Heavenfall

Ok... ok... I'm never going to doubt Koyama falling for this girl again! Has he ridden her? Holy...

Perhaps she did not need to be too concerned, not with the protection of a kami beside her, but the fact that the world sped past in a literal blur of motion had Phi's eyes wild. Her hood flapped behind her and her veil stung as it clung to her face, her jade secured on her person and her body kept in tight while she and Karasu sped along the world towards whatever it was that awaited them. She had no way of knowing, no way of planning, but this was a moment for action, so she would keep her eyes peeled for the moment that her abilities were needed.

Shinjo sped along, apparently having no issue navigating despite the speed she was going. The flames of her... mane?... at least seemed to do something to reduce the sting of the air. In fact, she was having such little trouble navigating that she could apparently converse.

So... Something going on between you and Shinsei-san, hmm?

Phi blinked and her face went a furious red. Well, it wasn't like she hadn't just made it blatantly obvious that in the last week and a half she'd gotten a little attached to Shinsei, was it? She wasn't accustomed to having feelings that extended past a simple tumble in the loft or the tent while on an extended hunt. A few guys had wanted it, and at least one girl, but ... it wasn't something she'd thought about, and did you think those things about holy men?

"I... don't know if we are or not, but he seems... interested, yes, and I'm interested. We haven't had time to ... we barely know each other. He's a very unusual man." It didn't sound like an insult the way she put it. "He's been very helpful to me."

He's a good friend of mine. We met as I was wandering the Protected Lands after we first landed, she replied in Phi's mind. The feeling of her thoughts are warm and safe, the precise opposite sort of draw as the thoughts from Jigoku that night. It was like feeling the sun's light in her mind, but not harsh or stinging. I hope things go well for you two. I think he needs to learn to rely on someone else... As we're learning now

"We both do. It's a flaw of my people."

She could admit that it was a flaw now. She was starting to see that in the last week and a half. She didn't like Nanzi anymore for how he'd pushed her about that in the marshes, but there were just things that they couldn't do alone. "He didn't want to take the jade. Told us we all need it, and sure he'd been scouting these lands. He can handle it, but he believes he can do anything, that he has to be the one that does so much. Even a god has limits, and he's no god."

"He... said it was because I thought of him as a person, not... a wise man to ask questions of. He must get put on a pedastle a lot. You must all get put there."

He takes too much on his shoulders. Even a god can't hold up the world singlehandedly. Even the most powerful gods in Tengoku have many others they work with.

It's the main thing we've been trying to get across - we can all accomplish more together than alone. We can do things humans can't, but humans can do things we can't, and we can become more than the sum of our parts together, she said. There was almost a sense like a sigh.

It's part of why I value Jin and Koyama so much - they both follow me, but they also are willing to neither put me on a pedestal nor be sycophantic. They have their own minds, and they're willing to make issues known without being arrogant.

"Koyama... heh, I used to think that old jackal'd gone soft on us, you know. Of course, I saw him the other night. He's still got his edge." She was laughing at the memory. Well, not of the bog hags. Younger memories. Pleasant ones. "I'm glad to see they didn't get weak stepping down from the mountains. Starting to see what he saw in you."

Mind you, she was no Ki-Rin. None of the Hikaru who had remained were Ki-Rin in heart. They were the nastier, darker and angrier left-overs, lurking in the shadows of the Scorpion. Bitter and surviving, they weren't the free winds that Koyama had chased after. Still, she could appreciate what they'd managed to find in her ranks. And to stand as equals, well... that was the thing she yearned for, not to be merely some servant, but to stand beside someone worthy of her respect.

"I don't know why, but I'm pretty sure we need him... and we need him to stop trying to do it all his own. I'm going to try and remind him of that with my tonfa when I get my hands on him."

The land continues to fly past, with Karasu somehow maintaining pace ahead of Shinjo in the skies. After a while, he starts to bank slightly to the north. Shinsei has apparently already covered quite some distance since the leaving that morning.

I can understand why someone might think that with the circumstances of the Hikaru he and Sora described, she replied as she ran, carrying them further and further. They had surely traveled miles by now. She turned as Karasu did. I know we need him...

I suppose if you do decide to be with Shinsei, stamina won't be a complaint...

"I'm going to be really honest? I've never had a partner who could really keep up with me... but I'm pretty sure I'd have trouble keeping up with him. Have... Have you seen him without his robes?" She marveled a little as she said it, swallowing, allowing the gait to change as they turned northward. She watched Karasu, grateful that the bird hadn't lost the path. At their speed, it was going to be nigh impossible for her to keep up with tracking herself.

"I... need someone who can keep up. I was legitimately shocked. He carries that rock around with him everywhere..."

I haven't. He's very private, even with his friends, she said, the mentally paused while she physically continued running. Wait. He's still carrying that thing around?

"...."

She actually sighed. If he kept sitting on that rock... seriously, how long did he... "Please do not tell me he picked that up some time before the two of you met and has been hauling that rock around for ten years. If he keeps doing it, that rock is going to wake up one of these days and have words with him." Firm believer in the capacity of inanimate objects to awaken, right here. And right now? She'd seen that he'd carried it this far. She was beginning to suspect that he had absolutely hauled that rock around for ten years from place to place because he liked how it fit his ass.

"I have never met anyone like him." And, for all that she was sharing right now, she didn't feel comfortable sharing some things with Shinjo. She felt like she could tell Shinsei anything.

Karasu suddenly let out an alarmed caw and backpedaled in the air in confusion, looking around rapidly. After a few moments he dropped to the ground, hopped about, then let out a loud caw to sound off his position.

Big, flat rock, room for a couple of people to sit comfortably? She asked. Now that I think about it, I do remember seeing it near his tent. It's a little smoother than it used to be.

I truly believe there is no one else like-

The caw startled her, and she slowed, slowing her pace in a circle before coming to a stop.

What's going on?

She'd had a few things she was about to say but the change of Karasu's attitude caused her to stop. She didn't get off of the Ki-Rin just yet, but rather looked around carefully for the signs of passage of a humanoid target that they'd been following. Her perceptions were solid, though it was a question of how hard he'd tried to conceal his path. She looked back at the bird and since she couldn't speak Crow, raised an eyebrow.

"Give me a second... let me see if I can find his trail. We might be at the point where you need my eyes as well as his," she murmured, concentrating on the terrain.

(OOC: Soooo not spending Void. there's going to be bigger rolls later, hah.)

Just beside the crow are signs of human passage. At this point it seems that Shinsei is making no effort whatsoever to conceal his path of travel. Karasu still looks disoriented, and takes up a position on Shinjo's flank, letting Phi take the lead in tracking.

"I think the blind girl could find these tracks," she muttered, looking up at Karasu, seeing the disorientation and growing worried. She pointed in the direction that they took and began to focus, leaning forward and lending her eyes directly. "How closely connected are these two? If one is harmed... could the other be? We should hurry. That way."

She didn't want to sound alarmed, but it was hard for her voice not to betray the fact that she was legitimately concerned. She didn't understand much about him, but the crow seemed connected and this was a very deep worry. Of course, there was another explanation she might not have thought of at first and she frowned, reaching for the matching bracelet on her other wrist, looking for even the slightest bit of darkness.

I will follow you, Shinjo agreed, starting on the path she pointed out.

After a few minutes of travel the path suddenly gets erratic, and minor signs of damage began appearing along Shinsei's path of travel; nothing more than tufts of grass and divots of dirt here and there, most of them hidden by natural terrain features.

[Hunting TN 25]

The jade shows no signs of decay.

"Something's wrong. Something happened to him, it's not... it's not the place turning us around. I was looking for that, but it's not that. It's something else," she said, frowning and starting to point out the new directions with clarity but significant effort. She didn't like using as much effort and strain, but his path was becoming increasingly hard to follow, and it did not look like there was any intentionality behind that.

"I still have him, though. He won't get away that easily," she declared, her eyes narrowing and making sure that Karasu was alright. Periodic jade checks continued, but her focus was now far more on the path.