There and Back Again

The Mission's:

Arathel and Her Stats:

In the beginning, the Creator brought forth the shining jewels of the universe and all their secrets. One such jewel was the world that would be known as Earth. Its secret hidden within its world, two distinctive land masses called continents, hold home to the planet, each connected to the other by a giant, ravenous ocean. The Creator fashioned into this world a way in which man himself might one day inherit his power. He created twin Dream Wievers which could be used to unlock this secret, granting the gift of the Creator. Every one hundred years, the alignment of the upper skies creates a beam of light, which penetrates the depths of these lands, activating it for a short time causing rifts. At this time, the keys may be used to unlock its secrets. Many men attempted to possess these relics, but the world was not yet ready. Then, there arose one that the Creator and his host of followers could not destroy. Jema, a fallen follower, captured these relics. The Creator, in desperation, sent Enzuru - his only begotten son - to Earth...and then left the affairs of men forever. After a battle that raged for a hundred days, Enzuru defeated Jema and retrieved the stolen Weivers. Teaching that the world was not yet ready for such power, he hid the ancient relics. But Enzuru prophesied that one day, many millennia in the future, when the world was in grave danger, they would once again be found - and the power they could unlock would save the world from destruction. That time is now.


She finds it easier to navigate this time, now that there is enough light to give form to her surroundings. With every step, she commits the passageways and the doors that line them to memory. She rounds two corners before passing the familiar bathing room and continues down that corridor until she finds a set of doors left partially open to what appears to be quite a modest, unembellished room within. Yes—exactly what she is looking for.

The autumn morning air is quite potent in this removed corner of the pavilion, so he quickly scans around for a hearth of some kind to light. There is a row of kamado stoves against the exterior wall but finds no remaining fuel of any sort in their stone-hewn pits. A brief survey of this space yields a smaller door to a storeroom on the adjacent wall, where he finds charcoal briquettes, among other miscellaneous essentials. She wastes no time in loading one of the stoves and lighting it with the use of kindling and matches. She’s also found among the supply stock.

And now, the matter of food.

There is a vat of rice, so she fills a pot with a scoopful and some water from the cistern. To her dismay, she spots fragments of ice crystals beginning to form at its surface, so she knows it will be some time before it will come to a simmer. Along the shelves and counters, she finds many nondescript tins and ceramic jars—teas, dried goods, fermented preserves. Perfect. A simple bowl of ochazuke might do, then. A preferred item of hers, as she’s never been bothered to spend so much time preparing meals for herself. Ochazuke was quick and convenient, making good use of leftover ingredients lying around from any prior meals. Arathel lights a second stove before filling a kettle to set over its flames to boil.

In one bowl, she spoons in some miso paste from a sealed jar, along with some strips of nori. In anothis, she soaks a handful of dried shiitake caps she’s found in basketfuls. There are a variety of tea leaves stocked in this kitchen as well, she finds as she sniffs through each individual tin. There are some she can’t quite place, but she settles on a simple green tea with bits of jasmine mixed in, sprinkling them in a beautifully glazed celadon pot she finds among the wares. Ah, right. Mustn’t forget—another handful more for the ochazuke as well.

While she waits for the rice to cook, Arathel curiously sifts through the rest of the stock items here. This kitchen is mostly empty as one would expect, and the only ingredients remaining are what seem able to last indefinitely on these shelves and pantries. Among the various containers and jars, she finds one particular one tucked away deep inside the pantry behind the rest. Her hand blindly traces what feels like a misshapen hemp sack, and she pulls it out from the depths. It feels hard and lumpy to the touch, yet light in its weight. Her curiosity urges her to then undo its twine and peer within. Burying her hand into its contents, she pulls out something that feels small and completely gnarled. Just what on earth…? And it hits her right. Renkon. Lotus root.

She stares at the little shriveled, deformed thing plucked from the sack. Piles of them in dried slices. Goodness, she’s forgotten how strange and unappetizing these things have always looked to her in their dehydrated state. She’s forgotten, too, when was the last time she’d sampled them. ‘Hm. Sure. Why not then,’ she thinks. She adds some to the soaking bowl along with the mushroom caps. She doesn’t quite know what to do with them with the limited ingredients she has on hand, but it’s been quite a while. Something about the sudden nostalgia begs her appetite for them.

In all the time it takes for the rice to finish cooking, Arathel basks in the warmth of the ovens’ flames. She drains the reconstituted shiitake and renkon before adding a scoopful of rice to it, leaving the remaining in its pot, covered. With the water over the second stove at a simmer, she fills the celadon teapot to brew and pours the rest into the smaller bowl of miso paste.
While diligently pouring the scalding water from the kettle, his eyes can’t help but notice the third set of doors to be found in these kitchens. Surely, it must lead out into some other room or hall, considering the proximity, and she hasn’t explored any of the chambers here in the pavilion other than a few she’s been shown. Damn that pesky, meddling curiosity of hers. Why must it perturb her peace so now, of all times? When the welcoming warmth of the ovens right there before her ought to be more than persuasive enough for her to stay and take her meal here? Fine. An acceptable price for those prying, tiresome instincts of his, apparently. As if they hadn’t already gotten him into enough of a predicament so far.

After another quick rummaging, she finds some utensils and a tray to load all her dishes and wares onto. With her ever deft, coordinated prowess, she navigates herself effortlessly past these sliding doors, leaving the entire load in her hands undisturbed in the least. Once she shuts the doors behind her and turns around, she is given pause by the marvel of the space before her.

The food she had dreamt from the night before is now apparent on the mahogany table in front of her. Was she so out of it that she thought its presence was a mere vestige of her memory? No. That couldn’t be it. She did, in fact, dream of the food. But yet, here it is seemingly, appearing out of thin air. It is so strange to her. She walks forward to place her bowl at the end of the table as she continues to take notes on the assortment of goods before her. Her eyes wandered as she heard the faint sound of someone screaming from outside the house. Immediately heading out of the room, into the main chamber, and finally passed the anteroom. She found herself outside underneath the vermillion gates that led to her home.

The autumn breeze was chilly but definitely not cold. Gray clouds blanketed the skies giving everything underneath a bleak tone. Walking out onto the open path, she watched as a kid ran by with a rather enormous stuffed bear. Something that was definitely not purchased within the confines of Konoha. As she watched, she also started looking for the source of the scream which she found immediately. There, attacking a man, was a dark-toned, ghastly figure with eerily colored veins, antennae, and tendrils on its body, standing roughly three feet tall.

The Creature:

“Get this thing off of me!” The man shouted.

“I’m going to rip apart your insides and bathe in your blood,” the creature growled as it swiped its sharp tendrils at the man.

Arathel immediately sprang into action by taking out the few senbon placed in her back pocket and swiftly throwing them at the creature, making a direct hit. The three senbon lodged themselves into the back of the eerie creature, which then in turn, screamed out as it looked back at Arathel. “You bitch,” it hissed at the now questioning Arathel. However, instead of the creature just following, or even making an attack on her, it seemingly dissipated into thin air as if it were smoke.

TWC: 1,530

Yukio had been in the large garden that existed behind his home, practicing his Wood Release and committing its use to memory, when the screaming started.  He dashed into the house, grabbing what little gear he had as a fresh Genin and ran out the front door into the autumn morning.  He missed the bowl of piping hot miso ramen and his favorite brand of juice that was sitting on the table, although it had not been prepared by anyone in the home. As he rushed through the street he came upon the tail end of a conflict between a civilian man, a konouchi of Konoha, and what appeared to be some dark, menacing little imp.  If it wasn't currently hurling obscenities at the shinobi, Yukio may have considered the thing cute.  The Senju teenager watched in fascination as the creature dissipated into mist before he noticed the movement closing in behind her.  "Behind you! Yukio formed two handseals and a spit a one centimeter thick and fifteen centimeter long senbon made of water at the creature that attempted to launch itself at the back of the other shinobi.  The water senbon pierced deeply into the chest of the creature and it started dissipating before it even hit the ground.

"What the hell are these things?" Yukio asked the other two, hoping they may have some light that could be shed on the situation.  He glanced around the street, watching to see if any other creatures made to attack them.

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WC: 250
Starting AP: 1,111
-8AP for Water Release: Mouth Shot
Final AP: 1,103