The Day of Thunder

Han-Hei always was the type to go where others would not.

There was something weird about this village’s story… Something that didn’t line up with time.

And who knew better about time than the dead? They’d possibly been that way for a long time, and hopefully stay that way for much more…

So she found herself walking towards the graveyard and away from the hubbub of the oncoming festival…

The wind picks up a little as she follows the path to the graveyard where it rises up along the bank of the river. The graveyard itself is on a wide bluff, surrounded by trees. The wind whistling and rushing through the leaves almost sounds like whispering.

Hearing the whispers in the air as she approaches brings the common sensation of creepiness.

I ain’t afraid of no ghosts.

Han-Hei steels herself as she continues towards the graveyard… Looking to see what the past could tell her.

"Is she gone...?"

She hears a rustle of leaves and grass that sound a little like words. But it might be her imagination.

Han-Hei slows and pauses gently, eyes strafing from left to right.

She doesn’t call out… just waits and listens.

The wind whispers around her, as if carrying voices over a long distance. It's like an echo.

"Ugh, thank Grandmother..."

"Don't curse, {------]. Still, thank goodness..."

"That girl was just a troublemaker..."

"I'm glad she's gone..."

The voices seemed familiar on the wind. Hard to grasp in the mind, but hard to dismiss as utterly foreign too.

It didn’t appear as if the voices were substantiated in the physical world… She saw no pranksters behind the graves.

She pursed her lips and pressed forward… She had learned that whenever the spooky shit started… that usually meant keep going forward.

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 yet, at any rate.

The approaching footsteps caused a twitch, but she did not otherwise stir.

Eventually she found the woman… sitting there in the graveyard.

She approached and took a good look at the cat before addressing the human, “Ryoshun-san… Enjoying a nap in the graveyard are we?”

"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 down, resuming it's task as a walking stick.

"What about you, miss Fox? What brings you to this resting place?"

“Looking for… information.” She replied.

“You the talking to the dead type of Bat?”

"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?"

She shook her head, “No… but maybe from the evidence they leave behind.”

"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?"

“Who, what, where, when, why, and how… Whatever the graves can tell me.”

"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?"

“Warn people… Especially all of us who have wandered into this village in the last few days…” She replied.

“Something is off… And knowing more about what that threat is… hopefully would help the people here.”

"Hmm. That is a noble goal, miss Fox."

She shook her head. "If you hear anything, please share. I keep getting a feeling as if... something is standing behind me. It is very distracting."

Twitching, as if shrugging off an invisible hand, she added, "You also feel as if there is a threat, then?"

She nodded, “Yeah… I would be ready if I were you. I’m not sure if you are aware… But there are some auspicious portents about this place and time. You are nowhere safe.”

"Oh, I did not think I was."

With her tone, she sounded quite resigned to that fact. "I do not entirely know how I should become ready for that which I do not know, but I will attempt whatever general readiness I can."

With a wry smile, she added, "That seems the most prudent course, perhaps obviously so."