Tosca (Private)

Wind whistled by her dark frame. Her hair- now cut short to emulate the late Ivan Pavelovich- didn't reach her back as it used to, instead fluttering by her neck. She scratched it absently. The old Yukigakure headband that belonged to Ivan's father was wrapped firmly around her forehead, the scratched snowflake boasted proudly for the whole world to see.

She ran along the edge of an overgrown path. She was hoping to reach a small village of some sort before night time. Evidently, this was not to be the case. Her hands flashed through the singular seal necessary for the technique she intended to practice- the Shadow Clone jutsu- and watched as a lifelike copy flickered to life on her left side. In the dark, they looked completely identical. When filtered moonlight through trees reached the pair, however, the clone seemed to flicker and wave, not unlike a candle.

The clone nodded at her and leapt ahead. She was going to scout out the area ahead, just to be safe. A few minutes later, the clone dissipated. Nothing she could recall from the clone's memories revealed anything out of the ordinary, so she trekked onwards. A small lake came into view up ahead. In its center rested a dead log pointing skywards. A corvid of some sort watched viligantly at the top, taking off when she approached.

Algae covered it completely green. If she squinted hard enough, however, she could see some footprints engraved onto the surface of the nearby mud. People must have came regularly to this location. She summoned another Shadow Clone into existence to follow the footprints. She was shortly behind. Good god, when would she reach a safe haven? She traveled onwards in spite of her weariness and exhaustion. Once her clone dissipated, she scratched the back of her neck and decided to keep going. Ankaret didn't know if she had enough chakra to maintain another and still remain fully alert for potential incoming attacks.

Eventually, she found a small village in the distance. There were no high chakra frequencies she could detect, so it was safe to assume that it was mostly civilians. Releasing her clone, she walked towards it at an average pace. She took in her surroundings with interest. A lot of flowering trees were nearby, surrounding small pools of water. The area was swampy, but didn't smell nearly as bad as some of the bogs that she had passed before. It was a cute town. She giggled.

She found herself walking down a cobblestone road. The buildings were primarily one story with a few outliers that had two or more floors. Twisted firelight from torches and candles were the only things lighting the area, casting eerie shadows across the entire vicinity. It felt juuust like home. She came to a particularly friendly looking abode- well landscaped flowers and bushes in the front yard- and knocked on the front door three times. The sound rang hollow yet seemed to carry. It was the only thing she'd been able to hear, other than her own footsteps. 

One minute passed. And then two. When she decided it would probably be much more efficient to go somewhere else, the door creaked open slowly. Two wide eyes stared into her own, and she found herself staring back. 

"Hello," she spoke softly. She may have been a scumbag, but she wasn't enough of one to wake everyone in the small town up. 

WC: 513