Heavenfall

Sora needed to decompress a bit.

He'd known it might come to this, but the certainty that he would be joining the team to rescue Fu Leng... plus his conversation with Kinyoubi, which he was still turning over and over in his head.

"You take a lot on yourself," he had once told Shiba. Now here he was, doing the same thing.

But the team is solid. Black Moonset, Dawei, Yamadono... I'd have liked Kozan and Phi to be there, but that's just selfishness, the last stand of the Hikaru.

And Kinyoubi... she deserves better than me, surely. Besides, time enough for that if I make it out when Fu Leng does.

He looked out over the glowing pools. Allowed his mind to find a more familiar track.

I'd piss in one, but that's probably a great way to get a crotch-first introduction to something really unpleasant.

Ryoko was also exploring, taking time to think, and generally avoiding stepping in the pools.

Indeed, from the copper finish over her left horn, and the icy shimmer on her right, anyone who knew her latest experiments would realize she was very intentionally pulling the untainted earth and water to the surface beneath her, as the tainted sort no longer heeded her commands at all.

It was a subconscious thing, but it helped her to feel clean, that her footsteps weren't in the worst of the muck.

Seeing Sora, she waved, and made her way toward him, weaving between noxious puddles.

"Afternoon, Sora. I didn't expect to see anyone else out here... not that I mind."

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Activate Earth: https://orokos.com/roll/814209
Activate Water: https://orokos.com/roll/814210

Despite himself, he smiled.

"Hello, Ryoko. Can't imagine why no one else is out here to appreciate this sterling natural beauty, but it's their loss, hm?"

"Yes, it's a mystery."

Rolling her eyes, gestured to the nearest puddle, "It's so impure I can't even sense it anymore... I can't imagine anything being so... so wrong."

Shaking her head, she added, "How have you been? Well, I hope?"

"Well. I'm descending into Jigoku's maw with three of the finest people I know tomorrow, I got a marriage proposal from an absolutely beautiful, charming, and intelligent woman who must have lost her damn mind to make the offer, and I'm staring across a hellscape of glowing water."

A pause.

"So that's been my day. How about you?"

Ryoko raised her eyebrows. "You've been busy. I haven't done much - I played the ritual songs over the meeting, and I've explore a little... but mostly I've waited."

She took a slow breath. "I practice my symbols, and I think about the future, and hope I will live to see it become reality."

He half-smiled.

"Well, speaking of futures, I'll try to make sure Yamadono makes it back. Think he's... kind of sweet on you."

"I uh... I think he might be."

Ryoko flushed. "I'd like you both to make it back... but I can't do much more than pray for that outcome. I wish I were stronger, more ready to join you."

"Time enough for your strength in the future."

His half-smile went full-bore.

"After all, you were already tough enough to protect Matsu."

"Is that what we'll call it?"

Ryoko laughed. "I deflected the monster's attacks with incredible skill, by placing my body directly in front of them."

It was how she coped, in some ways, with the experience. "I'm glad Yamadono was there... or I'd have been the first one dead, through no fault but my own."

"But he was there. And so were you."

She sighed, and then nodded. "Yes. I was. I'm glad it was me, and not her... No kid should get attacked by a monster."

Sora nodded at that.

"I could not care less about her destiny, but I wasn't about to let anyone or anything harm a child if I had anything to say about it."

"I don't really believe in destiny." Ryoko gazed across the swamp, expression distant. "The world is too cruel to have been plotted out in advance - if there is some force bigger than us, it is either evil beyond compare, or it has chosen not to plot our courses for us."

The moment of philosophy came without warning, and she furrowed her brow. "I suppose all this... impending... anticipation... it's getting to me."

"Just means you're paying attention, Ryoko."

Ryoko chuckled.

"Hard to miss the big event when it's just around the corner. I suppose some might choose to, but why should I? It's what we came to do."

With a bemused shrug, she added, "So, if we make it through all this and I go to meet Shiba... what sort of village has he built? I suppose it must be very big."

"It's... Getting there."

He chuckled.

"He has so many former Ayakashi around him that it's not entirely, ah... Orderly. Lots of natural features left in place, no tree cut down without two being planted. It's nice, honestly."

"Interesting... so not a house of stone?"

Ryoko furrowed her brow. "I thought you needed those to protect important villages. Maybe not though... It's still very new to me."

"Oh, there's stonework, make no mistake, but... Yuzuru's blindness is something the architecture of the residences is meant to accommodate, which means that defense is both a thing for the perimeter, and a matter we trust to people, not things. Tsubo's trained a lot of the scouts well. We know who's approaching and from which direction and can offer a pretty warm welcome if it comes to that."

"Hmm... well, I don't much know about it. I'll take your word about it."

She shrugged. "It's a matter best known by others... and I trust them to know it. So a house in touch with nature... that doesn't sound so bad."