The Pilgrimage Begins

Thu Dec 30, 2021 9:41 am

Don't Shoot the Messenger:

Escort Service:

Holy Matrimony, Or Something:

Weeks had passed since Auron's defection from the great Konohagakure. With the recent emancipation of the Leaf Village, Auron was presented a rather fortuitous opportunity. The higher ups had all been distracted with discussions of liberation, meanwhile him and his team had been sent out on a mission just outside the village. Following his clan's calling, Auron had struck down one of his comrades and performed the sacrilegious ritual necessary to indoctrinate himself into the Yamaguchi ways. With his success however came the label of "traitor", "wicked", and other discriminatory terms. They'd never be able to understand Auron's perspective. He wasn't insane. He wasn't demonic. He was just heavily influenced by the visions of his ancestors. Not everyone was favored enough to be born into a clan where power was naturally and humanely bestowed upon them. No. Some others were cursed. Like the Uchiha, gaining strength through pain and suffering. And like the Yamaguchi, who could only awaken their potential through unrighteous rites.

But whatever.

Auron hadn't been a fan of the way of life in Konohakure anyway. Being a shinobi was fun, challenging, and rewarding. Yet at some points it was almost mindless. And the daily ordeals of his bickering family were nothing more than daunting to say the least. Life on his own would undoubtedly be a struggle, but it couldn't be any worse than being back there.

In any case, Auron had made his way to Earth Country. Particularly in search of his distant brother, who he had only heard of from his father and seen in his dreams. If he were anything like Auron, he too would be on the run. From what he knew, his brother was in Hoshigakure. Right next to Earth Country, but before proceeding there Auron would seek to obtain some ryo and power while in this country. And to be frank, it was desolate and barren here. The once great village seemed reduced to nothing more than ruin and rubble. Nevertheless there had been small towns on the outskirts of the Country, that seemed to be working their way back up in life. And naturally, they were distrusting of outsiders. Yet still, were kind enough to offer Auron some work. After learning of his status, an elderly woman, Matilda, had enlisted the services of Auron to escort her to some family affair. A reunion. Or a wedding. Or both? He couldn't quite recall the details, as those didn't matter to him. All he cared for was earning his ryo and keeping it pushing. However, a key factor he was forgetting was that she had also recruited the help of a few others.

And so on his way to the cottage of the elderly woman, Auron would discern the silhouette of a man standing outside the cottage. Nearly alarmed, he'd furrow his brow and focus his gaze on the shadowy figure as he cautiously approached. This was no old woman, this could be anyone. Unknown to him, it was one of his comrades on this mission. But as he approached, his baritone voice would softly call out "You're not Matilda...So then, who might you be?"

WC = 523

Fri Dec 31, 2021 12:05 pm

Sometimes, when the sun was out and the air was warm and the sky so blue it hurt to look at, Balthazar could forget that he's only human.

He could look at himself- honestly and earnestly glance down at his tattered frame, and see a person rather than the sharp edges underneath. Lichtenberg lines raced up and down his torso, curling up his neck and intersecting something that used to be his right eye. He wasn’t sure what hurt worse- the blow, the fall, or the knowledge that it was his brother’s fault, and his brother hated him for running.

The people- humans of this world- were alien and unfamiliar, and he very decisively chose not to think about how he came off.

A stranger falling from a crack in the sky, vibrant chakra leaking from every wound who barely spoke a word of their language. It’d been a few weeks since then, and they had yet to keelhaul him or whatever equivalent existed in this hellscape. No chakra using medics had been present for quite a while, so his recovery was gradual- and honestly, at this point, he just wanted to go.

One of the locals who’d taken pity on him between his fits of rampant medication abuse long bouts of self imposed solitude offered him this world’s equivalent of money for some sort of delivery. He wasn’t sure how helpful he’d be- sure, he used to be a messenger, but he also used to have two seeing eyes and a functioning nervous system. He’d take his chances. Apparently the whole scarface thing was good for intimidation.

He was wearing something that’d probably be considered risque back at the Garden-

…

He adjusted a short sleeved wrap top and a pair of dark trousers. The sandals were ill fitting but not enough to be painful. The stranger hadn’t offered him any other details- well, ones he could understand. He was vaguely aware that there may or may not be other people present- but when the stranger showed up before him, Balthazar found himself at a loss for words.

What was he supposed to say?

He vaguely picked up on his comments- he picked up the name of the stranger (or so he assumed? What kind of name was Matilda?) and the word ‘who’, which he understood to be a question of identity of some sort.

Part of him didn’t want to give his name to a stranger. It was personal- given to him by his father, and only spoken by family. He was suddenly jarringly aware that Matilda was listening with barely muted interest- nobody at the village knew, either.

“...Balthazar,” he answered after a moment. His accent was rough and jarring in all the ways his potential co-worker’s wasn’t- it wouldn’t be hard to place him as a foreigner, and a few more sentences from his truly would likely reveal that he wasn’t a native speaker of their language. From what he’d observed so far, the ‘th’ and ‘l’ sounds didn’t seem to exist.

He tilted his head slightly to the side, as if the angle would negate the massive blank spot that used to be his right field of vision. The lack of depth perception was jarring. After another moment, he opened his mouth to ask a question of his own. He tried not to think of how raspy his voice came out (and honestly, it wasn’t like he was vain or anything, but he was definitely one of the better looking of his brothers- Laish had a square chin, Zedekiah thought jarring magenta attire brought out his eyes; Heylel would normally rank pretty high on the list but due to the whole ‘javelin of light’ debacle he was predictably booted to bottom rank on principle).

“Working you a job?” judging by Matilda’s wince, he either severely butchered the sentence or had a really hideous voice. Personally, he hoped for the former. Not that the people here had heard him speak too often. “For Matila?” Balthazar added helpfully, clearing his throat. “We go to road? More people, yes?”

He was trying to ask if there was anyone else coming along, but he wasn’t sure how clearly the message was conveyed. Hopefully, the stranger would pick it up as curiosity rather than hostility and not immediately assume he was a threat. That sword looked very sharp, and he liked all his parts where they were, thank you very much.

Oh well. He’d already been stabbed once. Maybe it got easier after repeat exposure?

[WC: 755]
[Total WC: 755]

Fri Dec 31, 2021 4:58 pm

Half buried by sand, Luujin still lay on the coast of Earth Country. Six long months he had been in his coma, only alive due to the unnaturally hearty constitution his bloodline granted him. Still, his frame had greatly shrunk and he looked like he was on the brink of death. Perhaps it was a Christmas miracle that caused him to wake on the 25th of December. He had grown increasingly restless the previous five days, until his emerald eyes finally blinked open. The first sight that was revealed to Luujin was a beautiful blue sky with a few fluffy white clouds drifting lazily overhead. Slowly, thoughts started coming to Luujin as well as feeling in his body.

“Wh-where am I?” Luujin thought as he slowly sat up, wincing at the stiffness of his body.

Then the memories started returning to him. The fishing expedition, the storm, the fish tailed woman who had swam towards him. Luujin frowned at this. That part was the fuzziest, and also seemed the least realistic. But that was unimportant at the moment. As he shakily made it to his feet, Luujin took a look around at his surroundings, his frown deepening as he was met with unfamiliar surroundings. He hadn’t expected to recognize his location or anything, if it were that simple he would have already been found. Or at least that’s what he hoped. He wanted to believe he was important enough to his family that they would look for him. But with so many other siblings… was he really that important? Luujin shook these thoughts out of his head. They were irrelevant at the moment. He needed to focus on survival. Going back to his observations, what disturbed Luujin the most wasn’t the fact that he didn’t know where he was, but it was that he didn’t recognize anything. The terrain and flora was all completely foreign to Luujin.

“I'm definitely nowhere near Demon Country,” Luujin thought as he looked out to the sea, straining his eyes for something, anything. But he saw nothing. He appeared to be in a sheltered bay of some kind. His boat and supplies were also nowhere to be found. “Well no point in staying here any longer.” Luujin thought, as he attempted to get to his feet. After a fair bit of effort, Luujin managed to get standing, but he was immediately met with a sharp pain in his stomach. Hunger. It was so intense. Unbearable. “Just how long was I out?” Luujin wondered as he clenched his teeth and clutched his stomach. It was then he noticed the chill in the air. “Could it be autumn? Or even the beginning of winter?”

After a few minutes, the pain began to subside, turning into a dull throb. It was still awful, but manageable. God he really needed some food. There was a stick on the sand nearby, smoothed by the waves and sand. Luujin slowly made his way over, his legs still shaky from not being used for half a year. He managed to reach the stick, so he painstakingly crouched down and picked the stick up. It was lightweight but sturdy, and slightly shorter than Luujin. The perfect walking stick. Using this new tool, Luujin made his way away from the crashing tides and up to a field of low, almost sickly looking grass that was unfamiliar to the boy. But he did notice something in the distance. It appeared to be a dirt path.

“Hopefully it leads to a village,” Luujin thought as he started making his way over to it. While he had previously lived a nomadic lifestyle, there were others, especially in neighboring countries, that lived in small, permanent villages. So the boy was somewhat familiar with the concept. However, the scale of the village blew Luujin away. To most, it wouldn’t seem like much, just a small country village. But it was bigger and more advanced than anything Luujin had seen. The buildings were constructed in a completely different way than Luujin was used to. They seemed to be much more permanent and sturdy. They were also much bigger than any building Luujin had seen. There were a few people walking around, going between shops and chatting with their friends as they passed by. Luujin walked by, looking in awe at these strange people. They wore clothes of a completely different fashion than was seen in Demon Country. Seemingly going for appearance over practicality. When a woman noticed Luujin walking down the road, she gasped and dropped the bag of laundry she was carrying. At first Luujin was confused by the reaction, but then he looked down at himself. His clothes were absolutely filthy and for the first time the boy noticed he was covered in dry blood.

“I guess I took a beating as I drifted here,” Luujin thought. He also realized that he was much taller than the average boy his age, and was so thin his bones were clear against his pale and malnourished skin. And then there was the matter of his horns. They weren’t especially big compared to other members of his clan, but they were certainly noticeable. Or at least one of them was. As his hand drifted up to his forehead, all he felt was dried blood. Frantically his other hand shot up to his forehead and he started feeling around, desperately searching for his right horn, but it was gone. Broken off at some point as he was thrown around in the water. Perhaps he had slammed up against some rocks or an island. By this point quite a crowd had amassed around the boy, which made him feel frightened. He was about to make a run for it, when he heard a voice call out.

“Are you alright there young man?” A woman asked. She was middle aged, maybe 50 or so, and she had a concerned look on her face.

“F-food,” was all that Luujin managed to say. While he was able to think fine, he wasn’t able to fully articulate his thoughts.

The woman was taken aback by the thick accent that the boy spoke with, noticeable even with the one word he spoke.

“Come with me,” she said with a motherly smile. “I’ll get you cleaned up and give you some food.”

Luujin smiled gratefully, and followed her towards one of the houses, still relying heavily on the walking stick.

As promised, the woman provided Luujin with a nice meal and showed him to a bathtub. She even cleaned his clothes, somehow managing to get all of the stains out. After two days under the woman’s care, Luujin was beginning to feel like himself again. It was a miraculously quick recovery for someone who was in a coma, but that too was attributed to his Ushitora genetics.

Once he felt like he had recovered Luujin offered to assist the woman with any task she might set to repay her for the care. She tried to brush off Luujin’s request, but the boy was insistent, and in the end, she told Luujin about how her son was getting married soon, and his grandmother was supposed to be coming from a nearby village. The woman went on to explain how she was worried about her, and asked Luujin to escort her to the house. Luujin agreed and was sent off the next morning with plenty of food and directions of how to get there.

He walked all day, only stopping for a quick lunch, and he arrived at the village early in the afternoon. The woman had written a set of numbers on a slip of paper that she gave to Luujin. As Luujin walked through the new town, he looked around, trying to find a building that had the same numbers as the paper. After a few minutes he found it, and to his surprise, there seemed to already be two people outside the house. Luujin frowned, the woman had said nothing about other people.

“Could they be attackers?” Luujin wondered, suddenly on guard. But after thinking about it, he realized the chance was small. They would have to be pretty stupid to attack in the middle of the town. Luujin arrived right after the scarred man finished speaking, though he didn’t catch what he said.

“Uh, I’m Luujin,” the boy said to the two men. One appeared to be around his age, but the one with the scars seemed older. After a deep breath, he continued. “I was sent here to escort Matilda by her daughter, do you two share the same task?”

Amongst the many other things Luujin learned during his stay with the woman, the boy noticed that the people of this land spoke with a different accent from himself, which at times made it difficult to understand what Luujin said. However, while Luujin’s accent was strong, he still spoke the same language as the people here and he was usually understandable unless he spoke quickly or was very excited, so he hoped that the two men would be able to understand him. He was slightly apprehensive about working with two complete strangers, but he covered it up, and outwardly appeared to be cool and collected.

[WC=1539]

Sun Jan 02, 2022 6:45 pm

Upon hearing the strange accent from the foreign man, Auron couldn’t help but look at him a bit…different. As he closer approached him, his build became more discernible. It was similar to his own, however this man seemed only slightly taller. From what Auron gathered though, it seemed like this man was also recruited by the woman named Matilda. However the man’s accent could have fooled Auron, Matila wasn’t exactly the same person that he himself was familiar with.

With the peculiar expression he wore upon his face, brow furrowed and forehead wrinkled, Auron nodded to the man. “Matilda also asked me to escort her. Interesting that this is a two man job.”

Since the dialogue was calm, Auron’s posture relaxed a bit. This man likely wasn’t a threat, and was probably friendly. Just like the voice of the third person who was approaching the duo. He began by introducing himself, notably in his own accent, quite the appropriate way to approach two strangers. With that, Auron would turn his head towards his direction and offer a slight head nod. “Auron,” he responded in a not so overly enthused tone. He wasn’t necessarily the most sociable of people, but still had enough to common sense to remain cordial.

This Luujin would then go on to indicate that he too was recruited by Matilda. Now things started to seem eerie. But nevertheless it was relatively normal. As a former genin he was used to completing missions in three man squads, but since becoming a missing ninja he was used to running solo. It only deepened his feelings of solitude and lack of social aptitude. But he could at least try to play the part.
“Yeah, that’s why I’m here. Speaking of Matilda, have either of you seen her?”

Auron would direct his attention back towards Matilda’s house which the unnamed foreigner stood in front of. Walking towards the man, he would near the house and lean to the side so that his gaze could be casted inside the window. It was dark and empty, like no one had been there. Weird, considering this was where the group was supposed to rendezvous. Turning in place, he would fix his sight on a fourth and final person: Matilda. She was strolling up to her home, almost without a worry in the world. Like she had forgotten about assigning the trio to escort her.
“Oh well there you three are!” she said in her warm, semi - senile tone. “I see you already met each other! Well we’ve got to get going! I’ve got to get to this wedding!”

The woman would do a near 180, almost as if visual confirmation of the trio was all she needed to proceed. And so she’d push onward, like she was leading this band of misfits. Confused, Auron would shrug and briefly exchange glances with the two men that stood before him. He’d proceed forward, following her lead until his pace carried him arms length away from her right side.

“So…Earth Country isn’t exactly teeming with life. What brings the two of you here?”

WC = 517. TWC = 1040

Tue Jan 04, 2022 3:45 pm

He tilted his head at the appearance of the horned stranger. No such creature existed in his homeworld, but- he knew Matilda, and he couldn’t afford to turn down help when he was already begging for metaphorical and literal scraps. He didn’t recognize many of the words he spoke. ‘Luujin’ wasn’t a word he recognized, having different sounds than he was learning this world’s dialect had. Maybe it was a name, or an unusual swear?

He picked up on ‘Auron’s’ name in much the same manner, though he’d mentally refer to them as Blue and Pointy until he got confirmation.

Not long afterwards, Matilda appeared. Her odd manner of speaking and shrill voice meant he firmly had no clue what the hell she was saying. Balthazar turned to the both of them, fingers twitching at his sides. It was largely unintentional on his end- his nervous system’d been fried pretty bad, and he tended to get jittery when nervous, stressed, or sensing something he couldn’t understand.

It was irritating, but not as much as the lack of depth perception. It took him a few moments after the departure to realize he was being spoken to. Balthazar heard the words ‘Earth Country’ and ‘here’- he’d recognized the former as the name of the town he stayed (or maybe the country? A county? A kingdom?).

“Yes,” he agreed. “Earth country is here.” a pause. That probably wasn’t what was being asked. He dimly remembered the word ‘what’ in Pointy’s sentence. Maybe he was asking why he came? Subconsciously, he leaned the slightest bit back, rubbing at his eye and only dimly noting the absence of light where he’d otherwise see his whole hand.

“Hurt. A long way I fell.” he responded after a moment. A faint breath left his nose as he acquieced more detail. Spindly, shaking fingers pulled back the collar of his shirt, revealing a wicked, twisting scar that curled and nestled in every crevice of his torso like white ivy. “Stabbed,” he added, though he lacked the vocabulary to describe the predicament in detail.

Not that he was comfortable doing so- he barely knew these people, after all. Maybe one day, after he had enough resources to settle down for a bit under a warm roof.

He tilted his head slightly, letting the collar fall back to its normal place. He had trouble communicating, true- but he wasn’t stupid. Impulsively, he made a riposte with a query of his own.

“Earth country is not home for you?”

[WC: 418]
[Total WC: 1,173]

Fri Jan 07, 2022 12:13 am

The younger of the two men introduced himself as Auron, and the one with the scars didn’t respond. Perhaps he had already introduced himself to Auron, or perhaps he was just preferred not to share. Either way Luujin didn’t really care. He had only given his name to be polite, and because he figured it didn’t really matter if these people from a completely different country knew his first name. Auron confirmed that he was working for Matilda as well, and although the scarred man didn’t reply, Luujin couldn’t imagine he was there for anything else. Suddenly, the woman in question appeared out of the blue, right after Auron had inquired about her whereabouts. She was elderly and quite strange, starting on the road almost immediately after arriving in front of the three gentlemen.

“Is she crazy?” Luujin wondered as he hesitantly began to follow her. “As her bodyguards, you’d think she’d pay attention to us and make sure we’re protecting her and stuff. But maybe our job isn’t really protecting her. It could be more like making sure she gets there without wandering off or doing something stupid.”

Luujin was distracted from his thoughts by a question from Auron. He had noticed Auron heading towards Matilda’s right side earlier, so Luujin followed his lead and was now walking on his employer's left side. The side effect of this was he couldn’t see much of his companions. The scarred man was behind him and Auron was on the other side of Matilda. Luujin didn’t immediately answer the question posed, and instead considered the best way to respond. He didn’t want to just give away information about himself and his homeland freely. The scarred man answered first, stating something about earth country in a barely understandable accent before going on to explain his situation in halting phrases. This was the first time Luujin heard the man speak, so it was a bit of a surprise. He also had an accent, although it was quite different than the one Auron or the other people in the villages had. Luujin wasn’t in a position to judge though, so he said nothing.

Luujin already knew that the place he was in was known as Earth Country to the inhabitants, as the woman he stayed with had tried to help him find his home using an extremely detailed map. Luujin had never seen anything even near the same level as it. Yet according to her, it wasn’t even a rare commodity. On this map was one large land mass surrounded by oceans that was divided up into many different territories. Countries she called them. Despite all his searching, Luujin couldn’t locate a place on this map that even remotely resembled his homeland. This led him to the conclusion that the land he walked on wasn’t connected to the land of demons by any kind of earth. They must be separate continents, kept apart by a vast ocean. It would seem that the inhabitants of this place weren’t even aware of its existence. In all fairness, Luujin didn’t know anyone from his home who knew about this continent either. When the scarred man finished speaking, Luujin realized he had to at least say something.

“I was brought here by the winds and the waves,” Luujin answered somewhat reluctantly. “I didn’t have much of a choice where I ended up.” Luujin would stop speaking there for now. He felt no need or desire to share more about himself, nor did he care to ask any follow up questions to his partners. Afterall, they were only together for the one mission, why should he care about their stories?

So far absolutely nothing of interest had happened in regards to Matilda, but Luujin kept his eyes peeled just in case.

[WC=631]
[TWC=2170]

Mon Jan 10, 2022 1:01 pm

And so it would seem as if communication wasn't the strong suit of any of the three guards. As Auron posed a simple question to each of the two that walked alongside him, both would have uniquely...difficult answers. The first, Balthazar, answered in what seemed to be in response to a totally different question. Squishing his eyebrows together softly, Auron was just as confused as he had been when the group first met up. As luck would have it, what should be the easiest aspect of working in a three man team clearly presented itself as the most difficult. There was a language barrier, as well as a mix of some heavy accents. And as Auron listened to more of Balthazar's explanation, the Yamaguchi wondered if this man was even from this country...or even this continent....or even this world.

"So he fell...and was stabbed? And that's in response to me asking him of his origin? That's...something..." Auron thought to himself as he diverted his gaze from the stature of Balthazar and back to the immediate road in front of the quartet. Matilda was still leading the pack, unbothered and disinterested in the small conversation that the trio was having. After a brief moment of silence, Luujin would offer his short and cryptic backstory. "Sounds like this Luujin could have been a sailor of some sort who ended up shipwrecked. What a misfortune..."

And as Auron opened his mouth, Matilda would immediately cut him off.

"Well! Here we are! My family's homestead!" she would say in a hearty tone with her arms extended forward and out.

Auron's gaze would swiftly pan across the open stretch of land. There were stables, barns, and what looked to be a compound that a large group of people lived within. And in a field adjacent to the compound was the set up to a wedding. As ornate and decorated as it could be. And what a lovely day it had been for an outdoor wedding too. The sun was out, not a cloud in the sky, and the light breeze that swept the field was refreshing.

"Now then! Which of you lot has the dowry?...The money??" Matilda would ask as her beady eyes flashed between the trio of men. Auron just kind of shrugged, as he had been completely unaware of the task at hand. And unfortunately, he was doubtful that either of his comrades would have the aforementioned dowry. Shiftily, he'd looked back at each of his teammates once in anticipation of their responses.

WC = 420. TWC = 1460

Tue Jan 11, 2022 2:36 pm

The group arrived at the location after a long ways’ journey. Matilda was expectant, and though he didn’t understand the exact wording, he was able to interpret the basic definition that she wanted something they were supposed to bring.

He was a messenger, after all, and long journeys carrying cargo weren’t unusual. He slung a satchel off his shoulder and handed it her way after a moment, and she grabbed it almost as quickly as it was removed, saying something that might’ve been a thank you as she ran off.

Afterwards, Balthazar was left standing in the field with the two temporary traveling companions. He- wasn’t sure what to do next, to be honest, but he found himself turning to them regardless. They were tolerable, and competent- much more than him, anyway, and they didn’t seem to mind his language barrier. He scratched his nose, nearly re-opening an old scab, before speaking up in a voice that he still didn’t recognize.

“More jobs for us?” he queried, asking if they’d be interested in running more missions together as a group. Surely at a wedding (this was a wedding, right?) as extravagant as this, there’d be additional concerns that they could potentially handle.

Plus, he wasn’t quite sure he could strike it alone just yet. There was some truth to be found in safety and numbers, after all.

WC: 227 | Total WC: 1,400

Mon Jan 17, 2022 12:38 am

The odd band successfully made it to the destination without even a single problem. It made Luujin wonder why exactly three escorts were necessary. However, it didn’t really matter to Luujin. He was happy to repay the kindness that the family had given him. Unfortunately, it would seem there was an aspect of the assignment that Luujin wasn’t privy to. Something called the dowry? Luujin wasn’t familiar with the term, but upon Matilda elaborating slightly, he learned it was money of some kind.

The concept of money was pretty foreign to Luujin, after all, he had lived a nomadic lifestyle since the day he was born. While in the care of the kind woman, Luujin was told about ryo and it’s uses, and while he understood the concept, he thought it was rather pointless. Why have that middle man when you could trade goods for goods, or goods for services, or even services for other services. But regardless of his opinions, he now lived in a world where money was apparently an integral part of life, and he couldn’t ignore it solely based off his personal opinions.

He still didn’t understand what exactly a dowry was, but he knew he sure as hell didn’t have it. The man named Auron also didn’t seem to be in possession of the dowry as he shrugged. This left just one member of the party, the scarred man. Luujin really needed to learn his name. Luckily, he was able to present Matilda with a satchel, which she took eagerly, then proceeded to hurry off towards a field where some chairs and other structures were set up. If Luujin had to guess, he’d say that was where the wedding itself would take place.

Now that Matilda was gone, he was unsure of what to do. It wasn’t like he had anywhere to go, not to mention he couldn’t exactly just turn around and walk away from these people without a word. Luckily, the scarred man saved Luujin from his predicament by suggesting that they find some more jobs while they were there. Or at least that’s what Luujin thought he was saying, it was a bit hard to tell what with him clearly not being a native speaker of this language.

“Sure,” Luujin said with a shrug, “I don’t mind doing some more work.”

Luujin was just about to ask where the others thought they should look, when he noticed a plume of smoke coming out of one of the buildings. Luujin didn’t know much about these strange buildings, but he was pretty sure that they weren’t supposed to do that.

“Look!” He exclaimed to the other two men. “That building is smoking!”

As Luujin started taking a few steps towards the ever increasing column of smoke, the door of the building flew open and several people ran out of it. Through the doorway, Luujin could see bright orange flames dancing around what the people around here called a kitchen. If memory served him correctly, it was where they cooked their food.

“A fire must have started when they were preparing the food for the wedding!” Luujin realized as his walk turned into a run.

“Is everyone okay?” The boy asked in his thick accent as he reached the group of people who had exited the kitchen.

“No!” One of them said frantically. “Luisa is still in there! Please, you have to save her!”

Luujin had no idea who this Luisa was, or why she had such a strange name, but there was no time to worry about that now. With a nod, Luujin closed the distance to the building, halting at the door. There was a bucket full of water next to the entrance, so Luujin grabbed that before taking a deep breath then entering the flaming building. The kitchen was extremely hot, and so smokey that Luujin could hardly see.

“Hello?” he called out as he ventured in. “Luisa?”

“H-help,” said a voice from across the room before having a fit of coughing.

“I’m coming, just stay there,” Luujin said, starting to make his way through the building. The flames danced all around him, but Luujin managed to pick his way over to the woman unscathed. He found her curled up in a ball in the corner of the room, evidently too shocked to have moved when the fire started.

“Alright, let’s get you out of here,” Luujin said as he picked the woman up and slung her over his shoulder. It took him significantly longer to pick his way back to the door as the flames had spread even more, but when he did manage to reach the exit, he was met by a frightening sight. The door was completely blocked by flames. Luckily, Luujin still had the bucket of water, which he used to douse the flames in front of the door, allowing him to escape with the woman. He walked over to the group who had escaped the house earlier and set Luisa down in front of them.

“She should probably get looked at,” Luujin told them, before walking away to find his two traveling companions.

[WC=856]
[TWC=3026]

Mon May 16, 2022 8:38 am

Auron watched as the man handed over the satchel, which Matilda seemed immensely grateful for. From there, that same man inquired if the team should continue to execute more missions. The other seemed more than fine with this idea, and so Auron would agree as well. The team was getting paid, and they were at least in the company of each other. It was better than traveling alone. And instantly, more work appeared in the form of a smoking building. With haste the group would break off and make their way to it, which seemed to have been ablaze due to a nasty kitchen fire. As Luujin commanded the situation and rushed to extinguish the flames, Auron would follow his lead. Auron would rush off to a nearby river holding a bucket in hand, and scoop it into the water. He'd return to the kitchen and toss the water over the source of the flames. He'd continue to make laps from the river to the kitchen to continue putting out the fire. And after several rounds of this alongside the help of his teammates, the fire would subside and Luujin would be exiting the building with a woman in his arms.

"Yeah, she should. I don't really have any medical training though so I'm not sure what use I will be. But I do think I need to get going. Thanks for the help guys, I hope I run into you both again."

And with that, Auron would turn in place and leave the present location. He really did rope to run into his companions again, as their presence provided a unique level of comfort that the boy hadn't felt in quite some time.

- Exit -

WC = 284. TWC = 1744

Claiming Mission Rewards
1,000 Ryo / 5 AP
1,000 Ryo / 5 AP
1,000 Ryo / 5 AP
New AP Total = 250 + 15 = 265

Claiming 17 Stat Points:
Vigor: 25 -> 25
Chakra: 25 (+25) -> 35 (+25)
Speed: 25 -> 7 (32)
Strength: 25 -> 25

All words towards Time Dilation (A, 1744/2500)

Milestones:
Hit the Ground Running: Complete one mission.
Bonus: 500 Ryo

Teamwork makes the Dream Work: Complete a mission in a mission group of 3 or more.
Bonus: 500 WC

Ryo Total = 6000 + 3000 + 1000 = 10000

The Pilgrimage Begins

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