[Action] 03 - Sopping wet

[souhi_no_arashi]

Growling Kurogane unbundled his cloak and headpiece, wringing one out and shaking the other a little drier, but it didn't do much good. He was still soaked from head to toe and pissed about it to boot.

That river spirit would regret its mischief if he could summon up a proper storm in his ire. He would flood it so completely that it would lose its banks and channel to teach it a lesson...

But given his situation, it really wasn't feasible. So instead all he'd managed was to blow a giant chunk of land out of the middle of the channel and now it was pooling in the new void before continuing on its merry way. Tch. He didn't hear or see sign of the spirit coming to laugh at them, so he figured he'd made his point at the very least. Maybe it would think twice before playing with the next crossers even after he'd been assured safe passage.

Not that he or Mokona had not crossed the narrow point of the river safely. They'd just managed to get soaked doing it due to a convenient surge in the flow of water and rocks along the bed sliding conveniently out from under foot.

Muttering unintelligibly, he tossed the still dripping cloak over a low branch and hung the head piece and his dripping wet bag (containing the lamp still thankfully, nothing had been lost in their little dip) and cask next to it and then proceeded to strip off his top to wring that out next.



(( OOC: Feel free to find them anyone who wants. And, Foxfire, feel free to have saved Mokona from the soaking too, of course. Mokona is resourceful at removing herself from harm's and mischief's way pretty often after all. XD ))

Comments

[blackkirin.livejournal.com]

Taiki shrank back towards the tree again quickly at the narrowing of the man's eyes. Kurogane had something about him that warned the boy not to get too close and the reddish eyes looked like the man was thinking about having him for his dinner. Taiki gulped slightly and shook his head.
"To go home." He whispered softly to himself before glancing at the rabbit and the girl. "Sorry to bother you..." He started backing away with the intent on leaving.

[souhi-no-arashi.livejournal.com]

Kurogane lifted an eyebrow. Skittish, timid thing. No place being out here alone. What the hell was he thinking? The child didn't really answer his question aloud, but Kurogane heard the soft word 'home' at least and it was fairly obvious what the boy meant.

"And home's the 'temple,' huh? And where is that temple?" he asked, in not quite as gruff a tone. It wasn't like he was pissed at the child. He was just soaked, a bit cold, and thoroughly annoyed in general. But even speaking neutrally, Kurogane didn't really come off as the "friendly" sort either way.

[blackkirin.livejournal.com]

Rough bark tickled his palm as he touched the comforting mass of the tree next to him. It would be rude to leave when he was still in a conversation. He hadn't exactly meant the temple, but either place would be better than being lost and alone.

"The temple?" Taiki thought for awhile but since he didn't exactly know where it was himself other than to know which mountain range it was in, it was rather hard. "It's on a mountain with a huge maze, and there are a few other mountains around it. And there are lots of flowers now." Taiki tried thinking more about how to describe it. "And there are four gates at the bottom of the mountain and a huge wall."

[souhi-no-arashi.livejournal.com]

Hn. Sounded like a sacred mountain of some sort. Which made sense if it had a temple on it. However, it wasn't like he could remember a specific one matching that rather vague description.

"Does it have a name?"

[blackkirin.livejournal.com]

"A name?" Taiki looked startled and shook his head quickly. He'd never heard it called anything specific, they'd just used 'the temple' or 'the pavilion' or 'the upper loon pond' to describe things. He guessed that his description didn't help much so he sighed. He wasn't even able to answer Kurogane's questions right.
"The sages told me they were opening one of the gates soon, so they'll be worried soon." Taiki blinked and looked at Kurogane. "Ah! They're all women, does that help?"

[souhi-no-arashi.livejournal.com]

(( OOC: Ack, gah, sorry! I forgot that they are both on hiatus and *is a spaz* ))

Kurogane considered for a moment then eyed the kid once more. "Aren't you a boy?" he asked slowly. If it was all women, why did they have a lone boy living with them?

[blackkirin.livejournal.com]

((*l* No worries, I was waiting for all/any of you to come back and plotting. Poor Kuro may soon have the urge to pull his hair out though...))

Taiki nodded and looked at Kurogane with open curiosity. His hair was a bit longer than he used to wear it so he wondered... "Do I look like a girl with my hair longer? I didn't think about that..." Taiki trailed off and fiddled with the ties on his tunic. He was starting to dry off a bit thankfully so he wasn't dripping anymore.

[souhi-no-arashi.livejournal.com]

A twitch began to develop as Kurogane shook his head. "Why is a little boy living with a bunch of women on a sacred mountain, huh?" he tried again, much more to the point, even as his hand went to the back of his wet hair, fingers going through shorn close locks.

Besides long hair did NOT make someone look like a woman! he thought in irritation, thinking of the long hair he'd lost when they banished him.

He's going to EAT ME! DX

[blackkirin.livejournal.com]

At the twitch Taiki shrank back a little bit but managed to keep himself from running away. He hadn't dealt with strangers, much less grown men of the irritable persuasion, for over a year. It was harder than he remembered!

"Because they were taking care of me." Taiki answered logically. "They said they'd been searching for me for a long time since I was lost, and about a year ago they found me and took me back. So now we all live together." And he was really starting to miss them and their calm assurance, too.

[souhi-no-arashi.livejournal.com]

Kurogane lifted an eyebrow at him again. Temple women taking care of and searching for a little boy... there must be something special about this kid then. They would definitely notice him missing at some point. Sooner rather than later if he was that important....

But until then, he was out here alone in the woods and seemed rather helpless. He sure didn't look like he could defend himself agaist much of anything if it came down to it.

Tch.

"They'll come looking for you again if you're that important. You should find someplace safe and stay put until they do. Otherwise something's going to just eat you out here," Kurogane explained gruffly. "Or you'll get robbed or something."

[blackkirin.livejournal.com]

Taiki took a few long moments to think that over. True, it might be better to go downstream and find a town rather than try going back upstream. He was supposed to be able to tame monsters, but so far he hadn't had any luck at all with that. He still thought the animals thought he was being silly when he tried. If he was in a town he could at least find out where he was in any case and go from there. Maybe he could even find a messenger bird... Wait, that would require money probably. Taiki suddenly checked his pockets only to find a few acorns, a frog, and a wet feather. He let the disgruntled frog go back into the river gently. So that left him with just his clothing then, but maybe he could a job?

Taiki stood up again with a more determined look and nodded to himself. "I should go to a town then, right? Do you know of one?" Taiki looked up at the man curiously.

[souhi-no-arashi.livejournal.com]

Frowning, Kurogane watched the boy empty his pockets only to find nothing of any value. The next question only furthered his opinion that this kid was fairly helpless out here.

"Supposedly there's two major towns on either side of this forest, further south into this land, but I haven't found either yet. Otherwise, there were a few smaller places I've passed since leaving the Eastern kingdoms..."

He eyed the boy's much shorter legs and figured it would be quite a walk for him on top of that. Not to mention that Kurogane himself had been targetted by bandits. While they had been idiots to try someone like him, this little scrap of a boy would be easy pickings.

...Not that it was his problem.

[blackkirin.livejournal.com]

Taiki closed his eyes for a few moments and listened to the birds chattering and felt the wind on his face. He recalled his human father once telling him that if he ever got lost, find a stream and follow it down rather than up. It took less work, and eventually he'd come to a road or a town. But what if the stream branched off later? He tried remembering the maps he'd seen but all he could remember was random forests and mountains that hadn't gone into much detail. Finally he opened his eyes and nodded slightly. It was better to keep closer to the mountains than to stray too far.
"Thank you, Kurogane-san!" He smiled cheerfully now that he'd made up his mind and turned to start heading back towards the mountains. But first... he unfastened his tunic and tied it around his waist so that his undershirt would dry faster while he walked. Then held in a wave of nausia.

[souhi-no-arashi.livejournal.com]

Not his problem. Not his problem.

He watched the boy walk away, clearly making up his mind to wander away alone.

"...oi."

Damnit. He'd opened his mouth.

"Do you even know what direction you are going?"

Not to mention he was still rather wet. He should at least dry his clothing. Didn't he have any common sense? Tch.

[blackkirin.livejournal.com]

Taiki looked back at Kurogane in startlement at the question. He nodded politely and pointed, "I'm going towards the mountains. If I follow the river up again, maybe I'll find the big gates."

Taiki blinked and then looked at Kurogane curiously while the fact that his choice was pretty illogical for a kid sailed over his short stature. "Are you going to the mountains? Is there a town up there?"

[souhi-no-arashi.livejournal.com]

"I'm not. I'm heading west for now. Eventually we'll come to a town of some sort though...."

Kurogane knew he'd regret his next words and wasn't entirely certain why he even bothered, but maybe this was a test. A sacred temple with a lone important boy... maybe his sister was testing him somehow. If he could prove himself again quickly, maybe that would be the end of this nonsense.

"If you won't be a nuisance and stay out of my way, you could follow us to the next town. There will at least be a map there and you could find your mountain."

[soel-ofthe-lamp.livejournal.com]

Kurogane was actually a nice person under the growling and grumpiness, huh? And maybe if Taiki was with them, his sweet personality would bring out even more of Kurogane's inner niceness! Mokona sang out from the sidelines.

"With more people, we can all have more fun together, right~?"

[blackkirin.livejournal.com]

Taiki looked up at the man with wide, astonished eyes. He hadn't expected the stranger to offer to let them travel together. Then he turned in startlement as the bunny-thing spoke up cheerfully. Finally he nodded and broke out into a smile. "Thank you very much! I'll try not to be any trouble!"
Taiki made it two or three steps before starting to fall forward right on his face though. There was the smell of blood on him from some scratches, and after the long trip down the river and the excitement of finding himself in such an unknown place, there was only so long that a boy could keep himself awake.

((Yeah, couldn't help it! But yeah, Taiki's going to pass out for awhile from exhaustion!))

[souhi-no-arashi.livejournal.com]

Kurogane watched as the various emotions flit over the boy's face quite plainly before he answered him.

...hn. At least this way maybe the white thing would have someone else to babble at.

When the boy began to fall, red eyes turned skyward, rolling as he begrudgingly walked over to the fallen child. Frail little thing, wasn't he... "What happened to not being any trouble? Tch," he grumbled, leaning down and scooping the slight body up easily. He slung the boy over one shoulder and held him in place, glancing at his own clothing still hanging from the tree. It would have to do for now, he guessed. Snatching them down, he glanced sidelong to where the girl had appeared from before, curious if she'd run off or not.

(( OOC: SO, if Sakura likes she can come and say some stuff or we can leave it off assuming she'd skittered off at some point because Kuro's a grumpy-pants XD ))

[souhi-no-arashi.livejournal.com]

(( OOC: So, since Fay sent that letter conveniently enough, can I go on assuming that Kuro could have asked about it and the bird? If so, he's gonna figure he can dump Taiki at this tower-place then since the sages have contacted Fay there already and could find him there easily enough. Want to ask you first though since it's assuming that Taiki would offer up the information upon being asked. ))

[blackkirin.livejournal.com]

((OOC: Sure! That works really well for me, though I'd figured that it would take a day or three for the bird to find Taiki. Should we start a new action post for that, or use this one?))

[souhi-no-arashi.livejournal.com]

(( OOC: Yeah, it would have. And they'll have to follow the bird for a day or two back too, but don't worry about making an action post. Mari offered up Fay to start something and set it up for them to get there. Unless you wanted to RP some of them on their way there, which I'm fine with. If so, go ahead and do an action post and I'll jump in. XD ))

[blackkirin.livejournal.com]

((OOC: *sweatdrops* Sorry about the semi-disappearance, my parents are back in the country for the summer so they kidnap me for family time off and on. Eventually word would probably get around that Taiki's missing, so neer-do-wells are a possibility, but otherwise that sounds great to me!))

[souhi-no-arashi.livejournal.com]

(( OOC: Oooh, I see I see. Well that be fine with me and uh, I already started it, so here ya go. XD ))

[blackkirin.livejournal.com]

((OOC: YAY!!))