Vale of Blood and Water [I/O - Mizu]

The quill pen flowed between her fingers with steady rhythm, swinging through her fingers as she studied the pattern her fingers made the feather move through as she avoided the urge to write a letter to Arantima asking him how the meeting was going. She was finally getting a taste of what he had gone through every time she left on extended excursions. Her gaze was fixed on the blank stack of off white pages in front of her - when the near silence was broken. Soft scraping of nails on her door but at chest level so it couldn’t be vermin of any sort. The quill snapping to a stop as she turned her face to stare at the solid wood - tendrils of her silky black hair spilling over her shoulder with the twist.

With no heart to give away two of the occupants of Yugure to be heard, she narrowed her list further - Kinko or Kana Mi - either of the two coming to her room with such a silent request felt out of character. Rising from the stool she had been perched on, the folds of the shawl she held at her elbows drooped as she moved toward the door on silent feet. Pushing the door open wide enough for her top half to peek around the doorframe; hair falling free as the two toned gaze took in the hall in front of her door.

Expecting a familiar face she was instead greeted by a lithe figure leaned against the wall, a hood covering half their face - eyes flicked over his form as she took in the details that mattered. Barefoot - for stealth or out of familiarity, they were clean so he came from indoors; arms were limp at his sides. In the 2 seconds it took her to glance his covered face and acknowledge the details she had moved into the hall and closed the door behind her - the lock automatically clicking in place. Expression tight, she raised her chin and narrowed her eyes at the un familiar overly cocky male in her hall.

Be it an enemy somehow slipped through or a servant overstepping his bounds she would be prepared; thus why the hand that had pulled the door closed behind her stayed at her back - forming the six hand seals needed for Mayfly; holding the merging until she learned a little more. All the servants in the home had heartbeats so the mixture of unease and obvious facts staring her in the face shifted her body for her. Instead standing with more regality and authority, the headseals completed she was able to bring her arm around to cross them; as if overcoming being caught off guard.

The pale white and deep violet with crimson eyes stared at his form with accusation, “Explain yourself.” The tone was akin to the first winter’s chill running down your spine.

WC 480
Jutsu Used:
Starting AP 2000
https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t45287-one-handed-seals-v7#354226  AP cost 15 to start and per post used
https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t41633-mayfly-v7#332117 AP cost 100
USED 115

AP ending 1885

The hood slid free, and as he raised his palms her body went completely still - like a deer listening for a sliver of danger - she stared at the man incapable of looking up at her. The stillness broke with a sharp creasing of her eyebrows as she scowled at the first bit of information. On what grounds would Arantima bring some random being into their home without so much as a word to her.

At the next exposure of information the stillness melted, boiling into rage instead. His nervous hopeful gaze met burning rage and indignation - hands clenching at her sides. “”Plucked from space.. And time?” Her voice wasn’t unsure, no it was sharp and demanding - going up at the end to a pitch that would make any Kyuketsuki wince. Striding forward and grabbing the front of his shirt she shoves him up against the wall to her left - mismatched eyes blazing up at him.

“All I asked for was transparency and honesty and he brings you into this world and doesn’t even give me the slightest bit of warning.” Dragging him forward a few inches she slams him back into the wall, huffing loudly before shoving away from him and punching the wall across from him over and over until her knuckles split - only when she felt the warmth drip down did she stop.

No heaving chest, though her injured hand trembled and she spoke as if the last twenty seconds didn’t happen. “I don’t know what version of me you knew but I am not her and you severely underestimated the risks involved.” Closing her eyes, back still to Valeiru, and hung her head as she nearly whispered, “He knows I can’t stand uncontrolled circumstances.”

wc 287

The scoff that erupted from her was so sudden there was no way to hold it back, the rift those initial words of response opened in her mind took her by surprise. What version of her did he know to think that something so sudden would be acceptable or even responded to with anything less than aggression. The thud, though soft, made her jump in the near silence - the tensing of her shoulders as she strained to listen, unable to turn to look at him just yet. She had so many questions that swelled to the forefront demanding attending to first that she was grateful to not be facing him as her eyebrows furrowed in pained concentration as she reigned them in.

He was clearly from a lifetime where her extreme closed off behavior after the fracture caused by the last Kage Summit hadn’t progressed as far; or at least from some version of her that hadn’t lost all shred of faith in society. The soft sandpaper sound that moved up her body as he slid up the wall made her raise her chin - righting herself with a gaze that burned determination the white eye peeked over her shoulder at him. The next words were meant as a test, if this were truly an alternate version she knew his next most Arantima moves would be to go to the hidden Kyuketsuki Tomb she had told him about. Of course, like her, he too would be engrossed by the place and devour its information - including the royal language.

“Voram gshafaerr durti ya zveths loex?”, the sounds that slipped over her lips were a mixture of hisses and sudden stops - at least an untrained ear would hear such sounds. If she were to believe him he would need to answer her back in kind. “Erdsur usv Nexvynthrohvynya?” As she said the last words in their born language she turned fully to watch his reply and reaction.

WC 324 - 9 for hidden language = 315

The moment the sound hit her ears her eyes relaxed in a manner she was unconscious of; the first experience of nostalgia as someone spoke the language she believed she would never hear again from another's lips but hers. Eyes closing without preparation she felt the crater those words created in her chest like a cannon blast.

If it had been that long she would be a completely different person, but he also saw the truth of the situation to a degree she didnt expect from either version. The eyes once holding anger and exasperation melted into a blank comprehension as she started at the floor between his knees - then to his gaze. Being confronted with her own failure, even without the hostility she expected she felt responsible. She had nothing to do with this man’s path but she felt the draw to him nonetheless.  He may have tampered his rage finally but she was only just entering her acceptance era again and the veil that held the personalities often bled together. The time between the two was enough to make her see him in a different way for once - not as much a dependent.

Feeling safe in a way she hadn’t in years - the truth just known she bit the side of her cheek, an effort to control her mannerisms. As the dull iron smell filled the room from her reactionary bite, taking in his proximity and lack of hesitation to be that close. Either she had conditioned her family in time or they had grown long enough to realize she was uncomfortable with closeness. “Wux gertij dta taaljss wux.” She stepped closer, staring at his chin before grabbing it and tiling it to look at her squarely.

“Ya mshafaerjta sjek wuxvu gerti rhi osshi hurrhi. Urr ya wuxl terveths?”, With the last words she couldn't help but lean in as eagerness took over.

WC 315 - twc 298

Had their heights not been vast, she might have felt the exhale on her face as the tormented expression melted into a face exuding serenity. The expression brought life to what could have been described as a dead man walking. Every minute adjustment was noted by the familiar mismatched eyes - dancing across a face she had no recollection of; and it showed. So when his hand rose to clasp in salute over his heart her fingers gripped ever so tightly, holding him in place - or so she told herself.

She had heard his words, had been repeating them in quickening succession as she processed them from every angle. Questioning herself, ‘Why don’t you just leave?” the snide mental voice was like a crack through the haze that had begun forming in her head. Gerti, ‘That's expected of them is it not?’, the voice argued, fairly argued honestly. Scrunching her eyebrows together as the thought sparked, her gaze making a once over of his face and catching on the corner of his mouth - turned up. Gvyves, the voice didn’t have a snappy retort to that one - and she knew why. Fingers slowly released his jaw as if making to step away, flattening down to smooth over his shirt front.

“Osshis musvvuthyaz.”, with those simple words she fisted his shirt and dragged him down to her lips, raising on her toes to bridge the gap as though it were all taking too long. The kiss was broken soon after beginning as she let out a breath, lowering her head to lean her head on his chin. “Wux rauxj osshi jmalsvir.”

WC 268 - 8 language = 260