "are you okay? Do you need any help?"

word count: 1200

Admin Posts : 424 Join date : 2014-12-15

Seresana was in the process of slightly regretting her own choice in wardrobe for the night as the more restrictive yukata prevented the youth from taking her full stride, even as short as it was. Course she hadn't been expecting to see combat at a festival, otherwise she'd have fought harder to at least have carried her bow and arrows along. "Maybe then I could have- no, this isn't the time to be thinking about that stuff. I've got to make sure that girl and the other citizens are going to be okay," Seresana thought to herself as she worked her way through the now at least slightly thinner crowd.

Even with the slightly less amount of people, Seresana still wasn't able to catch the pale girl's detour into the alleyway, but then she watched a new figure creeping into the alleyway. Curious, Seresana stopped at the alleyway and proceeded quickly up to the new figure. She couldn't tell much about them since the person's back was to her, but the brilliantly colored yukata and long blonde hair looked rather pretty and so an assumption was made, quickly followed by a new question as she listened to their voice call out into the alleyway. When Seresana was close enough, she reached up slightly and tugged at the person's sleeve. "Excuse me miss? Did you happen to see a pale girl wearing a pink yukata run down this alley? She probably looked really frightened and I wanted to make sure she didn't get hurt in the panic... OH! Are you alright as well? You didn't get hurt when everyone started running away, did you?"

Word Count: 273
Total: 6,835

Subject: Re: Festival of Blood [Ended!] Sat Feb 13, 2016 12:05 pm

Although the combined power of parents and Kitty had induced Rosie to dress a little more fancily for the festival, her ordinary clothes being finer than usual with a little extra fabric to vaguely imitate the appearance of wearing a yukata, Rosie wasn't particularly encumbered by her clothing and found heself gaining on her small-statured friend even with the sea of people she had to wade through to keep Serasena in her sight. All the while, she was finding it increasingly difficult to treat the situation as a serious one because only a few steps in front of her is an imaginary kitsune hopping across heads, doing handstands, pirouetting on a foot and then on a finger, and even flopping herself down on the crowd and 'surfing' it backwards before getting back to her feet and continuing to hop ahead of Rosie.
"Even in a relatively serious situation, you really don't take any of this seriously do you?"
The kitsune stops long enough to shrug. "I'm a hallucination of yours. Technically, I don't fully exist, so things that fully exist and are real can't affect me. Also, I'm having the fun you don't want to have and making you feel better despite yourself. I can tell you're trying not to smile while you're chasing Small Cute."
Rosie smiles very slightly. "I'm pretty sure she has more features than just being small in stature and cute."
"Those are the ones I notice the most," Kitty grins and times a spin such that she gives Rosie a light bap with all nine of her tails, something that felt annoyingly real to Rosie despite her rational mind informing her that there were no tails and thus, she couldn't possibly feel plush and silky fur slapping at her cheek.
"Please don't do that. For some reason, I can feel it."
"Because you're telling yourself you can, and your mind has sort of given up trying to reason with you and just does whatever you tell it to."
"You're not my mind?"
"Nope. I'm the part of you that wants to play instead of work, and flaunt her attractiveness as much as possible. I guess you could call me your Sex And Fun and Experimenting side. I'm SAFE like that."
Rosie slowed a moment to work through that and gave Kitty a flat look. "...no."
"But I have such fun with acronyms... oh, look, something small and cute talking to something golden and... um..." Kitty pauses as she jumps up on the corner of the roof above Sera. "...fabulous."
"Fabulous."
"Hey, you try coming up with pithy assessments of everyone on the fly. He's feminine-looking, so he's fabulous."
"I don't see any connection," Rose says as she enters the alley behind Serasena.
"I'll tell you about it when you're older."
"Grr, argh." Rosie stops behind Sera and gives the feminine-looking boy a light bow of greeting. "Did you lose sight of her, Sera?" She nods to Hideyoshi. "Has he seen her?"

{Word Count: 496 | 7965}

Posts : 76 Join date : 2014-11-24

Jirou was a bit miffed as his question was unheard by Shura and the Aburame. He wanted answers on the nature of this virus thing, dammit! Just as he was about to ask one of the Inuzuka members (Who had not turned into monsters, anyway. That was... something he didn't want to see real close. Not to mention experience), he noticed Yusuri who was looking at him in a way that made him feel slightly off, like something was inherently making him slightly scared even though the expression was completely peaceful. "Yeah. At least there's that. But it cost lives to deal with. At least we minimized the death toll." He then noticed a figure slowly walking towards Yusuri. His first thought was that maybe this was the first person from the hazmat team Shura had ordered to come by. But this man was wearing a robe and not a hazmat suit, not to mention he seemed to be walking too calmly to be an emergency situation respondee. So he must have been a civilian that somehow missed all the fleeing people.
"Sir, please vacate the area, this place is off limits until the ANBU give civilians the all-clear." He said, walking a few steps towards Yusuri and tilting his head a bit to the right while pointing in the man's direction and over his shoulder.
Meanwhile he was hoping that the others were okay. They ran off rather suddenly, after all.

Word Count: 240 | 2041

Subject: Re: Festival of Blood [Ended!] Mon Feb 15, 2016 2:00 pm

Dust was a bit miffed herself that few people seemed to be coordinating the crowds near one of the exits. It was a miracle that only a few had gotten hurt, judging by the fallen people she could see. She started to shout for people to calm down and that the situation was now dealt with. Of course, that is what she hoped, anyway. A few people seemed to listen at first, the noise dying down a bit, and then more as those members convinced their families things were fine. Peer pressure did the rest of the work, and people soon stopped pushing past each other as Dust started carrying the most badly wounded out of the way. This is why she needed to learn medical skills as soon as possible... Well, here's hoping moving them wouldn't do more harm than letting them be trampled even more.

Word count: 147, total 1735

Admin Posts : 509 Join date : 2014-11-13 Age : 33

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Kisayuri was still in the midst of catching her breath as she had noticed she ran down an alleyway. She looked around attempting to search for a means of exit and gritted her teeth as she didn't have much time to find a proper on before she heard a question before thrown her way. Her immediate response was a simple. "Keep away from me you freaks! Don't come any closer!"

She turned around to look at who is was that asked the questioned and she held an angered look on her face as she looked in their direction. Seeing the other two from before come up, Kisayuri stepped further back into the alleyway to keep distance between herself and then three before her. She glanced around and noticed the fence blocking off the alleyway.

Admin Posts : 509 Join date : 2014-11-13 Age : 33

GM POST

Word count: 619 | 4,859

The robed man still kept moving in the direction where Yusuri, and now Jirou, were standing at. the hood covered his face completely, but he had a growing smile the closer he got, but he gave off no intention as he kept his pace calm. No rush, no fear.

Shura was speaking out to the other ninja's before he turned his gaze and he noticed the robed man walking in the direction of the two academy students. His hands came together, but by then it was too late.

There was suddenly a loud metallic clashing that rang through the immediate area, and a minor shock wave that was felt in the immediate location where Jirou, Yusuri and the other shinobi's were at.

Yusuri and Jirou would find themselves lifted off the ground and pulled away from each other in an instant.

Festival of Blood [Ended!] - Page 4 Large

Festival of Blood [Ended!] - Page 4 Large

Jirou was held in the slender of of a woman. This woman was familiar to him if he managed to catch the opening of the festival he would be able to immediately recognize this person as the Hokage of the village. "Get out of here." she stated to Jirou as she put him down, in her other hand, she held a katana. The look on her face stared with a look of determination, but it was also a very serious look. she seemed bothered by something and that something was very quickly revealed.

Yusuri was now held in one arm by the robed man. In his off hand, he also held a rather longer than average sword. A smile grew cruel on his lips. "Oh and I was so close..." His voice came out in a raspy, deep voice.

"Let her go." stated the Hokage to the robed man.

"Now why would I do that?" responded the robed man.

Shura stared a bit surprised at the presence of the Hokage. A lot of the shinobi's in the area were also a bit surprised, though ANBU in the area had quickly, in a very large perimeter surrounded the robed man. All standing upon the building tops, some standing on streets to block it off.

The Hokage spoke loudly. "Let her go and it won't have to get any worse then it already is."

The robed man would chuckle looking around himself. "What's it too you? You already saved one, that should be more then enough. You can get greed, not like me. I tried to take the boys head off and you came here and halted me. so...I am taking this one."

The Hokage would grit her teeth as she looked at the robed man. "What is it that you want? You were the one who orchestrated this...weren't you?"

He began to chukle a deep and low, raspy chuckle. "Did dear ol' Shura give it away?"

Shura watched from the rootop and underneath his mask, her frowned and glared at the robed man.

"Dai Mao, you are currently a wanted S+ rank criminal. If you give up now, maybe your sentence won't have to result in your death." spoke out the Hokage.

Dai Mao would chuckle deeply and then speak. "I'll tell you what I think of your ridiculous system."

With little to know effort Dai Mao tossed Yusuri up into the air. The moment Yusuri reached a three foot limit away from him, there was a blinding flash of light and Dai Mao's sword was pointed straight up to the sky.

The result of Dai Mao's attack was rather immediate as Yusuri came crashing to the ground, one piece at a time.

"I am here to send a message and I hope it's clear to you all now. You don't have the power to stop me and I will take revenge upon you all."

Posts : 90 Join date : 2014-12-10

Festival of Blood [Ended!] - Page 4 96723af4-4439-432a-8e17-52d9ad0a489c_zps9a9d2761

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: 1352

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The wind picked up Pass Val, something that would cause the Stoic individual to freeze up mentally. An Ominous wind that sometimes indicated that something horrible had transpired, a feeling that the Yuki was not used to. The strands that normally covered his right side lifted up suddenly with the wind, revealing his expression completely only for a moment. So many things had happened in the short period of the Festival that would warrant all kinds of expressions, and in the case of the Yuki, none of them would have matched correctly to the events that occured, but this one was different. In his time of simply observing, in order, Val witnessed a Disturbance that turned into a dangerous encounter between the Shinobi of Konoha and some Insectoid looking creatures. This Particular event caused him to be more alert, but not freaked out like the case of many individuals. He was some distance away, in what he perceived to be a safe spot for himself. The events that followed got stranger, and more intense.

Next came the Mutating of the Shinobi, something that actually struck and provoked a slight reaction from the Yuki Clansman. He wasn't aware of what occured, but it brought about bigger questions like how did this happen to the Shinobi and when. How was all this even allowed to happen in such a huge and powerful place like Konoha. To other individuals, answers would come easy but to the Yuki, they weren't coming at all. Taking in what he knew, he was not able to come down with any kind of answer. What he did know was that in this instance, he had to be weary of everyone around him, including those whom he had encountered prior to the event. During that moment, he wanted to distance himself a little further but didnt. This was not within his capabilities to handle in the least, but fear had not truly registered within him to cause him to Run away. There wasn't too many that he knew that was caught up in the mess, though Kisayuri and Yusuri were within the Vicinity at various point, the only one of which he was aware of was Yusuri who at the time was safe. Things seemingly died down with proper handling of the Enemies, with other individuals tending to the injured, but they were faced with the Calm before the Fall.

He closed his eyes for an instant, questioning whether he should head home since him being there served no purpose. He possessed no medical knowledge to help the already injured, and not the Social nor leadership skills to lead the Panic to safety. He could fight better than the average human, but was down low on the Shinobi bar. Thinking these things through, he had finally came to the decision to leave, but before he could come out of the state naturally, something occured to force him out. His eyes shot open quickly at the sound of Metal Clashing, and with it the event that came as a huge impact on Val. Yusuri was no longer where Val last saw her. It literally was a case of ' One second they're there, another second they're not '. And while it didn't show on his expression, his actions of looking around quickly conveyed worry. " Let her go " Was what would pull his attention towards Yusuri's Location, initially to the Hokage and then to the Robed individual who had Yusuri in arm. Val's body displayed more markers of worry that his face refused to show. Increased pumping of the heart, Clenching of his Fists, and even slighty opening of his mouth. This was an attempt at something that was an 100% chance of Failure... Calling out to her...someone who name he did not know. He had encountered her Once Prior to the event, and as Memory served, he was not able to obtain her name.

" He...Hey! ".

The Call out probably fell on Deaf ears due to the distance between him and Yusuri and Dai Mao, and in that instant the idea of retreat was no where to be found. He didn't know her too well, but he didn't need to know her or have deep encounters with her to worry. Various images of his Teacher and his Mother popped into his head, each being instances where they talked to him about finding something worth fighting for. He wasn't sure if she was it, but what he did know is that he didn't feel right with her being Captive. There wasn't much he was capable of, but he was going to try, so he began to get to higher ground to gain as much of an advantage as he could against Yusuri's Captor who was on the ground level interacting with the Hokage. He wasn't good with using his chakra to latch onto things, so he would have to ascend the old fashion way of jumping and grabbing onto things until he made it to the Roof. By that Point, the conversation between the two occured, Val being barely on the roof, Holding himself up by both arms being almost crossed on the edge of the roof and his head above. He looked back down for a moment to keep himself up to date with whats going on, all the while was attempting to pull himself up before a flash of light occured that caused Val to turn his head while still hanging onto the roof. It took a second, but the Yuki slowly regained his Vision. As He did, He looked back down to try to figure out where the hell that Flash came from, only to find something more atrocious had happened. his body froze as the wind blew pass him, lifting the strands of his hair to reveal the other portion of his face that all together would display disbelief. In That Instant, the individual who he had believed was to be his reason for fighting was now raining down in Pieces, Her Head being the first to descend back to the surface of the roof. He couldn't breath, couldn't move, couldn't even blink. What the hell just happened was the thought that was trying to be processed at the moment. The only thing that came to his mind was how she looked when they encountered at the swimming hole, and now this image of her head falling from the sky, being followed by the rest of her body Parts. He couldn't understand what was trying to be registered at the moment within his body, but the Focus of holding onto the rooftop was lost, causing him to descend back towards the ground. He wasn't even able to save himself, still being frozen from what had occurred to Yusuri. As he closed the distance between him and the ground and booth below him, a figure came swooping in extremely fast, catching him on the passing.

This individual possessed Long Blue hair identical to his, but being much longer and lustrous. She was not garbed in Shinobi attire, but in a white shirt, White Pants, and a Dark Blue apron that had a Teddie bear in the middle of it. Her expression, unlike the person she caught possessed a great deal of emotion. Her eyes was narrowed, giving off a serious expression which somewhat matched the nature of the situation. It shifted though once Val was in her arms to one of relief. She wouldn't stop until she was a great distance away from the area where stuff was going down, ensuring that they were out of the Danger. The whole time, Val was still stuck in what he had witnessed down below.

" Thank goodness I made it in time. I Finished cleaning so I came to check out the Festival for myself, but then I noticed people in a Panic and instantly finding you became my Top Priority ".

There was so much relief in her voice followed with a Tear. Upon Further examination of the person she saved, she knew something was wrong.

" Val...What happened ? ".

There was nothing but Silence

Subject: Re: Festival of Blood [Ended!] Wed Feb 17, 2016 9:07 pm

There was a significant amount of change occurring. The events of the festival would more than likely set the tone of the coming years, signalling an age of suspicion and destruction. At the moment though, none of that mattered to Sylvan, for two reasons. The first was, quite simply, she had no clue any of it was happening. She had gotten separated form the group quite early on during the panic, and was not quite lost in the town. She didn't make a habit of visiting; indeed, she avoided it as much as possible. This did not serve her well when trying to escape or assist in the evacuation of others.
Not that she was really able to do either of those at the moment. She had been swept up in the crowd of frightened people, herded by sheer terror away from the danger zone, but left in a rather battered state. She didn't deal well with crowds on the best of days, and that was with people she trusted looking out for her. Being caught in a terrified stampede had been.... traumatic, to say the least. Her issues with crowds were something that Sylvan was still working on, and in truth she had made admirable progress. 'Admirable progress' did not mean she was prepared for this just yet, and as a result she was currently huddled in an alleyway, waiting for the shaking to fade while she tried to remember how to get out. It would be easier if she could climb onto the rooftops, but that was vetoed for a few reasons. Even if the ANBU were too occupied to catch her, she did not particularly want to stand out at the moment, for she had no knowledge of how far the threat extended from the initial commotion.
She was rather hoping she'd run into someone familiar, who knew their way around the village. though honestly, anyone would do at this point as long as they weren't actively trying to kill her.
{334 Words}

Subject: Re: Festival of Blood [Ended!] Thu Feb 18, 2016 10:51 am

"Hey look... tossed salad with scrambled eggs!"
"Tossed...?" Rosie looks passed the girlish-looking boy and passed Sersena and sees the object of their quest stepping back into the alley at approximately the same time that Kisayuri screamed at the 'freaks' to stay away from her. "Oh. Tossed salad with scrambled eggs. Clever."
"I have my moments." Kitty grins and strolls along the edge of the roof with her tails flowing behind her, putting out her arms to either side as if she had to make an effort to balance on the thin edge without falling off. "Seriously, though... she's frightened of the two of you? Enough to call you 'freaks'?"
"You've made the same argument in the past," Rosie notes as she looks down at Sera and across at the effeminate young man. "Something tells me that she's feeling a little hysterical," she says lowly to Sera. "And I don't mean any offense or insult by this, Serasena, but you're the most ..."
"Small and cute."
"...harmless-looking of the three of us." She looks across to Hideyoshi. "Not that you're threatening-looking, sir, but you might distress her by confusing her as to what she's seeing."
"Is he male? Is she female? Check in next week for our next Ambiguous Gender Bulletin." Kitty proclaims in a mildly grandiose and deep voice. "Brought to you by pottery, kunai, and the letter 'f'. Because feminine boy."
Rosie can't help but look up at the roof where a grinning Kitty has seated herself. "Is there some law of the universe stating that my personal hallucination should be an endless stream of odd commentary on every situation?"
"Avert your eyes or you might look insane," Kitty reminds her merrily. "And although the situation is very serious, we're still at a festival and I'm doing everything in my power to have fun at random moments. I'm also trying to make things fun for you with odd commentary that has a random chance of getting a helpless smile."
Rosie eyes her and then with a tiny inaudible sigh, averts her eyes although there's a touch of a smile on her face as she does so. She wipes it away quickly and focuses her gaze on Kisayuri, watching to see what the plant-girl does next.

{Word Count: 376 | 8341}

Posts : 76 Join date : 2014-11-24

Jirou was about to step past Yusuri in order to guide the newcomer personally out of the hazard area when he felt something push him away forcefully. He didn't see anything from his front and Yusuri was not doing any motions so he assumed it was someone using a jutsu to mold chakra into pushing force that forced him backwards. He could have even lifted his feet up and still he would have kept going.

That is, until, he felt something soft on his back as he came to a sudden stop. Giving a noise of confusion, he turned his head around slightly and saw the face of a woman - one who he'd caught a glimpse of when he was arriving at the festival.
"Hokage-sama!?" He let out in amazement and disbelief. While her face was steeled in determination and focus, she still had a sense of feminine grace about her, topped off by the clearly massive amount of experience she had as a ninja.
That, and she was quite a looker.
When he was told to get out of here, he went a short distance away from the Hokage and then stopped as he remembered Yusuri's presence, turning a bit only to freeze in place as he saw his new friend being held in one hand. By the same man who he was trying to redirect away.
The man's voice sent chills down his spine. The baritone, deep voice was something one could think a bad guy in a children's story would have.
The comment the man gave about his head made his face lose color. Then the revelation about this virus thing. This man was behind it all along!?
In the next three seconds Jirou's eyes saw things that would be forever ingrained into his brain. Yusuri was thrown up in the air like a ragdoll. Quick slices that he couldn't even see and his pupils shrunk to pinpricks as he saw the bodyparts separating, resulting in a pile of meat falling onto the ground. While he did not see it, he had some blood sprayed onto his clothes. He was stunned, unable to say anything, unable to even mutter.

The crowd was left far behind. Several ANBU had responded to a distress call coming from somewhere. Believing it was worth his attention, Hideo Kyuuzaki had abandoned his meal, along with a few fellow ninjas, and gone after the ANBU members.
Upon getting to the scene, Hideo's eyes caught his son in the arms of the Hokage. Then he saw Dai Mao and Jirou getting to an open area.
Moments passed and Yusuri was cut into pieces, making Hideo's heartbeat increase. He'd seen enough.

Jirou felt like he was going to throw up at the sight. He couldn't say anything, he couldn't even breathe. His body had come to a complete stop.
He then felt something land next to him, grab onto him and take off into the sky, past the ANBU who paid the duo no mind, while his focus was on the S+ rank criminal who had just murdered a teen in cold blood.
As he looked up, he saw the face of his father.
It was all too much. He fainted in his dad's arms, the shock of it all finally overwhelming him.
The fact that his son would eventually deal with things like this didn't give Hideo any comfort.
But one thing was clear to him. For the Kyuuzaki, the Festival of Beginnings was over tonight.

Word Count: 568 | 2609

Posts : 21 Join date : 2016-02-10 Age : 28

Hideyoshi already slightly miffed by the situation instantly become even more annoyed by the little dark haired girl who has obviously mistaken him as….female. "not again" echoed in his head.

Hideyoshie glared down in aggravation at the young girl, this whole festival was a complete fail, so far this village sucked to Hideyoshi, he was already mistaken once, and then this whole panic thing that had him utterly confused, and now this pint sized twerp was rubbing salt in his wound. Seemingly towering over her as an dark and cold aura began to flow out of him. He brushed her small hand off his festival outfit without averting his gaze. While in his head he looked completely badass….in all actuality, he looked horribly embarrassed and funny as he tried to make the girl shrink in fear.

"look squirt! not only am I NOT a girl, I'm the manliest MAN ever!" Hideyoshi practically tried to growl.

Then sending his focus to the taller red haired girl that came in after them, he nodded.

"If your referring to the pink thing, yea she ran-" Hideyoshi was cut off by the referred to pink thing yelling at them.

Then the red haired girl spoke up again with a suggestion aimed at the midget before aiming yet another slight at Hideyoshi's masculinity.

"what the fuck do you mean confused as to what she's seeing?" Hideyoshi almost yelled as his blush reddened across his face. "there's nothing confusing about me! I am one hundred percent guy!" Hideyoshi yelled pulling down on his kimono enough to expose the flat hardness of his chest. "See! Guy! No I mean MAN!" he continued panting, steam puffing from him and his red colored face, horribly embarrassed by his previous action.

turning back to the dark haired girl now, his chest still fully exposed "are you confused still tiny? Do you still think I'm a miss?"

Then before even acknowledging the little ones response Hideyoshi dramatically points down the alley at the pink trembling girl. "and look here flower tits! I am NOT a FREAK! I'm just really damn pretty!!!"

Hideyoshi held his dramatic pose in an awkward silence after his rather implosive out burst "FUCK! WHAT THE HELL HAVE I DONE!?" he screamed in his head. Frozen in embarrassment, his face reaching a level of red that would seem nearly impossible he just stood there, pointing down the alley.

word count: 396

Admin Posts : 424 Join date : 2014-12-15

Seresana looked around with a happy cringe as Kisayuri yelled at all of them to keep away. She was glad to have found Kisayuri even if she was still terrified and panicking. Then this new person started talking to her and Seresana looked up only to nearly match Hideyoshi's blush with one of her own as her hands shot up to cover her mouth. She didn't believe what he'd said quite at first, but now that she was looking directly into his face, she could see the feint distinctions that painted Hideyoshi as a guy.

When Rosie made her suggestion for Seresana to close the gap between them and Kisayuri, Seresana looked back with the still blatant blush on her cheeks. She started to shake her head from side to side, but then Hideyoshi started yelling. Seresana looked back over ready to try and calm him down only to be left with a front seat view of Hideyoshi's bare chest. While he turned the focus of his rant towards the shorter girl, Seresana was finally overwhelmed by the situation and she just fell flat onto her back. As the new bright red pigment of her skin spread from her face to the rest of the small girl's body, her mouth continued moving and making incomprehensible sounds that might have been mistaken for words.

Hideyoshi's address towards Kisayuri was enough though to force Seresana's mind back onto a proper track and she slowly picked herself back up. Blush still flooding her face, Seresana stepped up alongside Hideyoshi and gently pulled down the pointing arm while hesitantly and embarrassing shyly shaking her head from side to side to silently tell him 'no'. Then Seresana looked towards Kisayuri, or at least down that direction of the alleyway. "W-we won't get any closer, I ju-just wanted to make sure you were safe from the panicking people, and here you should be," Seresana said right before another part of the memory of their first encounter surfaced. "He-hey, I remember. There was a woman who showed up that time by the pond, you called her mom, didn't you? If I see her, I can tell her that you're hiding here if you don't want to come along," Seresana said then with a bit of a hopeful smile, until she suddenly realized that she was still holding onto Hideyoshi's arm. As the blush that had managed to recede to just her cheeks returned in full, Seresana let go and pulled her arms back almost as fast and far as she could before looking up apologetically to Hideyoshi.

Word Count: 431
Total: 7,266

Subject: Re: Festival of Blood [Ended!] Mon Feb 22, 2016 6:59 pm

Having cleared out most of the crowd in that area, she decided to head back to the area that was a bit like a plaza where the shit initially went down. Hopefully the virus hadn't spread... Well, when she got to the edge of the plaza, she saw that it certainly hadn't and instead there was a bunch of vaguely human looking body parts on the ground. "That's odd..." she muttered to herself. She did not really pay any mind to the people who were standing and gaping, that was pretty natural given what had just happened. It was nothing compared to what had happened earlier, however... Maybe someone got infected and they managed to kill them before the virus completed its transformation... or something. She should ask somebody about it later. She slowly glanced around the plaza to see if there was anyone she actually recognized, but she did not. Wasn't that much of a surprise, considering that Dust knew literally one small family in the entire town. She had not been getting out much at all, truth be told... Well, she'd been mostly working on honing her eyes, even though she really didn't like the clan. Their abilities were still incredibly useful, especially with the three hundred and sixty degree vision. Nobody could sneak up on her then... Oh gods above, she was doing it again... Forget it.

She should probably go find Sena, she was the only one who she actually knew worth shit in this festival. Cutting a small chord across the area, she started to patrol the streets, looking for the incredibly short girl. Made her easy and hard to pick out in a crowd...

Words: 279, total 2014

Admin Posts : 509 Join date : 2014-11-13 Age : 33

OOC: Forgot to mention before, but in the alleyway, Kisayuri's nails were visibly glowing green.
---
Word count: 194 | 3,141
This girl...wait no this guy? This feminine looking boy just erupted and Kisayuri flinched as she was taken a bit by surprised by her, i mean his reaction. Either way after his explosive reaction, Kisayuri would merely suck her teeth. "You humans are disgusting." She frowned and then her eyes shifted to Serasena who mentioned about her mom and her eyes widened. "Don't you dare go near my mom!" she quickly looked around looking for something to help her, but there wasn't anything.

"Just leave me alone." she would turn around facing the fence and lift her arm up, suddenly it grew in size, and tree bark grew out of it and she took a step foreword throwing her body into the punch and she broke the fence. The latches easily gave way to the force she put into the punch, right afterwards her hand returned back to it's dainty size, the tree bark receding back into the skin of her arm and returned back too it's unnaturally smooth original state. She took off running again through the other side of the alleyway that led into another street, though she took an immediate right.

Admin Posts : 509 Join date : 2014-11-13 Age : 33

GM POST

Word count: 422 | 5,281

Ooc: Everyone get your last's post in for the festival, this is the ending post for the festival. Thank you all for participating in this little event, Sorry it took so long. But everyone gets 1 post after this one and the festival is over, make your exit a good one!

----IC-----

The Hokage stared mortified at what Dai Mao did before her. Not just her, but many others in the area were just as surprised that a person would dare do that in the presence of the Hokage.

Dai Mao would chuckle in his low raspy voice. "Heh heh heh...the look on your face is just beautiful, Lady Hokage. I'll be sure to get another look at it another day. I shall bid you good bye for now."

The Hokage did utter a word, but she disappeared from where she stood and was already standing right before Dai Mao, Her sword impaled through him. She spoke calmly. "Dai Mao, You will never get another chance at this again."

Dai Mao was even surprised at the speed the Hokage moved at, but he only chuckled. "Did you think I would come here myself? I said it earlier...I am sending a message."

Shura appeared down on the ground behind the Hokage. "Lady Hokage, move now!"

The Hokage's eyes widened as the body she just stabbed morphed before her, and it began to bloat up like a balloon, a fleshy balloon. The Hokage released her sword and she jumped back and just as she did a bubble formed around Dai Mao and then the body within exploded. It filled the bubble with what looked to be nothing but gas. Shura made a 'tsk' noise as he concentrated on keeping the bubble formed. "T-that bastard..."

The Hokage stood there angry. "Shura, once we are done here, update Dai Mao's records. He is to be killed on sight."

Shura merely nodded her head. "As you wish, Lady Hokage."

The Hokage looked around and she spoke aloud to her other shinobis. "I want medical squads out here pronto. Kazuki!"

A younger woman appeared beside her out of no where. "Yes, Lady Hokage?"

The hokage pointed to the chopped up body. "Find out who she was, and who her family was. I have apologies to make." With that the Hokage and turned walking towards the Hokage's tower. Her fists clenched tightly.

[Festival Ended!]

Posts : 90 Join date : 2014-12-10

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: 433

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

The Woman held him away from her a bit so she could try to figure out what was wrong. Val didn't show fear per-say but obvious signs of disbelief, not breathing normally, being Frozen in place with constant trembling shown by the hands. It was quite obvious that she wasn't going to be able to get a word from him, so she tried to think about what occurred as she arrived to the scene to swoop him from the Air. Her eyes closed for a few seconds before shooting open in shock. Her right hand would move quickly from Val's shoulder over to cover her mouth. It wasn't something that she paid too much attention to when she arrived to the scene, but Moments upon arrival, She performed a quick scan of the area, identifying a few possible dangers in the process of looking for Val, and what she witnessed was the scene between The Hokage, the enemy, and the hostage who moments later was shredded apart. She then recall that was when she spotted Val who was for a second hanging at the edge of the roof before Slipping.

She had not wanted Val to witness this Dark side so early. He was still an Academy student, but what had happened had happened, and nothing could be done at this point. They were already a good distance away but it still wasn't smart for them to remain in the area. Tears drizzled down her cheeks as she looked at the expression of the Boy, like he was lost in some kind of Mental Limbo. She reached around him and pulled him into her while shedding the tears that He was incapable of shedding.

" I don't know if my words are reaching you...Don't break down in the presence of Darkness Val. If that was a friend, hold her Memory strong and let it strengthen you...It's the Times now that you must be stronger than ever. This is only the beginning...It goes deep, and in order to Survive...you must face it. I won't let you face this alone though...I Promise ".

Her hand stroked his head before she Lifted him off the ground once more. Her eyes that once shed tears now possessed a great deal of determination to them.

" Akano...Im sorry, but our boy needs me more than ever...the Old Me. Please watch over us ".

She uttered before Making a handseal with a single hand, causing Ice to form around her and Val, creating an Ice Statue of them before it melted away moments afterwards with the both of them gone.

*Exit Yuki Vales*

Admin Posts : 424 Join date : 2014-12-15

Seresana raised her own hand to the departing Kisayuri. "Wait, please sto-" she started but the plant girl was already turning down the other street and out of sight. Seresana let her head fall forward with defeat as she let out a sigh. "Well, with that kind of power, I guess we don't have to worry too much about her," Seresana added as she looked back up and over at Rosie to make sure the statement was carried over.

Then Seresana looked towards the new gi- boy, definitely boy, that was standing next to her. She took another step back and away from him before bowing her head down. "I'm sorry for mistaking you for a girl, and I'm sorry for having to leave so soon, but we've got duties to ensure all the citizens are away from the... danger," Seresana said to Hideyoshi, a bit unsure of how and certainly not wanting to try and describe the bug-like abominations or the wolf abominations. She then started walking towards the street again. "You should probably go home now if you want to make sure you don't get hurt, there's some really dangerous... things that were attacking earlier," she added over her shoulder before nodding to Rosie again. "C'mon, we should get back to the square and see how things are going, but if you don't want to come, I'd understand," she added the last bit with some remorse and hesitance.

With that said though, Seresana then took off out of the alley and turned back onto the street towards the spot where the bug monsters had originally appeared. With the crowd more dispersed, it didn't take the small girl much time at all to get back to the square, though when she got there it was a bit surprising to find the focus of the action seemed to have shifted. Following the attention, Seresana hesitantly walked over, growing more uneasy with every step as she finally started to notice the blood on the ground. It didn't take her long after that to see the first of the chunks, a sight that made her eyes go wide for quite possibly the third time this festival. "Wah, who..." The questions she had were numerous, but they all sought to be answered at once and none seemed to be coming out comprehensibly.

Seresana continued looking about in horror until her eyes fell on a strangely untouched garment, a curious sight given that with how close it was to the rest of the gore yet it remained intact. Her pupils shrank and her form froze in mid stride as the cold realization that she recognized that coat sunk in. "Yu- Yusu," Seresana quietly to herself as she took a couple steps closer, tenderly reaching out and picking up the unscathed coat as tears began to form along the bottoms of her eyes. "It can't be. She, she must have just lost it or something, she's got to be around here somewhere. Yeah, that's it! She might even smile if I return her co-" Seresana had been looking around at the crowd while thinking this to herself, but when her eyes fell on a particular chunk of gore, her thought process was cut clean off.

There staring back at Seresana's quivering eyes was one of Yusuri's, along with a rough third of her head and face. The fearful quivering didn't stay in her eyes for long as her mind tried to deny what she was looking at. Her hands, still clutching the coat, slowly and shakily rose to her face. Her knees started to wobble until they failed to support her and she fell onto them not even seeming to notice the edge of the blood puddle that was now staining her yukata. The first cry was but one of many that were just slightly muffled at all by the coat that was directly in front of her mouth as the tears streamed down her face. The world around her and those still in it faded away from her senses as Seresana continued to cry into the coat and shudder uncontrollably.

Word Count: 684
Total: 7,950

Subject: Re: Festival of Blood [Ended!] Wed Feb 24, 2016 7:27 pm

Above the departing Kisayuri, Kitty crosses her arms and watches as the plant-girl extends her arm, growing it in fact, and vaults the wall on her way out of sight. "I'm in a bit of a bind here, Rose," she remarks with blatantly false thoughtfulness.
"This ought to be good."
Kitty pointedly ignores her. "I could go with 'salad on the run' but it just doesn't have the right cadence. Ditto with 'leafing in a hurry' and 'to the trees'." She grins and looks down at Rosie. "I have it!"
"Be still, my wildly beating heart," Rosemarius deadpans.
"Aw, I didn't know you cared." Kitty gives her a smirk. "But I'm thinking... chef salad, with extra scrambling."
Rosie sighs. "It worries me that you actually had to think to come up with that. You're losing your edge, Kit."
Kitty looks at her with interest. "Kit, huh?" She taps her chin thoughtfully. "Well, what do you know, you can casual like a real girl." She smiles broadly. "Kit... I like it. Further shortening of 'kitsune' but it feels more... affectionate than Kitty."
"Consider it a gift for the special occasion." It was at this point in the back-and-forth between herself and Kitty that Serasena makes her comment, and Rosie nods along with it. "It's certainly good for escape, if nothing else," she agrees. "I'm sure there's ample offensive ability as well. If she didn't have such an unstable personality, at least based on how she acted in response to the disturbance, I think I might be impressed by her."
"That's a lie, and you know it."
"Oh, hush. Hallucinations are meant to be invisible and silent as the grave."
"Unless they're talking to you because you're completely coconuts. Then they're really chatty and fawn over you like a kid sister."
"...a what?" Rosie's lips tighten minutely. "No, don't answer that, have to attend to the girlish boy who I've offended with your enthusiastic assistance."
"Not my fault he's so pretty."
Rosie struggles not to sigh noticeably as she turns to Hideyoshi, giving Serasena a brief nod as the diminutive girl explains matters and then announces her intention to go to the square and see the state of things. "I have no doubt that things have been sorted out properly by shinobi of much superior experience, but you're right. I'll be along in a moment."

She looks down to Hideyoshi and gives him a brief bow of courtesy. "I do apologize for being..."
"Gauche."
"...gauche about your appearance," she says with apparent sincerity.
"Liar, liar, kimono on fire."
"I'm sure you're well aware of your... effeminate features and prettiness without a complete stranger making a matter of it." She bows her head to him a fraction more deeply. "I meant no harm by it, I simply meant that your unusual features may lend to some confusion about whether you're male or female. When matters in the square are settled, I'll happily return and try to set matters at ease between us but for now, I have a duty to perform. Besides, Serasena outranks me and I'm practicing being attentive to instruction from those higher-ranked."
"And I'm practicing visualizing the good-looking ones naked, just to make you flustered."
"You will not, especially if it's someone I know and am fond of."
"You're such a stick in the mud."
"I'm sure my imagination could put that stick in more unpleasant places than mud."
"...point taken."

With that gesture of courtesy to Hideyoshi, Rosie takes off after Sera, slipping through the crowds with Kitty dancing ahead of her as the hallucination usually does. "Alright, so back to the matter before. In what way am I your kid sister?"
Kitty lands gracefully on the head of an elderly man nearby and commences to deftly step between various heads as she drops back to walk alongside Rosie, although she remains some distance above her. "I'm sure you've noticed that I have a more impressive chest than you do."
"So?
"So it makes me elder than you are." Kitty give her a playful grin. "Yes, I'm well aware that you've been alive longer than you've had schizophrenia so I'm technically your kid sister but it was entirely your choice to imagine me as a young adult, fully developed, and built like your unconscious ideal of how you'd prefer to look with the equipment you imagine that you'll have when you're a full shinobi. So because you've mentally decided that I'm older, I'm older than you are and so, you're like my kid sister."
"I suppose I must really want a big sister, without knowing that I want it." Rosie shrugs. "Alright, I guess I'm your little sister now. So make with the older, wiser, and more mature things that big sisters are supposed to do."
"Oooh, sorry, all out of mature." Kitty giggles and starts walking on her hands, allowing gravity to work on her loose clothing and make it slide up and passed her hips. "I almost wish people could see me doing this, just for the shock value."
"I doubt a naked fox girl with fur concealing all the details better than most clothing is going to provoke that much of a panic," Rosie says as the crowd starts to thin around the site of Dai Mao's atrocity. "After all, your nudity barely even registers when..."

It was about this moment that they break the line that the crowd has made around Yusari's remains and the entire slate of details is immediately opened to Rosie's view. Having long prided herself on intelligence in addition to hard work and talent, her conscious mind races, processing the details as fast as she can consider them individually. With all the speed of her thinking, however, she finds herself suddenly staring at the back of her hallucination, more solid and real-looking than she can ever remember seeing what is strictly a figment of her imagination.
"Stay back, Rose." More shocking than Kitty's unusual visibility in Rosie's mind's eye is her low, calmly authoritative voice.
"Stay back from what?"
"Nothing, just... just, don't approach." Kitty's voice quavers, making Rosie openly and overtly stare at someone that exists only for her, unconscious of the fact that it looks like she's staring in shock at the abattoir before her. "There's nothing you can do."
"Nothing I can do about what?"
"About... about any of this, any... any piece of it." Kitty looks over her shoulder at Rosie, her expression remote and tightly controlled. "Listen to me, Rose. I'm part of your mind, and I'm telling you that you can't do anything and need to step away."
"I see no reason to take counsel of my fears and emotions," Rosie retorts. "Tell me why."
"Rose..."
"Tell me!"
"I won't!"
"TELL ME WHY YOU'RE BARRING MY WAY!"
And just like that, she knows, and she takes a shocked step back. "It's..."
"Yes."
"But... how? The threat was entirely transformative, not..."
"You're the half of us that reasons, that thinks, that logics, that concludes from information. You know the answer as well as I do." Kitty steps to a side and looks down at Serasena, clutching a discarded cloak and sobbing into it. "But that answer doesn't matter now. Right now, the only answer that matters is this: what kind of shinobi do we want to be?"

Though the haze of devastation, Serasena might be able to subtly sense the presence of someone standing behind her before she feels two knees brush against the bottoms of her sandals and a spindly but strong arm wrap around her stomach while a hand lays very softly atop her head, running gently over her hair. She next feels Rosemarius' chin rest on her shoulder and her cheek against her ear, but the tall and normally emotionally remote girl says nothing, just cradling her with a hand softly running over her head and hair in as soothing a gesture as Rosie knows how to do.
"I'm not even sure I know who it is that she weeps over."
"Does it really matter?"
"No, I suppose it doesn't. All that matters now is..."
"...your friend is sobbing with pain that you cannot heal or soothe, and the right thing to do is be here, and help her cry." Kitty kneels beside Rosie and pats her shoulder, the sensation intensely real and vivid. "This is the final lesson, I think, which is why emotional me had a knee-jerk protective reaction towards my kid sister."
"What lesson?"
"Some are evil." Kitty takes in a breath. "And sometimes we can do nothing about it, but help innocent people cry until their pain in numb."
"No."
"No?"
"No, we can do more." Rosie gives Sera a little squeeze. "There will come a day, Kit, when I will be very strong, and very dangerous. I can work hard and make that day come sooner rather than later, and I will do so, with your help. And when I am strong and dangerous, I will hurt this one for this. A day will come when this one thinks it is safe, and is happy in that safety, but then its joy will turn to poison and the debt will be paid. Even if I do not revenge Sera on the one that has murdered her friend and wounded her heart, I will revenge myself on others who have done the same thing to others."
"Revenge cannot bring back the dead."
"No, but it can ensure that the dead are numbered on a hand, rather than the stars. To slay the slayer, to take blood from those that take blood, to steal from the thief and poison the poisoner... that is what I can do, when I am strong."
"And become what you hunt."
"No." Rosie smiles, just for a moment and just a tiny bit. "So long as there is Serasena and you, Kit, I will never be what I hunt, what I loathe, what I would destroy."
Kitty smiles a little back. "If she will be that to you, perhaps you should do more than you presently are."
"And what might that be?"
"I'm your emotional side, Rose, but you know the answer."
After a minute or so of holding her, stroking her hair, silently helping her mourn, Rosie turns her head slightly and whispers gently into her ear "I am so very sorry, Sera."

{Word Count: 1729 | 10070}

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