Fateful Encounter: The Ragdoll and The Widow

Fri Mar 29, 2019 4:37 am

Wind Country. It certainly lived up to its name. If it weren’t for the multi-weave mask covering most of her face along with her trademark eye patch Alice probably would have had a much worse time traversing through the rough desert. As it was, the uncovered portion of her face was continually buffeted by the constant gusts infused with the grainy sand it picked up on its path. The intense heat from the sun overhead made her limbs feel heavy with fatigue. Surprisingly, these were the only defenses she had yet to come across here in what was now part of the world’s largest empire. The young kunoichi had expected a lot more resistance in the form of Kumogakure shinobi as she crossed their territory, yet none had come. Perhaps they had gotten complacent after conquering one of the five major villages that had been established, or maybe it was something else entirely. Either way, Alice Nara was on guard even as a sense of relief and foreboding washed over her when what was formerly known as Sunagakure no Sato finally came into view.

The first thing she had noticed was the enormous stone wall surrounding the village, capped with strange protrusions periodically placed along the top. At first she had thought it merely some type of primitive design meant to hinder anyone foolish enough to climb the steep cliffs, but as she got closer she realized she had been sorely mistaken. The strange protrusions were actually wooden spikes, each impaling it’s own bloody body of what could only have been the remnants of the missing Kumogakure shinobi she had been wondering about. Was this the work of Sunagakure rebels? Or maybe her prey had taken the Sand’s fate into his own hands. One way or another she was sure to find out soon enough. After all, Valen had been clear that this was the last known location of the Ragdoll known as Kenshin Uzumaki. Was it truly her prey that had created such amazing pieces of art? She certainly hoped so. And if it wasn’t? Well, disappointments came in all shapes and sizes.

As she moved closer, the rogue willed her new armor to take the form of something she thought Kenshin might find immediately recognizable. It shifted and crawled its way across her body once more until it finally settled into the shape of the armor worn by the very man that had given her this remarkable piece of equipment: Valen Akari. The armor would look identical to that of the former Hogokage’s, save for being made to fit her body instead of his. She had hoped that seeing this on her might give him pause enough to listen to what she had to say, considering it was identical to the Ragdoll’s former ally. After all, she had never intended to just fight the pale-faced demon. She just needed answers. Valen had made it clear that the Uzumaki didn’t have the ability to trap her in that strange dimension, but she still needed to find out for herself. Depending on the answers she got, Alice might even be willing to join the ex-Hoshigakure shinobi.

Once she was close enough, her right hand would fly through an all too familiar series of seals before she disappeared in a flash of crimson light, reappearing on the top of the enormous walls surrounding the former village of Sunagakure no Sato. Using a useful technique she had picked up, the kunoichi would flare her chakra, making it seem to reach unheard of heights, and begin to closely examine one of the impales bodies. If her prey was here, he should easily be able to sense her chakra from where she was. And if what she knew about him was true, it shouldn’t take long for him to come find her. All she had to do was wait. And she knew exactly what she was going to do to kill some time.

[used chakra disguise to make Alice’s chakra feel like 300 in order to try and draw Kenshin’s attention]

Thu Apr 11, 2019 9:55 am

The Shade of the Uzumaki would waste no time in leaping between the divide in the two walls to meet with the woman that had managed to catch some of the originals attention. Her chakra signature seemed to be beyond impressive, so much so that her display actually made the copy of the Uzumaki half-blood believe that she was doing something to augment the feeling of power. An intriguing ability to be sure, but at the same time it made the power that she was showing feel very hollow, something that made it question how powerful this woman truly was. Perhaps that was why she was doing this, or perhaps she simply wanted the real Kenshin’s attention and felt that this was the best way to get it… neither the shade or the original knew, and neither truly cared either. The chakra construct had already taken note of her clothing by the time that it had landed, it seemed that she either admired the fashion sense of the former Hogokage or was trying to announce that she was travelling with him… he wasn’t sure which idea amused him more. Her eyepatch caught its attention immediately and it began to wonder whether her eyepatch hid something like the originals old one had… perhaps, perhaps not. The original would no doubt learn in time. The mask she wore amused him, something very useful for travel in Wind Country when one was burdened with the typical limitations of the human body, something that its creator had surpassed some time ago.

The shade, and the original who was conversing with Valen on the other side of the wall, were clad in the very same ‘outfit’ that Kenshin had worn when conquering Sunagakure. A simple black tank top that seemed to be missing most of its back, exposing the five masks that were stitched to his snow white flesh… or rather the four that still remained within the body of the original. The fifth and final mask was attached to the beast that the original was still standing atop, and as such there was a notable empty space on the backs of both the original and the shade. The rest of his outfit consisted of a pair of slim fitting, light black dress pants and a pair of black, laceless leather combat boots. His silver mane flowed freely down his back, obviously well maintained yet missing any form of styling or true care.

“You must be Alice… why have you been looking for me?” the pale shade would ask the petite woman, not in any mood to beat around the bush and simply asking the only question that truly mattered to both it and its creator.

WC: 451

Thu Apr 11, 2019 11:47 am

She had still been examining one of the corpses by the time her prey had deemed her worthy of his attention, even if it were only a clone of the man. Still, the meeting would be the same, clone or not. Her chakra level would immediately vanish as she ended the versatile Chakra Disguise technique and her eye patch resumed its job of masking her true power. ”Well, I guess a shadow clone is better than nothing,” she mused as she turned her attention to the clone. Indeed it was a clone of Kenshin Uzumaki, the man whose face had been plastered on the tavern wall in the form of a wanted poster. The same scarred, pale face she had seen when escaping The Void. Beyond the clone, Alice could clearly make out the distinct figure of Valen and what must be the original Kenshin atop some sort of flying beast made from the threads she had known so well.

Smiling slightly, the girl would finally begin her own introduction. ”Hmmm, yes. Yes that’s the face I saw. It’s too bad Valen seems to be right about you though. If you don’t recognize me then there’s no reason to think you were the one that trapped me in that dreadful dimension. I like what you’ve done to the place, by the way. Quite enjoyable taste.” Her clothes began to shift slightly, changing their form from the visage of the Hogokage’s armor back into that of her normal outfit. It was quite similar to that of a schoolgirl uniform, complete with upper thigh length skirt and knee-high socks. ”It’s been quite a journey, so I’m going to create a chair for myself. This isn’t an attack, sweetie. Not like I could take you down even if I wanted to. You probably have, what, five or so hearts it looks like? Oh yes I know all about how those threads work, but the naive ex-Hogokage wasn’t the one to tell me. Anyway, hold that thought.”

Turning her back on the Ragdoll’s clone, Alice would use her right hand to quickly form two handseals. After that, several long, black, writhing tendrils rose up from the ground in front of her and began wrapping around themselves over and over again until the had formed what was clearly some type of chair. The back of the shadow tendril seat extends further up a few feet and created a sort of umbrella cover so as to shade the Nara from the intense heat of the desert sun. Satisfied with her work, the girl would turn back around to face the pale-faced demon as she sat in her new chair and crossed her legs. Her sword lay flat in its sheath across her lap and her one visible eye was trained on the Uzumaki. ”Ah yes that’s much better. Now, down to business. I don’t know why nor do I care why the naive ex-leader of Hoshigakure was searching for you. What I do care about is why I had a vision of you when I escaped what I only know as The Void, a dimension filled with nothingness. Valen claims that you don’t have any such ability to trap me there and since it seems like you have no idea who I am I’m inclined to believe him, but I still need to hear it from you.” A thought occurred to her then. She remembered Valen telling her that Kenshin would rather kill and keep the bodies to experiment with. From what she could see here he clearly had several kekei genkai at his disposal too. If that were the case, perhaps she could entice him with the body she had been carrying around herself. ”Also,” she added quickly, having had this new train of thought, ”I hear you like to play with dead things. Should it be true that you had nothing to do with me being trapped, I may have a business proposition for you. In fact, if you’ll answer a few more questions, I may even have an offer of alliance for you. I have several subordinates of my own that I can summon at any time. So, will the pale-faced demon answer my questions and listen to what I have to say? Or did I come all this way to be disappointed?”

Mon Apr 15, 2019 12:27 pm

The Shade of the Uzumaki had no idea what this woman was on about when she began talking about being trapped in some alternate dimension, but he it did find it amusing that Valen thought he knew enough about the originals skillset to tell the woman that he hadn’t been behind her being trapped. Of course it knew that the original hadn’t been behind whatever had happened to this woman, but there was absolutely no way that Valen could’ve given her a certain answer… he had simply assumed that he knew the originals skill set. It would simply smirk and nod when she complimented the redecoration… it knew that the original was going to get along famously with this one. It would raise a silver brow and let its smirk widen as he watched her clothing shift into some strange looking outfit… was she wearing a school uniform of some kind? Strange, but he had seen much worse styles of clothing on women that looked much worse than the petite girl that stood before him. The chakra construct would release a light chuckle when the woman asked if she could make a chair, and that chuckle would only get louder when she reassured him that this was no attack. It seemed that she understood why it was laughing though, as she made note of how she likely couldn’t take him down regardless.

When she made note of the hearts he possessed the laughter would stop, although it was more out of curiosity than it was out of shock or anger. She claimed that she knew all about how the threads worked, and that was when the clone would allow itself to give a light chuckle. The clone very much doubted that the woman knew anything about how the threads truly worked, as most Tau’s didn’t even understand the threads that inhabit their bodies. The original was likely one of the only people in the world that even had a clue about the true power they held, and things would likely stay that way for a very long time to come. Her little display amused it more than anything, and once the girl was done with her little display the shade decided that it wished to play alone. It would simply raise its right foot and stomp lightly on the sandstone that stood rigidly beneath his feet, the earth itself seemingly bending to his will as his foot impacted with the stone and rising until a rather imposing looking throne was formed opposite the woman. Shade wasn’t needed as the sun was slightly behind the Uzumaki, and the throne itself provided more than enough protection from the orbs harmful rays… besides, it was simply a clone, it wasn’t as if it was going to be around long enough to get burnt.

It would resist the urge to chuckle when it heard her mention the naivete of the former Hogokage, simply listening to why she had been looking for the original. It was a little confused as to why this strange woman had a vision of its creator when she escaped from a dimension of nothingness… it simply made very little sense to it, and as such it knew that the knowledge would mean little to the original. It would raise a silver brow when she offered an alliance provided that it answer a few questions that she had… she claimed to have minions of her own, which meant that she had to possess some sort of power. It was obvious that she was a Nara based on the shadow manipulation alone, and her skill with it seemed to surpass his own prowess with Nara techniques… but that wasn’t exactly hard seeing as he had only learnt the one technique from Kazuhiro. It supposed that neither it nor the original stood to lose anything by simply answering the questions that she had.

“The original was not the one to trap you in this void you speak of. If he had indeed been behind it then I can safely assure you that you would not be here to talk about it… just as I can assure you that it would’ve been far more likely that he would simply have killed you if he wanted you out of the way. I mean no offense to you but the original has absolutely no idea who you are or why you were looking for him, we only know your name because Valen gave a description when he mentioned you. The original does ‘like to play with dead things’ as you say, but I think I can safely assume you aren’t talking about the decorations.” The clone would explain, finishing with a large smirk on its scarred face before allowing chakra to flow into its eyes, revealing the true forms of the now mismatched orbs that had been implanted by the original. It would also raise its right hand off the armrest of the throne and tilt it’s palm upwards, before allowing a single golden chain to form from its palm and snake upwards. If Alice were to look at the chain she would see that the gold was quite dull, and almost looked like it was stained and rusted in places… but that didn’t make the large meat hook that tipped the chain look any less intimidating.

“I assume that this is more what you were alluding to.” The clone would simply state, its ominously glowing orbs focussed entirely on Alice, and all the while the crudely hooked implement seemed to slither around like a snake in the air.

WC: 933

Thu Apr 18, 2019 9:44 am

The Ragdoll’s earthen throne dwarfed the rogue kunoichi’s own makeshift seat. It’s sheer size alone made the umbrella-like appendage her shadows had created become irrelevant the way it blocked out the sun. This man would be fun indeed. Her one visible eye widened as she watched the Uzumaki’s own eyes shift from what was a pure silver to the familiar crimson of the Sharingan in one and a bright blue of some doujutsu she had never seen before in the other. Instinctually, Alice’s own eyes dropped for a moment before returning to continue her inspection of the pale-faced demon’s gifts. The Nara was well aware of what the Sharingan could do, and she had no idea of how skilled Kenshin might be with it. She knew it was rude of her to drop her gaze when dealing with a potential business partner, or an ally for that matter, so the movement only lasted a fraction of a second and the simply drifted to the stained and rusted golden chain protruding from the man’s right hand.

Beneath the mask covering the lower half of her face was a smile of pure delight as Alice acknowledged the power Kenshin had and immediately began thinking of ways to make this power her own. It was no longer a question of should she become allies with this man, this monster, but how she was going to make that into reality. Power was what motivated her and the pale-faced demon seemed to have much. ”That, is indeed what I was referring to,” she replied, unable to stop herself from staring at the chain he had conjured. ”Tell me,” she began to say as her eyes finally moved back to rest on the Ragdoll’s face once more, ”how would the original feel about implanting a Byakugan eye for me in exchange for the rest of the body, including the remaining eye? I assume he’s capable of such a thing considering the two other doujutsu I’m staring at right now.” Alice gestured lazily at the man’s eyes and smiled at the clone while she said this, though the latter was hidden behind her mask.

Her attention was grabbed by something unexpected then. The sound of shallow, raspy breaths had reached her ears. It seemed like it was coming from the dead, but she wasn’t positive until she saw the chest of a woman rise and fall slightly. ”It seems one of your decorations is still alive. Let me help you with that.” Her sentence was punctuated with the soft squelch of one of her shadow tendrils piercing through what remained of the woman’s flesh and destroying her heart before removing itself and returning to its position with the others. ”Ah that’s better. Now, about my proposal,” she said, turning her gaze from the corpse to the clone before her and clasping her hands together in her lap once more.

Fri Apr 19, 2019 8:29 am

The shade of the Uzumaki would watch in amusement as the womans sole eye widened upon seeing his Sharingan and Seigan active for the first time. She would duck her eye for a moment, no doubt as she had heard about some of what the Sharingan could do, but it was only for a moment before she allowed them to rise again, although now he noted that it was focussed on the chain that he had created. He was unable to see the smile itself due to her mask, but with his Sharingan he had taken note of her shifting facial muscles and knew there had to be a grin upon her face. Indeed, he had something that she wanted, and now that he knew that the true negotiation could begin. She would enquire about whether the original would be willing to implant a Byakugan for her in exchange for the rest of the Hyuuga’s body and the other eye… something that did indeed strike the copy as a deal that its creator would like. As she gestured towards the mismatched eyes of the clone it would allow the smirk upon its scarred face to widen ever so slightly… yes, the original was obviously capable of fulfilling the young womans desires.

The sound of raspy breaths would catch the attention of both the shade and Alice, but as the shade listened to the woman speak it would note the movement of her shadows. As it moved to shoot forth it would simply chuckle and in an instant activate both its Cell Enhancement and its Assimilating Aura. The rather monstrous chakra signature of the clone would be felt by all in the area but only for an instant, just long enough for its Assimilating Aura to devour the tendril of shadow before it could impale the woman. As it did so however it would also devour both the chair that Alice was seated on and and the umbrella that she had created from the shadows… but before she could fall more than a few inches a throne of earth almost identical to Kenshin’s would shoot upwards from the ground. The only difference between the two throne was the size, and even that was only due to the shade of Kenshin being larger physically than the petite woman. Alice would no doubt be shocked by this turn of events, but the shade would simply release a light chuckle.

“My apologies if I startled you but the original would be most displeased if you killed any of those that yet live… you see, they have not yet earned an end to their suffering.” The clone would state simply, its smirk having taking on a somewhat darker look as it allowed its mismatched eyes to rest upon the crucified forms of the coward.

“When the original arrived in Sunagakure he was met outside by a force of Kumogakure shinobi that was at least one hundred strong. They were slaughtered but provided the people within enough time for a second army to gather inside the walls, this one composed entirely of the Sunagakure shinobi that remained within the village after they were conquered. This army was at least twice the size of the Kumogakure force, but after about half of their overall forces were slaughtered they simply stopped fighting… they rolled over and accepted either death or servitude. That was not the correct decision, and when it became clear that the original was going to kill them regardless they began to either fight back or flee. Those that fought back were killed simply killed and had their corpses staked to the entrance… while those that fled were tracked down and crucified for their cowardice, left to suffer until their dying breaths.” The shade would explain, its eyes shifting back to their base form as they gleefully watched the ragged breaths of the suffering woman. No… she had not earned a release from her suffering, not yet.

“Now back to your proposal… it is definitely something that the original would agree to.” the chakra construct would then say, the smirk upon its scarred face growing as it allowed its silver eyes to rest on the petite form of Alice once more. He would mentally congratulate her for thinking up a proposal that she would benefit from yet the original wouldn’t turn down.

“But I must admit that the original would be more interested in the terms of this alliance that you offered… especially if you possess subordinates of your own. By now it should be no surprise that my creator is waging a one man war against the shinobi of Kumogakure… and while he doesn’t necessarily need allies they would be very useful for his future plans, especially if the possessed some measure of strength." The pale shade would then say, an intrigued look in his silver eyes as he gazed at the form of the other Missing Nin

WC: 823

Wed Apr 24, 2019 3:15 pm

The tendril of shadow had disappeared before it even reached the half-dead female, along with the rest of Alice’s jutsu. Caught off guard by the unexpected end of her technique, the rogue kunoichi had already drawn her sword halfway from its sheathe and was leaning forward when she felt the hard stone rising up from beneath to meet her. Realizing what had happened, the girl re-sheathed her sword and examined the newly made throne momentarily before collecting herself and returning her focus to the clone. She hadn’t felt any change in its chakra at all. She had assumed he was cloaking it since she hadn’t felt a signature from it nor the original, but if that had been the case she would have felt something when he created her new throne. Curious. She’d have to find out more about that later on.

”Well, I guess there is a certain amount of enjoyment in listening to her suffer,” she replied. Now that Alice was settled comfortably in her own throne, a gesture she had not missed, she was ready discuss her own terms for the alliance she proposed. Hopefully, the pale-faced demon would find it agreeable.

”As for an alliance, my terms are simple. I want power, and by the looks of it, you might just be capable of giving it to me. Perhaps letting me in on the secret of that chain you produced earlier? I won’t be your pawn, even if you are much stronger than me. If we do this I’ll be your partner. Are these terms agreeable?” The rogue Nara would wait quietly for the clone’s response, hoping he wouldn’t find issue with any of her terms. If he agreed, and an alliance is formed, then the following would occur.

”Excellent!” Alice clapped her hands together as she said the word. ”In that case I think it’s time for you to meet the others.” She made two quick seals with her right hand to punctuate her sentence.

*POOF* POOF, POOF* *POOF*

From four small clouds of smoke, Taishi, Ikki, R, and Levi would appear.

Thu Apr 25, 2019 11:47 am

Levi and Taishi were just done finishing their meal thinking about what their next move could be. It had been a couple of days since they last saw Ryal and Ikki, not to mention everyone’s favorite crazy person Alice who took off with her lover to God knows where. The short Nara and the grey brute were getting ready when they suddenly disappeared, only to reappear with a couple of poofs. “Great, now what?” he would say while looking around him. Standing next to him was Taishi, then there was Ryal and even Ikki was there. Levi had no clue what just happened. When he looked in front of him his face turned white when he saw who had summoned him.

“Alice” he said, greeting her. “It’s good to see you” he lied, as if someone would actually be happy to be in the little maniac’s company. Last time he saw her she left with an ashen haired man going by the name of Valen. This time she wasn’t alone either but it wasn’t the same one she had disappeared with. Standing not far from him he could see a pale skinned man with long silver hair. Running across his face would be a big scar, so the man wouldn’t be winning any beauty awards soon. But you know what they say: true beauty’s what’s on the inside, although that wouldn’t be the case as well since the strange man had no trouble hanging around with Alice. What wasn’t different from her earlier companion was that this one had an impressive chakra level as well. So it was a given that he probably wasn’t one to mess with. “And who might this gentleman be?” he asked while looking in the man’s direction.

(WC: 292)

Sun Apr 28, 2019 9:11 am

The peace found in his training with Levi would quickly disappear in an instant. He knew that it was coming, but it made it no less jarring to suddenly find yourself somewhere other than where you were just at mere moments ago. It would seem as though the whole crew was summoned, which meant that it was time to work. And luckily, it would seem as though Alice trusted them enough not to immediately catch them in a shadow binding. A huge step up from before, as Taishi hated being trapped like that.

The heat and dry air of this place felt all too familiar to the brute, his eyes gazing around at the gruesome scene around him. Why would anyone torture people like this? The brute would try to avoid looking at the horrors, instead focusing on the crazy Nara known as Alice and the mystery man standing near her. He was awfully pale, but the stone faced brute didn't really have room to talk about having a... unique appearance.

They were in Suna, and their "leader" was sitting upon an earthen throne. A grin would crack the earthen face of Taishi, as he did like what was done with Earth Release here. It was something he himself would have to remember for later.

"So who's your friend, Alice?" The brute would ask, his cloak covering most of his body and his hand only a couple of inches from his blade. Alice wasn't very trustworthy, but even the wandering brute hadn't seen anything as terrible as this from Alice. Whether or not she was capable of such has yet to be seen. "Is it just me, or does she have a lot of... er... different male companions?" He would ask, quietly to whoever was closest to him, likely Levi since they were summoned together.

"Of course, you could always speak on your own behalf," The brute would add at the tail end to the scar riddled, pale man.

Sun Apr 28, 2019 2:21 pm

The heat and the sunlight of Wind Country washed over Ringo and Ikki like an embrace from an old friend, at least it did for Ryal. They were close yet still so far away from his homeland and being the tiny minor village that it is traversing the harsh desert was one of the least favorable ways of getting supplies. Yet the sudden break from the harsh and dull atmosphere of the Land of Iron was greatly appreciated especially since his current outfit would cause him to turn into an icicle in half the time it normally would if they were stand out in the open of that land. Even though he'd add a much sturdier vest like those worn by high ranking village shinobi as well as a tanto laying horizontally across his lower back and a katana perched on his hip. Like their previous location, there wasn't much to see except of course for the bloody decorations that were no doubt added by the white haired male sitting in an earthen throne across from annoying girl child. It would appear that he'd made her a similar seat of her own, or she copied his, and their background music was the labored breathing of a dying woman. Leave it to Alice to be in the company of someone who matches her sadism. Never mind that though as for now it seemed that he was the only one of the summoned to notice the woman.

Levi had appeared with a vocal complaint, fake greeting, and a question. Taishi would ask the same question before making his partner grin while silently chuckling. Thus there was no need for R to ask a third time and Ikki, of course, couldn't ask even if he wanted to plus, the words the grey-ish brute added on afterward returned the stage to the pale scarred man. Whose chakra signature was hidden, based on the description they'd been given about him Ryal had been expecting to feel something along the ranks of Alice and Valen's chakra. Yet there was nothing and had the Shinkou not begun his own experimenting with multiple faces he'd be totally perplexed on why the person who conquered the remnants of this village would hide his true power. Surely if he'd let that woman succumb to her injuries naturally for the sheer pleasure of it there had to be one sent back to Kumo, one who'd buckle at the sight of his face or sound of his name, to warn them so why hide? Regardless it was neither here nor there, what was important was finding out what kind of deal the little bitch had struck and how or if the man would use them based on what he saw and sensed.

WC: 460

Fateful Encounter: The Ragdoll and The Widow

Fateful Encounter: The Ragdoll and The Widow

Re: Fateful Encounter: The Ragdoll and The Widow

Re: Fateful Encounter: The Ragdoll and The Widow

Re: Fateful Encounter: The Ragdoll and The Widow

Re: Fateful Encounter: The Ragdoll and The Widow

Re: Fateful Encounter: The Ragdoll and The Widow

Re: Fateful Encounter: The Ragdoll and The Widow

Re: Fateful Encounter: The Ragdoll and The Widow

Re: Fateful Encounter: The Ragdoll and The Widow

Re: Fateful Encounter: The Ragdoll and The Widow