The Hamlet Plagued by Gnomes

Gnome-Body Knows - [ Required WC: 500 ]

It was a day like any other,. Another stroll through the woods happening upon yet another village down the path. This one had maybe a hundred total people inside, but had a small butcher shop and a lovely little bookstore. Overall, the place was quiet. Most of the young folk left for the bigger cities with few left behind to tend to the elders. Very few children roamed around. In fact, it seemed the usual age range was between forty and eighty years of age with most on the upper end of the scale.

As Masume stopped at the butchers for some meat to boil in her cups of noodles, a granny noticed her marking of the ninja; her blank metal-plated headband tied around her waist. The elder explained her crops in her garden were disappearing ever since she knocked over and broke one of her various garden gnomes. She suspected the other gnomes were upset about the death of their friend although it was merely an accident. She looked very guilty, rubbing her hands out of nervousness. She seemed like a well-meaning lady, and was offering a reward for help, though Masume wasn't sure about taking such a large amount from an older lady. Still, the granny insisted.

Once the granny led Masume to the house, she got to work, investigating, whilst the granny worked dedicatedly on a task that seemed almost like a puzzle from within her residence. However Masume paid little attention to it. She had a job to do before nightfall and she sure as hell was going to do it.

Gnomes? It can't be right! Sure there's an ancient legend saying that when one isn't looking they like to cause mischief. However, it's just a myth. It has to be. However, IF they were real, and IF one of their kind was killed, by accident or not, surely there would have to be some comeuppance. Strange that this all started after the gnome broke. Perhaps this scene SHOULD be treated like a murder scene...

Masume begins searching the area in which the gnome had been shattered, and surprisingly there was little evidence other than a bunch of mud from recent gentle rain in the area the broken gnome had once inhabited.  It made little sense, though there were some small paw-like tracks around the area, possibly left by squirrels burying their troves of goodies.

Well, the only option left was to stakeout the garden and watch for signs of life by this point... maybe it was gnomes after all? No... stop being a child, Masume! Gnomes aren't real! But is there any other choice? Whatever it was that was doing this was alive, right? Unless it was a natural phenomenon... still, the best thing to do would be to patrol and wait and see.

As Masume patroled and hid around the house, she practiced using her wind release chakra to mask the noise from her slow and steady footsteps. By focusing the chakra of her body into her feet,  and paying careful attention to where and how she placed weight on her feet, she found that she could easily mask the sound of her footsteps. It was something taught at the academy for people with the wind element, however, at the time, Masume felt focus on other techniques was much more crucial.

Suddenly there was movement. Masume froze noticing a blur of brown weaving through the plants. Was this the gnome? Was it actually real?!

Within seconds Masume charged the creature, dispelling the partial Quiet Footsteps Jutsu, grabbing one of the grannie's crates from the porch and tossing it onto the ball of fluff that had started to run in fear.

The box rattled and shook as squeals errupted from the crate. It sounded horrific.

Masume slowly approached, wondering how the creature could have been caught so easily.

"Easy, Gnome," She warned, "I won't tolerate your troublesome behavior any longer, and banish you from this residence!" she exclaimed lifting the now silent and stilled box quickly only to find...

A dead-looking giant weird rat thing. Wait... those teeth aren't rodent teeth... is this an...

OPOSSUM!

Masume exhaled. See there was a logical explanation, after all!

She checked over the foul smelling, stilled creature.

Whilst the small beast was subdued in its frozen stupor, Masume shook her head and scolded the poor creature. "Tsk tsk tsk... stealing vegetables from the Garden, friend?"

The creature, still frozen with fear was completley zoned out. It was almost as if it were a zombie; brain-dead; not a thought behind those eyes; Smooth-brained; no ridge or bumps, no valleys or lumps; Just an adorable little weirdo trying to stay alive.

"Let's get you fixed up and out of here," she said in a hushed voice, "before the granny finds you and makes you into a stew"

After tending to the wounded paw, she hid the creature, still terrified in her backpack, leaving the zipper slightly open to make sure the poor thing didn't suffocate.

Just as Masume slipped on the backpack, the old lady emerged from her house. Before Masume could say a word, the elder beamed "I don't think the gnomes will give me any more trouble now!" In her wrinkly tanned hands she held a crackled gnome pieced together with pine resin.

"Oh? But I found the culprit and..." Masume started when she was interrupted

"There's no need!" explained the granny. "You must release him at once! I've already made ammends through prayer. I was told to do surgery on the poor thing shortly after you got here to distract the troublemakers! Eduardo is all better now, and can continue to guard my garden!"

"Uh..." Masume was at a loss for words.

The elderly lady thanked Masume profusely as Masume pretended to let the "invisible" gnome go by request of the granny.

After payment was received, Masume continued back to the town to peruse the bookstore once again and possibly buy a new technique book. She still remained puzzled by the event that had just taken place, though, and couldn't quite shake them from her mind

What an interesting lady...

After leaving the village and gaining a considerable amount of distance from it, Masume released the marsupial, sticking around only to make sure he recovered from being scared stiff and to make sure he was on his way, before heading off on her next misadventure.

[ WC: 1046 ]

[ Claiming +10 to Chakra ]
[ Claiming 250 / 250 for Wind Release: Quiet Footsteps ]
[ Claiming 796 / 2000 toward Apothecary Skill if Allowed ]
[ Claiming 1000 ryo ]
[ Claiming 5 AP ]


[Exit]