[LE 1 - Soft Beds are for Pansies] (Open)

[Miyako]

"I see..." she trailed off, concentrating on getting the fire started. A few more flicks of the flint and tinder and a good sustained breath of air and the small bundle of sticks she had made in the front caught alight, and soon thereafter the flames began to spread into what in a few moments she hoped would be a decent enough fire to last a solid hour or so. Miyako judged it successful, but still crouched close by, moving to get out of the smoke at least, in order to babysit it further in case more effort was needed before all was fully lit.

"Then none among us save for those of your kind quite truly know where we are headed. One hopes those that call this expedition together have at least gotten some sort of description of what lies ahead." She could hope, at least, but she really did wonder. It wasn't her first time heading into the wilderness only for some cousin of hers to get chewed out by the elder hunters for blindly leading them all astray when they claimed they knew where they were going but didn't. The elders knew, at least, and were merely letting things play out to teach a lesson before a much more harsher one would be forced upon them. For these elders that were calling them to venture south, however, she was not so sure.

"What is it that you might share about your home, Chi-chit?" Miyako asked further after Phi, trying to pronounce the Nezumi's name as she took a stick she had left aside to poke at the small-but-growing fire and quickly move some twigs around to get it spreading more evenly.

[Ch’chit T’kkiri]

“Once Great City... now Great City a hole where falling-rock-man smash. Much... evil... come out hole. Pain-is-present.” He replied.

“Many things come from hole. Ugly-smelly-enemies-of-Brave-Warriors-Who-Remember, big-horned-slaves gone mad, Big-Scary-Spirits... we fight-fight. Kill tens of tens... but they no end. Always more to fight.”

[Nozomi]

What it said meshed with the little she knew. There was a realm of evil, and Fu Leng had fallen into it, and its touch could be felt in this world because of that. That was about all she'd picked up, that and to have jade. So, it was literally the point Fu Leng had crashed through the earth that had led to the things pouring out of a wound in the world.

"Then we will be fighting tens and hundreds of them no doubt. I hope the others are prepared for the fight of their life." She was always ready, always aware. You couldn't survive otherwise.

[Miyako]

"An endless war against whatever comes out. Hmm." The fire now good without her constant attention to it, Miyako stood up and moved away from it to get to her pack once more, this time to pull out the things she needed to start getting her tent set up. She tried to picture in her mind the constant fighting these Nezumi had been doing over the years against whatever grotesque monstrosities poured themselves out of that hole. At least when it came to war with another tribe, killing every last person that could conceivably lift even a small knife against you was a brutal but realistic end to an enemy with the warrior's spirit that would never stop coming. What to do about an enemy with no end in number and not even of this world?

"One would hope. Over the day I saw many that have at least a fighting chance. A few others, though... I wonder if they thought they were signing up for a fishing trip instead. Hope they said goodbye to their families before they left home." She walked around some distance from the fire to find a spot flat enough for her to sleep on, and she dropped her tent supplies there to start setting up. "We go to rescue one of the Kami, but what of this hole-in-the-ground as well?"

[Ch’chit T’kkiri]

"Hole stay. Pain stay." The Brave Warrior replied simply.

"Shiny-Grass-Smelling-Shinjo lady's brood-mate we have no see-see. Get him out... enemy still remain."

[Nozomi]

"Then it will need to be plugged one day, if that is even possible. Way above my paygrade. I shoot game and fools in the back," Phi said, utterly unperturbed about openly talking about her methods. No, she was what she was, and that was what the Hikaru needed her to be. Anyone speaking of 'honor' would just get laughed at. "Closing holes into spiritual realms is the work of shamans. Powerful shamans, I'd imagine."

She grunted. "It may help to get him out of there, though... or make matters worse. I can't imagine it's good to have one of these shining ones down there."

[Ch’chit T’kkiri]

"If he problem... We Brave-Warriors-Who-Remember end problem." He replied.

One way or another... we shall have resolution on this matter by the end of this primitive excursion.

[Miyako]

"One would hope there might be a way to close such a thing, but like with you I leave that to the shamans that know of such things. Maybe those Kami know something we don't on that, but who knows." She started to drive in the front posts that would hold up her tent before turning head to the Nezumi.

"The horned things... I think I might know what you speak of. But what of these spirits? What can you describe of them? They must have some weakness to them just like those of the flesh. Perhaps another thing, though, best left to the shamans?"

[Ch’chit T’kkiri]

“Very big. All different shapes. All pain-is-present. Hit with big-sharp things until no move.” He replied.

“Or run.”

[Nozomi]

"Horned things?" Did they mean like the girl around town with horns? It was hard to miss that one, even if they'd yet to speak. She meant to rectify that at some point. That, and talk to that weird blind girl who'd been drinking with the man who spoke constantly in the third person about himself.

"It sounds as if there will be a variety of troublesome things. Well, if they bleed we can kill them, and when we get to the hole, we will do what has to be done." There was a nod of understanding when she looked at the ratling. She might have been here to rescue the kami, but if his survival was more a detriment than a salvation... well, she was a pragmatic soul.

[Miyako]

"Yeah... these big tall things with horns on their head. Like a giant man, only larger and stronger than the largest, strongest person you or I have probably ever seen. And with horns, of course. My older cousin Toyako claimed there was one that wandered into our forest many, many moons ago - knocked down and away a small tree like it wasn't even there when it was trying to chase him and his friend! Hunting party went looking for it the next day, but they never did find it - think it must have wandered out of the woods on its own," Miyako recalled, pausing momentarily to regale the tale before going back to smacking down the tent pegs.

"Chi-chit, you called them 'big-horn-slaves'... your people used to have control over them? Or some of them?"

[Ch’chit T’kkiri]

He nodded, "The big-horn-slaves strong. Good workers."

He pointed to his head, "Dumb-dumb."

[Nozomi]

"They don't come up to the mountains, at least not as far north as we are," she said, shaking her head. She wasn't going to comment on the wisdom of having massive horned brutes as slaves. She wasn't huge on the concept itself, but she wasn't a rat, and she didn't need the guides upset with her either. They were going into hostile territory after all. "But I suppose there's a good chance we might have to fight one of them. Any hints?"

Other than them not being too bright.

[Ch’chit T’kkiri]

"Before Fallen-Rock-Man... big-horned-slaves can talk-talk. Understand. Obey." He paused.

"Now... Madness. Scream. Fight. No talk-talk. Only fight." He replied.

"If you see... avoid if no want fight. If fight... hit knees. No protection places. Smash head with big-stick. Like this." He pulled a large stick from his back.

"Head smash if hit hard."

[Miyako]

"Head and the knees..." she repeats aloud to herself to file that information away as she pounds down the last of the tent pegs into place. Miyako rummaged through her pack again to get out the folded-up tent that would soon give her the cover she needed for the night.

"Are they slow? Toyako said he didn't have any real trouble outrunning it, but he probably knows the forest and trees better than that thing ever did. Sounds like if you're quick enough, you can keep away from it or at least keep enough distance to line up a shot every now and again - maybe moreso if you have someone to distract it?" she speculated as she unfolded the tent and started setting it up.

[Nozomi]

So, normal weakpoints, but with its lumbering size, the strikes to the joints would be more likely to be very important under the circumstances. She nodded, making a mental note of them. "When did they become stupid, comparatively? Only when the hole was ruptured?" That seemed to be the implication, which was making her wonder about the importance of protection if it impacted those beings in some fashion.

[Ch’chit T’kkiri]

“Slower than Brave-Warriors-Who-Remember... But hairless ones are not fast-fast. Big-horned-slaves go mad after Fallen-rock-man.”

[Nozomi]

"So it was then." Which made the importance of jade significantly greater. She took mental note of that, frowning before she sighed and looked to the other two. "If you will both excuse me, I have to see to evening prayer before I sleep." She would nod to them and start to shift back towards her tent, setting the small statue of the figure with the mask there and kneeling in front of it.

If either of them paid attention, she was frowning as she did so, clearly visible mask or no.

(Note - unless interrupted, she'll turn in for the night shortly afterwards, but spends about a half hour in prayer, looking more frustrated as she goes.)

[Miyako]

"Sleep well. I'll put out the light in a while," Miyako responded, returning the nod to Phi with one of her own before continuing and finishing setup of her own tent. She walked around it once or twice, confirming it was sturdy and set, before she walked over to the campfire and sat down.

"You're welcome to sit and stay a bit if you want, Chi-chit, though understandable if you must be elsewhere," she said to the Nezumi while she tossed a couple small sticks into the fire to keep it going for a bit longer.

[Ch’chit T’kkiri]

He shook his head, "Must take meat."

With a mighty heave of his shoulder, he picked the boar off the ground again and continued towards the city without another word.

/exit