An Unusual Meeting [P] [Katya]

Posts : 45

It was amazing how such a small town could be so lively. People packed the streets to capacity, if Aoi were not able to fly as he could, he'd have to fear being trampled. The town smelt heavily of salt and fish, then again that was to be expected from one of the biggest ports in the Lightning Country. It would be strange if it smelt of gardens. For the moment, he was floating a good five meters above the road, well above the heads of the crowds below. Most were also so distracted by their work or whatever it was they were doing to both looking up. If he recalled correctly, this port was unique in that it freely dealt with several nations on peaceful terms. Even when tensions were high, this town was still able to trade with the likes of Konoha and the former Kiri. The thought of home was enough to cause his stomach to churn, then rumble. It had been about a day since his last meal.

Reaching into his pocket, Aoi pulled out a handful of bills and several coins. "I hope this is enough..." He mumbled as he counted his cash. He never had much money, for the most part he offered his services in return for a room and a meal. Sometimes he would take up odd jobs here and there to build up some cash, but those were hard to come by. He basically looked homeless when he could not clean up half the time and people tended to avoid him in those cases. Hopefully today would not be one of those days. He had spent nearly a month wandering around the forests of the country and this was the first town he had finally been able to find. How he longed for a soft bed at the very least. Even if for only a night.

Another advantage of being able to fly was the ability to find things quicker. Being as short as he was, there was no way he could navigate streets this populated. As far as he knew, there was no way to navigate by watching people's butts. Up here however, he had a clear view up and down the streets. This port was situated at the bottom of a hill with the town slowly creeping up the side. This allowed him to see clear through to the port. Several large fishing vessels were docked at the moment and he could see others coming in for the night. Yawning, Aoi was finally able to spot a tavern several blocks away. Taverns were generally his best bet for getting a room. They were never the most sanitary nor safe, but they were often cheap and cared little for age. One thing was for sure though, he was guaranteed to be eating fish tonight.

The sun was already low when he had arrived, by the time Aoi reached the tavern it had finally set and the stars were starting to emerge in the night sky. Inside the tavern it was warm, but the air was thick with smoke and alcohol. Dropping himself out of the air, he landed with a light thump on the wooden floor and made his way over to the bar. Hopping up onto one of the bar stools, the owner immediately caught sight of him and strolled over. "Hey kid, this is no place for minors. Where's your parents?" Aoi just smiled "I don't have any, but I do have money. How much is a room and meal?" The owner gave him the prices and Aoi pulled out his remaining money. "Oh, well, how about a room and some milk?" Placing the money on the counter, the owner counted it, grunted and went into the back.

A minute later he returned with a tall glass of milk. More than likely it was used for cooking only as Aoi immediately received several hostile glares. He wasn't sure if they were taking offense to his age, his drink, or something else. Quite a few of them looked rather intoxicated, so that likely had something to do with it. Turning his attention back to his drink, one of the patrons grunted and got to his feet. He was a big man and his footsteps practically echoed throughout the bar. "Hey. Kid. You heard the man. This is no place for brats still sipping milk. Scram, before I break you." This certianly wasn't the first time Aoi had been accosted by a drunk. Usually they would back down if he simply ignored them. Most people did not want to be known for hitting a child. This was not going to be one of those times however, as the man only got angrier. "OI! You snot nosed brat! Listen when I'm talking to you!" He then grabbed Aoi by the collar and ripped him from his seat. The boy dangling limply as the brute held him up to eye level. "One thing I hate, is a kid who doesn't show respect. There's only one way to deal with bastards like you." With that, the man loudly cracked his knuckles in preparation for the beating he was about to give.

Aoi was not sure he should fight back. If he did, he might lose out on the room he just paid for. If he didn't however, he would likely be hospitalized. Decisions, decisions...

SC Used:

Spoiler:

Jutsu Used:

Spoiler:

Posts : 65

It was an end of a good day. Day of intense training and, finally, success. On this glorious day, now coming to a close, Galateia finally slain a deer. She ran straight up to him and ran alongside of the magnificent animal for a while, Teia wasn’t a cruel person but she enjoyed the moment. She was training to run really fast for some time and finally being able to play around with her food felt great. Now if only she could pick a good fight and find a comfy bed to rest in…

“This thing doesn’t smell too good now, I don’t feel like eating it. Might as well sell it, at least it’ll give me some ryo to find a place to stay…” Galateia wondered as she glanced to the animal carcass strapped to her back. The warrior lady was a strong individual, she could barely feel the pressure of carrying around her large sword and the meat which was missing one leg. The leg that Teia ate for dinner before leaving to wander off. Usually the girl just kept on walking until it got really dark and then just slept by a tree over the night.

However one thing that one must love about wandering was that one would never know where it takes you. On this particular night Galateia found herself in a small port town. It was a great place to sell her dead animal and find a fitting bed to sleep for once. Also it may have had bars with local drunks who are looking for a good fight. Teia hasn’t fought anyone in ages and at this point she was ready to fight someone underwhelming even. She just wanted to feel the excitement of fighting before stretching her legs and going to sleep.

The warrior made her way to a stand where a butcher was selling meat, currently he was packing his things and closing up. Apparently his work hours were over. Teia approached him and dropped the carcass without a leg on his stand. “Buy this deer, old man.” she said with a straight face. The man looked like the sneaky weasel type, the type that the warrior didn’t particularly like. They always made her feel like a fool and always ripped her off so this time she’d be extra careful.

The butcher glared over the animal and pointed at the missing leg. “I ate a chunk of it today, I have nowhere to store it and they probably won’t let me into an inn with this on my back.” Galateia explained. The man then looked over it and scratched his chin, he sliced off a small chunk of it, probably less than a hundred grams and smelled it.

“I’ll give ya 300 ryo for a muscle.” the man looked over it and counted the parts that he deemed salvageable. Teia stroke the back of her head with a confused face, “300 for my deer? Is that a lot?” The butcher looked at her with disbelief of what she said, he wiped the sweat off his dirty face and opened his mouth slowly to explain, “No, girl, not the WHOLE… Wait… Yeah… Oh yeah! That’s like… Two times more than a 150 ryo so it’s a lot! Look how well it stacks up when you put it in a pile!” the man suddenly started looking quite excited and exclaimed his thoughts really loudly.

“Indeed the coins form a reasonable pile. I accept this deal, old man.” Teia replied as she took the column of coins and walked away. It just so happened that the butcher was also quite pleased with the deal – the warrior could hear him laughing as she walked away. There didn’t appear to be an inn nearby, not that the warrior could identify one if it didn’t have “Inn” written on it. If Galateia was the Queen of the World she’d make it so all “Inns” would have “Inn” written on them so that they wouldn’t confuse people…

“The air smells of alcohol, this must be an inn! Great, I should spend my 300 ryo here.” Galateia thought to herself as she entered the establishment by gently opening the door and looking around. The whole place was filled with men and they all smelled of alcohol and piss. “This place does not appear to be a very good inn… Even better, maybe I’ll save some of my ryo…” the young warrior thought to herself as she walked up to the bar and placed her coins onto the bar stand.

“I’d like some beer and a room for the night, innkeeper!” she said with a demanding tone. The man looked at the feeble stack of coins for a moment, then back at the young lady and then back at the coins before erupting into a fit of laughter. “What’s that?! 300 ryo?! I can piss into the glass for you if you add a 100 ryo more!” the innkeeper appeared to be in a funny mood.

“Perhaps he could be the one I fight today?” Galateia thought to herself as the man’s behavior offended her a bit. Did he imply that the butcher lied to her? Why would he do that? No. This man must’ve been the liar, he did wear a funny bowtie after all! No respectable gentleman wears a bowtie unless he is a liar or a young boy. It was then that a loud yell reached the warrior’s ear from the side. The woman turned her head at the source of the noise.

A tall man with a leather top and a fancy chest plate was picking on some boy. He looked quite tough: he was tall, bulky, bald and his face had some scars from what Galateia could pick up from where she stood. “This man appears to be the alpha male of this inn, he will do for my fight.” the warrior realized as she lifted a finger to the innkeeper’s mouth and quietly exclaimed “Stay still, we will continue our quarrel after my fight.” The young warrior then moved to the tall bald man who was picking on the kid and currently waiting for the kid’s response.

Without saying a word Teia walked up in front of him, standing between the kid and the brute and socked him in the face with all of her might. The man staggered back, the warrior jumped forward and grabbed his head with her palm and drove it through the wooden table spilling all the beers on it. The once mighty and strong brute was now lifeless in the rubble of what used to be a table. “You shouldn’t have acted so strong, you gave me the wrong impression and I miscalculated my strength. Now your teeth scratched my fistplates… When I find someone to tell me how much they’re worth I’m making you pay for them!” Galateia told to the lifeless body of the knocked out bandit.

“She… She knocked out… Biku…” some voices echoed through the inn, Galateia glared at the innkeeper and slowly walked up back to him without even looking at the kid that was being bullied. “You wished to pee in my glass? Why was that? Is there something wrong with my money?” Galateia asked him confused, scaring the living shit out of the innkeeper as her innocent eyes didn’t change from when she was knocking all the teeth out of the largest man in the inn. “Ehh… I… I… I didn’t seem to take a good look… Yes! Yes… They are very fine coins… Best coins I’ve seen today… Such great coins… Tell you what I’ll only take half and the beer is on the house, young lady!” the innkeeper shouted out obviously scared for his life.

“Half the coins? Eeeeeh… So you’re actually a kind man? Your bowtie confuses me, perhaps you shouldn’t wear it…” Galateia replied as she split the stack of coins leaving the man half of them. The owner of the inn ripped his bowtie off and laughed visible sweating all over his face.

Posts : 45

The brute had enough of Aoi's dismissive attitude. Cracking his knuckles once more, he raised his fist and was about to break Aoi's face in when a girl suddenly appeared in between them. The girl was quite tall, especially when compared to Aoi, yet she still only stood up to this man's chin. That of course, did not stop what happened next. Her sudden appearance surprised the man, halting his attack. The stranger then unleashed her own punch directly into his face. Despite the size and weight difference, the brute was sent staggering back, forcing the patrons of the table behind him to evacuate before he crashed into them. Aoi was lucky enough that the blow had also forced the man to release him. He was also quick enough to activate his Fairy Wings jutsu before he hit the ground, bobbing lightly in the air a few centimeters off the floor. Leaping forward, the girl grabbed his face and shoved him down into the table. The old piece could not handle such force and shattered, throwing splinters and beer into the air. The man remained motionless on the ground, barely twitching as the girl voiced her displeasure at his weakness.

The entire bar was stunned into silence, everyone had backed off giving at least a space of five meters between them and the mighty woman. Even the bartender was intimidated, offering her a discount on a room and drink. When Aoi caught a glimpse of the amount she had paid, he could not help but feel confused. "300 ryo can't cover all that, much less 150. Did she plan to strong arm her way in?". Hovering himself back upright, he positioned himself so his feet just barely missed the floor. It was probably best not to cause another uproar by flying around the place at the moment. Floating up behind the girl as she counted her coins, Aoi tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey, thanks for that. He would have broken my face in if you hadn't stepped in there."

Aoi would wait a moment for the woman to answer before continuing. Getting a better look at her, this girl was a lot younger than her height would suggest. "Um... Aren't you a bit young to be drinking alcohol though?" He said rather monotonously. If he was right, she couldn't be more than fourteen or fifteen, placing her at least two to three years older than himself. To be so young and so strong, she must have gone through something similar to himself. Hellish training day after day. Perhaps he found a kindred spirit? "I'll be staying here tonight, if you wanted to talk or something." He'd eventually say before returning to his glass of milk. Stomach grumbling in displeasure. The milk may have had some fat in it, but he still wanted food. Maybe he'd go down to the pier later and try to catch some fish. Perhaps the girl would even join him?

"Say, we don't exactly have enough money for food, perhaps you'd want to come fishing with me later?"

SC Used:

Spoiler:

Jutsu Used:

Spoiler:

Posts : 65

A voice reached Galateia‘s ears as she observed the innkeeper getting her beer. The warrior couldn‘t help but yawn as her tired brain tried to fix what has been said to her. Apparently it was the person whom the big fellow she just knocked out cold was bullying feeling thankful. Why would he thank Teia? What exactly has she done to be thanked? This child was odd... Galateia only acted upon her best interests and yet apparently this kid thinks she‘s a hero of some sort? The innkeeper looked at the warrior and at the kid, his eyes kept changing from one to the other.

„I believe you are mistaken, I did not do it for you. I just thought that this person was strong as he acted like someone I‘d like to fight. Now I feel underwhelmed, didn‘t get to fight at all...“ Galateia uttered as she turned around to face the person who decided to speak to her.

As her eyes measured up the young one, a bit pale and small visitor of the inn something felt wrong. He was puny and short but he felt kind of odd. Also his appearance reminded Teia of something. The girl‘s eyes kept blinking rapidly as she looked at the boy with a dazed and confused expression trying to remember who exactly this boy was.

„Eeeeek! It‘s a Jiangshi! Are you a Jiangshi? Why didn‘t you eat that man then? Or maybe you did want to eat him and that‘s why he was so angry at you?“ Galateia let out for the first time that day letting her emotions run wild. Her face went through a myriad of emotions: initially she was surprised, then shock changed to panic, then confusion, then excitement. What were the odds of meeting a Jiangshi so far in the port town?

The innkeeper finally put the glass of beer on the stand and looked at the situation that was playing out. He looked pretty afraid of someone. Teia couldn’t blame him, if she saw a pale white flesh eating ghost in her inn she’d probably be pretty scared too. For a moment the warrior looked at the Jiangshi behind her and thought for a moment, maybe she should fight him? “Hmmm… Fighting a spirit would suck, I bet they use cheap tricks and sorcery, that’s just stupid. I’ll leave the spirit be…” Teia realized and took a sip of the beer.

The flesh eating spirit wanted to know if Galateia wasn’t too young to drink alcohol. The girl laughed out and looked back at the ghost. “Sure, that’s why I’m not drinking alcohol, just beer…” the warrior smiled at the legendary spirit. For a hundred of years old spirit this pale being really didn’t know how the world worked, why would he think that beer is alcohol, if it was that’s what it would’ve been called. Such a silly Jiangshi…

“You’re staying here? I thought I’d be staying here too but now I’ll be afraid you’ll eat my guts, don’t try, I’m pretty strong, ya know!” Galateia replied as she took another gulp of the beer. She could hear some loud voices and yelling behind her, after another sip the lady felt a heavy hand smack down on her shoulder. The hand tried desperately to turn her around to face whoever owned that hand but they were unsuccessful and Teia just hung on to the chair as the man behind her huffed trying to move her.

“Oy! You busted our table, ya bitch, you better pay us back for our beer! That’s 5000 ryo for each of us!” the man yelled out. Galateia put her own beer down and turned around by herself making the man step backwards a couple of steps. “Don’t be afraid, this Jiangshi is friendly!” Teia laughed out looking at the scared brute that tried to get free beers for his crew. “Jiangshi? That’s why little dumb girls like you shouldn’t be drinking, ye start seein things!” the man turned back at his friends and the five men burst into laughter.

“Nah, remember when she tried to buy beer and a room for 300 ryo? She’s really dumb that kid, like I think she’s mentally challenged or something!” the one sitting by the wrecked table said and the five burst into laughter again. Galateia just turned back at her beer, she couldn’t really care less about some idiots, none of them really had it in them to properly challenge her, most of them couldn’t even hold her sword up properly. “You gonna let it slide for er so easily, Zoji? This kid beat up our pal and busted our beers, we cut up the last sailor who did that!” one of the five shouted out again.

As Teia put down her beer the man slapped it down onto the ground. “There! That makes you owe us 4000 ryo, drop your money kid!” the man relentlessly was looking for his death this evening. Galateia didn’t even turn back, her face was obviously twitching in annoyance and her hand was tensing up to reach for her sword. The warrior really didn’t want to spill any blood, she had a policy about only fighting with fists in bar fights. There was this one instance where this nice policeman explained to her that one can’t just fight in a town, that it’s a crime or something so she didn’t really want to be a criminal.

“Can’t… Don’t have it…” Galateia replied nonchalantly after calming down. “Well then you’re coming with us! You can be our slave for a year or two, after ya steal a thing or two maybe you’ll regain your freedom!” the man yelled out turning back at his pals, all of them burst into laughter in a synchronized manner again. The young lady didn’t even bother to turn at the men. “Don’t feel like it…” she replied bluntly.

Teia felt a strong impact behind her, the man punched her in the back causing the girl to bump into the stand with her chest. “Hitting people in the back isn’t nice… It’s cheating!” Teia grunted out, her tone visibly changed into a threatening and angry one as she stood up and turned around putting her hand around the handle of her sword. “Which one of you will fight first?” she grunted out again in the same life-threatening tone.

“Which one?! You hear that guys?! Which one!? She really is fucking retarded this bitch!” the man laughed out as all of the men stood up and pulled out their weapons. One of them used a knuckleduster, another one had a staff, the third one had a short sword, shorter than a kodachi even. The other one had nothing, he looked like he was a good fighter though, the one besides Galateia pulled out a knife. “Come on guys, let’s have some fun!” the bravest of the bunch yelled out.

Posts : 45

The girl's initial response to Aoi's prodding was to just brush him off. He had suspected that she had not interfered for his own sake, but it was still a kind gesture regardless. No one had ever stood up for him growing up, not even indirectly. After dismissing the idea that she had stepped in to help him, the girl took a moment to observe Aoi before suddenly jumping back and screaming something about a Jiangshi. "J-Jiangshi?" He stammered, confused "N-no, my name is... Aoi..." His voice trailed off to a mumble as he spoke, practically being drowned out by the mug of beer that was slammed onto the bar. The bartender was still extremely nervous and sweating, it was hard for him to control his shaking and as such, had spilled a bit of foam onto the counter top. Making his comment on the alcohol, the woman's reply absolutely baffled him. This girl seemed to follow no logic but her own naivety. "Um.. beer is alcoholic you know." He said again, but that smile on her face did not fade.

She was fascinating in her strangeness. She said whatever she wanted to say and did whatever she wanted to do without restraint or censorship of others. This girl lived by her own rules. She was, in practically every sense of the word, free. Aoi could not take his eyes off of her, this realization made her practically radiant in his eyes. Even after escaping his home, Aoi could still feel their chains pulling him down. He had trouble communicating with others, he had little understanding of cultural matters. The only reason he knew about drinking age was from a time he tried to steal a wine bottle. Until a year ago, he did not even realize that the words 'thank you' existed. Growing up, all he knew was to serve. There was no gratitude, only work. This girl though, had nothing like that. She did whatever she pleased, moving along at her own pace. It was spectacular.

She continued to blurt out nonsense when he mentioned he'd be staying the night. "Why would I eat you? I just said we should go-" Aoi's soft voice was cut off mid sentence as several men in the room found their voices and began shouting again, trying to rile themselves up. One approached the girl and grabbed her on the shoulder. Try as he might though, he could not pull her off the chair. He began shouting about wanting recompense for the drinks that had been spilt, demanding 5000 ryo. When she was unmoved, another man stepped in, trying to encourage his friend to take this further. The man, Zaji was his name, then smacked her drink to the floor, claiming that was worth 1000 of the ryo she owed them. That was when Aoi caught a glance of her face. The girl had a nasty twitch going on and a fire in her eyes that had caused the bartender to retreat out of fear.

Dismissing them verbally this time caused four more men to approach. A total of six burly, half-drunk sailors now surrounded the girl and Aoi, although he had been long forgotten. After demanding she be their slave and being dismissed again, it appeared they had enough of her attitude. Zaji punched her in the back, forcing the girl to bash her chest into the bar. That set her off. She hopped from her seat and placed her hand on the hilt of her blade. This got the men laughing as they each drew their own weapons. This was not good, as strong as she was, six on one in an enclosed space like this was dangerous. It was best he took action now. Floating upwards, Aoi sat himself on the bar and pulled out a paper scroll. "Okay guys, that's enough. Let's all just calm down before things get out of hand." He tried to speak with a calming tone, but it only angered the men more.

"Hey Zaji, ain't that the brat that started all this!?" The man that had just punched the girl then turned his attention onto Aoi. "Yeah, YEAH! It is! Right boys, new plan. Take 'em both down!"[/color] The group began to descend upon the two as Aoi sighed. Unrolling the scroll, he slammed his palm into the seal pattern and was engulfed by smoke. A moment later, an extremely large thud echoed throughout the bar. Aoi had just summoned his Yeti puppet. A monster standing seven feet tall and clad in steel. The puppet stood between Aoi and the group, fangs glimmering menacingly as he attached his chakra strings. "I warned you." He said softly, but there was ice in his voice. A chilling cold reserved for the moments he was prepared to kill. Raising his index finger, the puppet's right arm raised up, palm opening to reveal the sharpened blades it had for nails.

The appearance of the puppet was enough to give the men pause, but not enough to scatter them. Perhaps killing one off would shut them up. Aoi aimed for the leader, Zaji. He was unarmed and convinced his physical strength would make up for the lack of a weapon. Aoi was about to prove him wrong. Lowering his finger, the puppet dropped its arm, slashing straight for Zaji's face. The man was quicker than anticipated however, and was able to pull back at the last moment. The claws missed his face but were able to slice into his torso, leaving five long, bloody scratch marks. They were hardly fatal, but still enough to send him falling to the floor. The men fell back to their leader's side, helping him to his feet. [b]"That does it, KILL THEM! MAKE SURE THEY SUFFER!" Aoi then turned to the girl "I'm going to need some help here."

SC Used:

Spoiler:

Jutsu Used:

Spoiler:

Puppet Used:

Spoiler:

Chakra Remaining: 64/70

Spoiler:

Posts : 65

This day soon proved to be not that ordinary. Just as it approached its end something interesting started happening. First there was this first occasion in a long time to sleep in an actual bed, then there was this weird Jiangshi boy who didn’t know that he was dead and eating guts of the living claiming that he was just a boy. Galateia had to help him, spirits needed to roam free after all. Something terrible must’ve happened to the kid making him unable to cross to the Afterlife. Those thugs were really mean to bully the poor Jiangshi.

This spirit boy said the weirdest things: he claimed that he had a name – Aoi, that beer was alcoholic and tried to get her go do something with him. Was that his attempt to get them somewhere alone so he could eat her guts? That wouldn’t work on Galateia, she’s become pretty perceptive and smart over those several months of wandering and learned when she’s being played. Of course occasionally she still met some pretty smart people that ripped her off… Maybe a bit too often…

After the spirit named Aoi wondered why he should eat her Teia shrugged. “So you don’t know you’re dead yet? Maybe that’s why you’re not floating in the Afterlife instead being stuck here… Jiangshi eat people’s guts, you know…” the young lady tried informing her newly met spirit friend that he was a spirit so that he could accept the reality of his own past demise and move on. It was a fair plan but those scummy bandits interfered. The warrior was getting really pissed off by them, she knew quite well that she promised to the nice policeman who locked her up once that she won’t pull her sword unless she really has to, perhaps she still doesn’t need it…

“You guys are real jerks, you know? This poor spirit named Aoi is lost, trapped on Earth and doomed to eat guts until he is taken away and you guys bully him around. I don’t really need reasons to fight, I do it all the time but this time, you’re asking for it!” Galateia said in an ominous and intimidating tone. It was then that the Jiangshi used some sort of a trick, he summoned some sort of a monster, probably someone he met in the spirit world to aid him. It helped him quite a lot – the man called Zaji was injured and fell down on the floor. These guys should’ve known better than to pick fights with a spirit…

One man rushed at Teia with a staff trying to hit her with one side, the young woman didn’t even bother to defend herself, she just proceeded to throw a straight punch to the man’s face so he had no other options but to cancel his movement. If he didn’t – he’d end up just like his boss, toothless and on the floor. The bandit’s staff was used to block the warrior’s punch but it didn’t work out quite that way as he intended. Teia’s punch went right through his staff breaking it in half and then punching the man straight to the throat.

The unlucky fellow collapsed on the ground gasping for air. The two of his friends rushed in to aid him, to cover their ally up so that the ruthless girl doesn’t finish him off. The one with the knuckledusters tried to throw a punch but with a simple lean of her head Teia managed to evade it. She felt a sharp pain in her back. Then a soft impact pushed her forward on the floor. The girl moved her hand backwards and removed the small knife from her back. She’s been stabbed before by much larger things, still, she was getting sloppy. She hated fighting multiple people at once, that was not how fights were supposed to be!

The one with the knuckledusters charged at Teia right as she quickly twisted making her long blond hair hit him straight in the face making him flinch and take her next follow up attack straight as it was intended. The woman threw her punch straight to the man’s groin, the punch that took their boss out cold and knocked most of his teeth out now collided with the owie-spot on the man’s lower side. After recovering from the hit and grunting from the pain in her back Teia softly kicked the man in the jaw making him fall on the ground. She expected that the Jiangshi would keep the others away from her if they tried to cheat again.

The man threw his knife around from one hand to the other, “Oh yeah… You’re scared aren’t you? … Right?” he tried to intimidate her by being intimidated by her. It was a strange tactic from his side and it didn’t quite work. “Switch out guys!” the knife wielding man yelled as two of his friends traded the woman for the Jiangshi kid. These two that ran at her looked really worn out, either they were giving the spirit of Aoi a hard time or the spirit was wearing them out. They also had some blood on them, it could’ve been theirs, Jiangshi’s, their leader Zaji’s.

“You’re dead now!” “I wonder how your mommy feels about her little sunshine not coming home tonight?!” the two tried to intimidate her. “My mother is disgusted by me and my lack of desire to be a cutthroat, she’d be disgusted even more if she knew that her spawn was taken down by some small-time cheaters!” Galateia grunted out, her voice was filling with rage more and more and subconsciously her arm was reaching for the grip of her sword… It was so easy, just pull it out and kill those idiots! The one with the small blade charged together with the other – they were cheating again!

Suddenly something flashed in the air, a silver like essence, it kept flashing around again and again and as the divine dance of the silver winds ended there was only Galateia with a great sword in her arm. One of the men fell down bursting with blood from where he was cut multiple times, the other one still couldn’t believe the mush that was his right arm. He’d never wield a sword again, not if he was right handed or wielded a two handed blade. With a swift strike Galateia chopped his arm off while he was still in shock. She turned around and started to walk towards the exit – she’s done it now. If there still was any of the thugs that this Jiangshi boy didn’t take care of they’d have moved away letting the girl pass still failing to believe what had happened.

“Hey! Hey! Where do you think you’re going, murderer!!!” “She killed the man of our port town! Someone arrest her!” “What’s the point, they’ll hang her anyway! Let’s just kill her ourselves!” the other men in the inn started to make a ruckus. “Wait you guys, that man’s injuries were too great, there was no way to stop the bleeding from every injury so she cut his hand off so that he only had one to worry about. It’s crazy but she actually reduced his chance of dying!” one of the men who was probably a doctor yelled out. Without saying a word the girl left the inn.

“I didn’t understand a word that man just said… I cut his arm off because he’s a cheater, he deserves death for having no honor!” she shouted out halfway out the door so that everyone in the inn heard it. Then Teia continued her slow walk towards the forest. Her chance at a peaceful night’s sleep was ruined. It was too bad, she kind of liked that funny lying bowtie that the innkeeper had, maybe he’d have sold it for her for the 150 ryo she still had… That wound in her back also needed patching, she'll likely to it first thing before bed time.

"Why is it called bed time if I sleep by a tree? It should be called "tree-time"... Yeah... Sounds about right." small miniscule thoughts kept banging into Teia's head as she kept moving towards the small forest.

Stuff:

Posts : 45

"Bruk, with me! We're going to teach that kid a lesson" Their leader called out, the man with the short sword responded and the two began to approach Aoi and his puppet. The others turned their attention to the girl and began their assault on her. Two on one left him at a disadvantage when using only the Yeti puppet. Sure its size was menacing, but the steel plates were extremely heavy, making its movements slow and predictable. Aoi currently lacked the skill to compensate for that with his strings. Plus, the bar was too small to unleash any of his other puppets. Thankfully, due to the puppet's size, it would be difficult for them to flank around and strike at himself. Zaji was a big man and rather slow, even with that wound, striking him again would be difficult. The other man, Bruk, on the other hand, would be much harder. Of the group, he was the skinniest, yet the most agile. Against his Yeti, this man would prove to be the most troublesome.

Bruk moved to Aoi's left while Zaji moved to the right. Their strategy was simple, the puppet could not attack both at the same time. The moment it moved to attack one of them, the other could charge Aoi himself. In this situation he could not go on the offensive, so Aoi commanded the puppet to pull back with a simple tug. Standing just before himself, the puppet now acted as a massive wall. Its arm span alone at this point would prevent them from trying to get in close. "You can't hide behind that thing forever kid." The leader said, cracking his knuckles. He made the first attack.

Charging in, he attempted to juke around the puppet. Aoi's fingers twitched as the puppet's right arm stretched out before swiping forward. The arc so wide that the assailant had to retreat, least he suffer a second slash across his chest. Aoi's attention then turned to the skinny man who would have used this chance to find an opening. Indeed, he was moving with a lot more speed than his leader. He would have the reflexes to simply duck under the puppet's arm should Aoi repeat the same attack on him. Instead, he had the Yeti punch the floor, the weight of its metal hands crashed through the wood, forcing the man's retreat. This was going to be tricky, if they continued attacking one by one, the puppet's delayed motions would eventually let one through.

They switched up their tactics this time. The skinny man charged first forcing Aoi to use the Yeti to force him back. However he did not end his charge there. Falling back, he attempted to dart in again between the arm and body of the puppet. "I see, he plans to be a distraction so his leader can slip through unnoticed." Indeed, Zaji was moving in again now as Aoi's concentration was focused on his partner. A quick swing of the puppet's arm forced him back while he could continue to fight with the quicker man. Zaji was slow so he was easier to keep back, but Bruk was taking all of his focus to keep away. He had to make a choice, playing the defense would not get him anywhere in this fight. Which one was more dangerous to allow through? Zaji was obviously the stronger one physically, while Bruk was faster and armed.

Aoi's free hand flexed on the counter top where he sat as he came to his decision. Zaji was the only target he could realistically take down at the moment. The skinny man was too nimble and the space too cramped for the Yeti to catch him. Once Zaji charged in again, his fight was over. Aoi raised his entire arm and with a single sweeping motion, the Yeti lurched to life, barreling down on the man, grabbing him within its giant metal claws. "BWAAAAAAAAAGH!!" He screamed as they pierced into his back. Aoi could not tell if the wounds were fatal as he could no longer even see the man. Besides, he had more pressing issues now. Bruk, now free of obstacles, was now charging towards him, blade shining as it itched for blood.

That was when Aoi raised his left hand, finger pointing towards his foe.

The next scream of pain was Bruk's as his body was skewered by several kunai. His impressive speed had allowed him to dodge a couple, while the ones that did hit him were reduced to minor injuries, nothing fatal. Hopping back, he overturned a table and used it as cover to avoid another wave of kunai. A wave that would not come, Aoi only had six on his person and he had used all of them in that attack. He had secretly used his free hand to generate more chakra strings to remove the kunai from his kit just before he had ordered the Yeti to take out the leader. He then hid them behind the counter until Bruk had felt safe enough to launch his attack.

Switch out guys!" Called out one of the men who had been fighting with the girl. Bruk had no issue with that, probably figuring he'd have a better chance against her. Aoi was now faced with another burly man armed with metal knuckles. His first action was to free his partner from the puppet's grasp. Aoi had relaxed his control on it so it was an easy task for him. Zaji fell to the ground, bleeding but alive somehow. The other man got back to his feet, ready to fight again when there were more cries of pain. The girl had finally drawn her blade and displayed the true difference between them. The men fell to the ground, bleeding from lost limbs. The fight was over.

The girl began marching across the bar towards the exit while the patrons who had not partaken in the fighting began screaming she was a murderer. One man was tending to the wounded, but whatever he said, Aoi had tuned it out. All he saw now was the girl's back. "Time to go." He said quietly as he opened the blank scroll he used to summon his puppet, returning it to its confines. Using the chakra strings that were still attached to his kunai, he returned those to his kit. Aoi then flipped through a couple handseals before pushing himself off the counter. Bobbing in the air for a moment, he began to float after the girl just as she shouted back into the bar.

She was making her way back towards the forest at the edge of town, a good plan as the authorities would likely be swarming the place in a few minutes. Raising up to five meters, Aoi followed her. The woman was walking faster than he could fly without burning chakra, but he was able to keep an eye on her. Once she reached the treeline, she would have to slow down and that was when he'd catch up.

SC Used:

Spoiler:

Jutsu Used:

Spoiler:

Puppet Used:

Spoiler:

Equipment Used:

Spoiler:

Chakra Remaining: 54/70

Spoiler:

Posts : 65

What was with this Jiangshi kid? For some reason he followed after Galateia. It wasn’t even like he forgot to tell her something or anything, right as she was finished the boy just recalled his Yukidaruma-spirit friend and just left. Why did he want to follow her? Didn’t he have a soft bed in there? A lot of questions plagued Galateia’s mind as she walked on to the edge of the forest. The woman wasn’t afraid of the authorities, she didn’t leave because she was afraid or because she had to run away – she left because she was disgusted by this town.

What sort of town breeds warriors like this? Pitiful and pathetic excuse of a brawler who fights one opponent in a group, surrounding them and wearing them down like mountain wolves hunting a mountain goat. The likes of these men always pissed Galateia off, she just wanted to kill everyone who masked themselves as a noble and honorable warrior but fought with deception and shame. Not necessarily all ninja who use cheap tricks or all assassins. The world needed ninja, the world needed assassins, just the liars and cheaters who acted like they’re all that when in reality they were nothing more but rabbit poop and had about as much honor to them.

“What happened, Jiangshi-boy, did I take something of yours and forget to give it back?” Galateia asked allowing her back to turn back slightly and glance over her follower. She was interested as to why this kid would choose to go after her, perhaps after seeing how she fought the Jiangshi did start to wish for her guts after all. Stronger people probably had tastier guts, Galateia wasn’t really a gut scientist but common sense would suggest so.

Finally the edge of the small port town was in sight, the girl’s wound at the back was starting to ache and she could feel blood soaking through her white cloth. It wasn’t a life threatening wound, that sort of blade would have belonged to a shoe-maker and would’ve needed at least fifty proper stabs to kill somebody but it was an annoyance so the young woman decided to treat it. She just had to find a proper spot. Approaching a small apple tree Galateia quickly swung her blade multiple times cutting it up into smaller pieces of wood. Then Galateia took a small piece of flint out of her pocket and started a fire.

The warrior wasn’t really sure as to why did the boy choose to follow her but she figured that if she just ignored him and went on to her ordinary business he’d find her boring and go away. Galateia removed her armor and her clothes revealing naked skin covered with scars and burns of various sizes. It was a collection of scars gathered all throughout Teia’s uneasy life: some were from the training her parents gave her, some were from one of countless times she fought the boys just to prove she was stronger, some of those were from bandits poking holes in her as they did tonight. This was a relatively small wound, Galateia ripped off her sleeve, then cut off another small chunk of cloth off of it.

She was not entirely naked before the young man but she was not really bothered by nudeness, Galateia did not understand things like common decency or the sensitive gender difference topics. The small pesky wound was all that mattered to her and so she proceeded with the first idea that came to her mind unhindered by the moral norms of the society. After Galateia finished treating the small wound she uttered rather silently and with an annoyed tone.

“Wasted my clothes… Would’ve healed up by itself probably…” as she looked around the place sizing it up if it was fitting for sleep. They were rather close to the village but Galateia was not by any means a sensitive sleeper, if there were any Security Force officers coming from the small town she’d hear them before they circled around her – those were just instincts that the girl had mastered over the time she spent living in the wild. After putting on her damaged clothes and armor the warrior sat by the tree and looked at Aoi.

“I don’t know what’s your business with me, we’re not really friends, I didn’t save you, you didn’t save me. You look a bit funny and that amuses me so I’ll let you stick around if you want but don’t think I’ll wake you up at night when I decide to wander off. If you want to follow me you’ll actually have to follow me with your own strength, don’t be surprised if I wander off in the middle of the night without letting you know, that’s just how I am. Also if during our travels you find a comfortable home to stay – feel free to not tell me and just stay. I don’t do settling in, roaming the world looking for nothing is my goal, finding strong people to fight is how I go about that goal.”

After finishing summarizing her decision about what she’s going to do with him the girl let her head sink down and started getting ready for sleep. What was going on with this kid? Why was he alone? Did his family die or something? Is he Jiangshi or a kid? Galateia just really hoped that he didn’t start thinking of her as his long dead family or something. She wasn’t anything else but a wanderer and a warrior, someone who lived by the sword and only accepted honor and sword as the only truths in life.

“Also, don’t get attached to me, people like me don’t live very long. It’s a matter of time until I meet someone stronger than me and bloodthirsty but my code does not allow me to not fight them. I do whatever I want to do which doesn’t sit well with most people. Don’t look at this as a thing, be ready to move on when you lose track of me or when I die…”

Like that Galateia relaxed and let her thoughts start floating in the air, if the boy had things to say she would’ve heard it. Still, now sleep was the only option, overall this was a good day: Teia got a nice workout, had some fun times and fought a lot more people than she normally fought. Too bad it was quantity over quality…

[EXIT]

Posts : 45

It appeared that the girl had noticed his presence, slowing her pace shortly before they reached the edge of the town enough to allow Aoi to catch up. She stopped for a moment to ask him why he was choosing to follow her, although she called him Jiangshi again, whatever that was. "My name isn't Jianshi..." He mumbled, but was paid no mind. The girl simply continued her trek up the hill. The forest wasn't too far now, soon they'd be back in the wild. Another night without a bed and now he was broke, but honestly Aoi cared little about that. He found something far more interesting. He wanted to observe this girl more, she was free, utterly unrestrained by anything but her own personality. He wanted to see how this was possible, if he could perhaps be like that too. The only way that could happen was to follow her.

They did not travel far into the forest before the girl stopped. Looking back, they had gone deep enough into the trees to hide the lights and sounds of the port. Here it was dark and silent, even the stars were invisible to them. Hidden underneath a sheet of leaves and branches. The girl whipped out her sword once more, using it to chop down some branches and create a fire. Once the flames were burning bright and warm, she began to undress. In the firelight, Aoi was transfixed. Her body was covered in countless scars. Large and small, they appeared to be from different sources. Scars from cuts, beatings, stabbings, they littered her torso. Indeed, she had lead a very difficult life. Some of those scars were likely from brawls similar to what he had just participated in, but others were much older, baring resemblance to the scars he himself bore. Underneath that blue suit of his, Aoi shared similar wounds, although not nearly as extensive or numerous as hers.

She then began to tear at her clothing, wrapping it around her wound before uttering displeasure for having to do that. She had taken so many cuts in her life that the stab wound was nothing more than a minor annoyance to her. Once the wound had been treated to the best of her abilities, the girl's attention turned back to Aoi. Essentially, she laid down the ground rules. They were not friends and she would not treat him as such. If he wanted to continue following her, he would have to do it on his own. She would not wake him if he overslept, she would not stop him from going off on his own. Aoi only nodded silently to indicate he understood. He had not expected a friendship with her, his reasons for following the girl were completely selfish. Aoi was there to simply observe, to figure out how she ticked. Through her, he hoped to find answers to his own shackles.

Just before the girl nodded off to sleep, she added in one final message, to not get attached. She knew her lifestyle would get her killed sooner or later. It was only a matter of time until she encountered someone stronger than herself who would not hesitate to kill her. Retreat would not be an option, her pride would not allow it. Finally, sleep took the girl and she fell to sleep. Curling his knees up to his chest, Aoi lowered himself to the ground, nestling between some roots of a large tree across from the girl. She sounded so prepared to die, to her it was just a fact. It may not have been her desire but when it eventually comes, she would not care. Just, accept it. Even after what he had been through, Aoi could not see himself facing death with such conviction. Just another way this girl interested him.

Closing his eyes, he allowed the crackling of the fire rock him to sleep.

[Exit]
[END]