The Day of Thunder

Norikage shook his head. "Like I said before, I didn't come here on the old man's request. Also, I'm not convinced they left here due to the Kami arriving, at least not in the sense that most left their far flung villages." He faced the others properly now. "Something happened, and still is happeni...

"I suppose I have to ask you why."

She hunched her shoulders, as if warding off a chill. "What can you do, once you know?"

"That howl... sounded real to me."

Taking a steadying breath, she continued, "Though it does ask a fair few questions about this village. I've been in places going bad... going... mad... and none of them were as bizarre as this place."

That drew her attention fully, her gaze boring into the mist with a mixture of fury, fear, and hunger, before she composed herself.

"Was that what you listened for, Bayushi Norikage?"

Her voice was forced into a calm tone, but even a casual listener could detect the tension in it.

Oddly that answer drew a dark expression over Yukara's features, but she just shrugged, expression mulish. Turning away from the river, as if putting if from her thoughts, she cast her gaze over the vegetation, mist, and damp... tapping her bisento haft against the soft ground absent-mindedly, and t...

"Evidence."

Yukara gave the woman a quizzical look. "What does the evidence tell you, and what do you want it to tell you? The why, or simply the how?"

"It?"

She furrowed her brow, but fell silent, listening.

So far she hadn't heard anything.

Anything at all.

"Not the type that gets any answers, for what that is worth."

With a soft sigh, she rolled out her neck, and then added, casually, "Usually the questions I ask them are rhetorical anyway. And you? Do you get answers from the dead?"

Yukara furrowed her brow, debating internally if having someone follow her would have been unpleasant, and finally concluding she wouldn't have known about it anyway. With a faint shrug, she added, "I've... seen more than one village scoured by violence. For whatever reason, good or bad." Her eyes h...

"Not enjoying, necessarily. Attempting." Yukara sighed, and fidgeted. "I thought it might be a good place to rest, but so far it's both too damp and too noisy... I keep hearing people saying... rude... things." Standing, she stretched, arms over her head, and then shrugged, planting the bisento haft...

And now the Scorpion was below her, having jumped down a little. She quirked her head, and then crossed her legs, resting her chin on her hand, peering down at him. "Was looking to see if any of the trees were particularly comfortable. Not had any luck so far though. All too gnarled and... occupied....

The next spooky sight was a demon cat, perched on a headstone. Well no... it was a Yukara sitting on a large rock, bisento resting across her knees, eyes closed as she meditated. Her gaunt frame and dark hair did look strange in the misty landscape, but she wasn't, in fact, a ghost or a demon. Not y...

Is Touch of the Void Dragon element posted anywhere? Didn't see it in weather.

Day 1 I am still free in the evening and much of the afternoon.

I will probably drop a thread somewhere in a bit if nobody pokes me, but if you want to chat with a weird monk who is uncomfortably good at staring contests, Yukara is always willing to meet new people and most of the time not stab them.

"Rock-Sensei told me to come here. He... knew things. Things only a wise man should know."

Yukara scowled, faintly, and then added, "Supposedly there are answers here, though I have yet to find them. You weren't following me, I hope..."

For her part, Yukara didn't truly jump. Unlike a cat seeing a cucumber, she merely froze for a moment, as if attempting to parse what she had just experienced into the correct category of threat or harmless noise. After just the briefest pause, she cast her gaze about, until she saw the Scorpion. "I...

After a time, the silence was broken but muttering curses... and then a woman's face, followed by the rest of the woman, seemed to appear out of the fog in a nearby tree. Yukara was muttering as she rubbed her palms on the legs of her loose pants, cursing the beetles which had taken up residence in ...

Yukara is always open to stare at new people.

The conversation had carried on, with Yukara just nodding in what she hoped was a polite way. Glancing back to Shinsei, she wondered when he'd explain this entire... whatever this was. It did seem rather abundant in famous names, even if she'd not heard of them before now, they certainly sounded imp...

Yukara's thoughts had been quite supplanted by ongoing discussion, so she glanced at the water again, to see if it appeared particularly menacing. It didn't... not anymore than other water. She stepped a few paces further from the bank and glanced back at the gathering. "I find Sake only detrimental...