Happy Holidays~~

Mission:

Emi was starting to get used to this place, especially after finding the scroll. With the help she had received from Rin, she was pretty sure the scroll was...

Not entirely evil?

Like, it was not some Dark Power destined to throw her into a life or death trap which she barely survived.

That was just really fucking bad luck on her part. And on Rin's part for getting dragged along for that shit.

But after the events of her first eventful night in this land, she had found the scroll again, and was able to use it to pass freely between her home and this location. The couple she had reunited (well, helped to reunite, chances are she and Jean would have died in Rin had not been there) had offered her enough clothing and things to get to town and get things that...

Mostly fit.

Emi had a really annoying body to go clothes shopping for. That's why she generally went with things big and baggy, or smaller and less prone to showing off their shitty sizing. And the like, one store she frequented that actually had clothes in her size. They had a big influence on her style for their sheer nature of FITTING RIGHT.

But that was neither here, nor there. Rather, she was getting new outerwear for this cold place. What she borrowed from the couple was OK but it also... smelled strongly of 'old people'.

Emi ignored the smell as best she could and continued on her way, walking down the aisles. She had given up looking at things for their looks. She had gotten some cold weather clothing from home, but did not have great access to things like heavy jackets at home. So she was trying her best to find one such thing here. Anything that fit well would be a winner. Which meant she was walking down the men's section looking for something decent enough.

Frankly, she felt fairly warm and could just... avoid this entire place when it was too cold. So, maybe getting a heavy jacket at all was the wrong choice when instead...

She could get a simple windbreaker and wear it over her warmer clothes.

So she found one. It was white and, honestly? She really liked the way it was contrasting with her current clothing. It even had a fur lining at the top, despite not having a hood.

To be fair, no hood was PROBABLY a downside, but she could always figure out SOMETHING to put over her ears...

So she went to check out, and overheard a most troubling situation. Apparently, the normal deliverer for the store had a twisted ankle! The other employees were discussing who would go out, and all were ADAMANTLY refusing to be the ones to go.

After paying, Emi walked over and offered simply to do it for them.

They seemed... apprehensive, but one spoke up. Apparently it was a cheaper purchase, and none of them wanted to go out of their way for something so cheap. So, according to said individual, they had 'very little to lose'.

The group also gave Emi a bit of background on the client: apparently a home bound elderly individual who had most everything delivered. An easy task, right?

Emi went on her way to where she was told the individual's house was.

It was a quick delivery to a friendly individual. And then Emi went back on her way.

She saw a field, freshly fallen snow, still somehow undisturbed.

It was, perhaps, too enticing...

---

WC 592

The sound of rushing air and the rapid disorientation of the ground suddenly appearing above him was the only warning Dracoso received before he was unceremoniously dumped into what felt like a pile of feathers. He rolled onto his back and sat up to see that he was surrounded by some strange white powder that was falling from the sky where he himself had just appeared. It took him a moment to realize that the temperature around him had suddenly plummeted compared to where he had been previously and, while he felt comfortable in some cooler temperatures, the sudden change threw him off. Images of a warmth and fire flashed across the bond from Sutsui, letting him know that she was extremely unhappy with this sudden shift. She was demanding he find a way to warm them up. Dracoso simply shook his head and opened his storage displacement space and pulled out his set of R&D armor and his lightweight bodysuit before donning the two layers. Sutsui sent a wave of grumpy contentment before sliding deeper down into the armor for warmth.

Dracoso scratched his head, leaving the helmet up on his armor, to take in his surroundings. His mind slipped back to only an hour before when he was walking through the streets of Kirigakure and considering how he would return to working on missions.

A few months had passed since he had seen the spirits of his grandparents visiting and when that odd messenger had come with a threat against their world. While he was able to drive the messenger away with the assistance of the spirits of ninjas that came from across history, the world he had seen had felt a bit empty at the time. With personal struggles and disagreements abound, Dracoso had chosen to seclude himself away for a time to recover his strength and took those months to recollect himself. He had been running full speed from one mission to the next and found that many of his efforts had benefitted those around him. At the same time, it felt like larger pieces of the world had simply begun to break apart and leave holes which were too much for him to handle. After a rough time trying to come to terms with the lack of response from others, Dracoso had stepped away.

He had spent many weeks with friends and family living the civilian life and enjoying peace of mind. He had spent weeks trying to rediscover what had originally driven him in the first place, only to find himself spinning mentally into an unraveling weave of thoughts. It was only when he truly let himself go from his drive that he began to recover his desire to write. It was when he had let himself delve too deeply in finding value outside of his own feelings and hopes that he began to see the cracks in his resolve. As he had spent time away and reshaped his mentality, word of a new holiday event occurring caught his attention.

Dracoso stopped by the academy and decided to ask his teacher for advice on the event, but was surprised when the teacher had no real information on it. "The only knowledge I have," his teacher explained, "is that you need to have the intention to have fun and celebrate the renewal of the year. Maybe the people at the mission center will have more for you?"

Dracoso took his advice and stopped by the center, only to find it unusually empty. He slowly made his way up to the desk and found it unattended. The desk was usually busy during the day, so finding the building vacant of people was a bit unsettling. A few papers littered the floor around his feet and several patches of soaked flooring stood out in the empty building. "Hello!?" Dracoso said towards the rooms behind the desk, "is anyone here?" His voice echoed once from the back of the building, signaling that no one was present. The silence that followed was uncomfortable. Even with Sutsui softly wrapped around his neck giving him waves of comfort in response to his anxiety, Dracoso turned to leave quickly. As he did, a soft chuckle came from the doorway as a dark silhouette raised a hand. The light streamed in behind him and his face was hard to see as a musky voice spoke out.

"Oh, don't worry, let me help you get where you need to go."

Confusion filled Dracoso's mind at these words. That confusion only lasted a few moments before the building disappeared from around him and he appeared in the middle of the sky just a few minutes ago.

After letting out a deep sigh, Dracoso said to himself, "at least he could have kept me right-side up. I could have broken my neck if I wasn't more careful." With a few stretches to get himself limber, Dracoso glanced around again. A few lights off in the distance signaled a possible village with what appeared to be a woman staring out at the open field he was standing in. He raised a hand and said to the woman, "Hello there! Would you happen to know where we are? I seem to have ended up here as a possible prank."

WC = 881

Another day, another mission. Since Jun Shibasaki left the Kumogakure ninja academy and became a Genin, that was his life. Training, patrolling, missions…and repeat, over and over and over again. Yes, the young shinobi knew that this was the life of a Ninja, but damn he needed some rest. In the last couple of months, Jun dealt with monster trees, mutant bandits, mutant skanks and spirits from the past… he even had the first kill of his life, which deeply affected him… and now, the Chuunin exams lied before him. “At least it’s the best time of the year now…” Jun consoled himself. Jun hoped that at least on the holidays he would have some days off to just chill with his family and live a non-shinobi life for a little while.

The young Shibasaki clansman was returning home from another mission, with his clothes covered in mud and dirt and his hair ruffled and messy, Jun walked through the streets of Kumogakure towards his house, desiring more than never a hot shower and some sleep. Winter had arrived with full force and the mountains winds were much colder than usual, and Jun hated the cold. He was born in Funkagakure no Sato, that had a a much milder and warmer climate, and his bloodline had an intimate relation with the Sun, which now only showed up for a few hours during the harsh winter of the Lightning Country.

Still, Jun was walking the path his late father dreamed for him. Little by little, the last know male member of the Shibasaki clan was evolving as a Shinobi, discovering by himself the secrets and power of his clan’s Kekkei Genkai: the heavenly Tengan and the Taiyoton element. Still, Jun felt somewhat incomplete. He thought that fulfilling the destiny that his father envisioned for him would bring him some peace, but the hole that his absence left in Jun’s soul were perhaps far too big to be ever covered by his life as a shinobi. Only time would tell.

After this moment of self-reflection, Jun found himself at the entrance to his house, not knowing how he had gotten there. Most likely, he got so deep into his own thoughts that he went on some kind of autopilot. Before opening the door, the young genin noticed that there was something strange at the foot of his door: a golden scroll, wrapped with a big red gift bow. Jun found that rather odd, but his curiosity got the better of him and he decided to read the scroll’s contents. 
Carefully, he untied the loop's knot and removed it, opening the scroll.


“Have a safe travel!” –  and as Jun read its content, it was like he heard inside his own head a unfamiliar voice saying 
the same words written in the golden paper he held in his hands. Suddenly, everything around the young Shinobi just vanished in a blink of an eye, and he found himself midair, falling. Caught by surprise, Jun was not able to do much and just tried to position his body in a way to reduce the damages of the fall. Luckily and surprisingly, he felt on top of a fluffy pile of snow, which cushioned the impact over his body.

Jun got back on his feet, a bit stunned by the sudden “teleportation” experience he was just part of, and looked around him, trying to locate himself. All he could see nearby was the snow’s white, covering everything and piling up as it kept falling from the sky. In the distance, he could see what appeared to be lights, albeit very dimly. “A village perhaps?”. He looked around a bit more, until his eyes located a blond haired woman and a blue-tinted grey haired boy, both unfamiliar to him, standing about 10m away from Jun at the open white snowy fields. He walked in towards their direction, and he could hear the blue-haired boy asking the girl about their current whereabouts, meaning that probably he also did not know where they were.

- Hey there, greetings! I was also teleported here… I heard you said something about this being a prank… any ideas who could have sent us here? And where the hell is this cold, snowy land?

---

WC: 710

---

WC: 546

One moment after the next, it seemed the story unraveled itself around him. Dracoso tried to catch up with everything that was going on as he shook his head. Maybe he had hit the ground a bit harder than he first thought. With a drunken man swinging a child around like a dog he just caught by the scruff of the neck and the other, rather underdressed, individual who appeared, things were beginning to turn into a ruckus. As the younger girl named Emi took hold of the situation, Dracoso rubbed the back of his neck and figured it would be better to put aside the prank for now and deal with what was going on.

"I am Dracoso," he said, introducing himself to the three, speaking in a bit of a raised voice to match Emi's. "I am a medical ninja and teacher from Kirigakure. I think right now, we might want to get some clothes on.... Jun, was it?" Dracoso took a note from the drunk ninja as he named the other individual. "I have a spare set of armor if you need it. It is not too thick, sadly, but it does provide some cover." If needed, he would pull out a set of mist walker armor for Jun to borrow. Once that was settled, he would look to the drunken ninja a bit concerned and say, "I do not think these are actors. Rather, I think they are just people existing on another plane from our own. Kind of like that event last summer with the portal to the beach. This time, it looks like some of us were drawn in rather than finding a way here on our own. I think we should be careful in the long run, but maybe a bit of downtime to help the kids would be good for us. Specially to work off some of our...." He quietly glanced back at the drunk ninja before saying, "extra energy."

As Dracoso looked back to Emi, he noticed several children had gathered around the remains of the snowman that Saturn (if introduced by now) had knocked over. A few of the children looked uncomfortable from one to the other and one even whispered about wolves and going back home before they got into trouble. "Now, now. Wolves are not that bad," Dracoso began as he slipped past Emi and crouched down next to the small gathering of kids. They looked at him curiously and asked, "how would you know? Wolves eat people! That's what they always did in the stories our parents read us." A few of the other kids nearby nodded and looked to the young ninja. He chuckled softly and nodded before saying, "Well, I would know. I am a friend with a group of wolves. some wolves do like to eat people, yes. But not all wolves are like that. Some like to make friends and others just like to be left alone."

"Oh yeah? Prove it!" said the boy from earlier. Several of the kids looked wide-eyed between Dracoso and the boy, not sure they would like either outcome. Dracoso smiled softly and asked, "are you sure? You need to be brave to look a wolf in the eye. Are you brave?" The boy seemed to falter for a second before clenching his fists and saying, "I sure am!" Dracoso looked to the rest of the kids and said, "I am going to bring out a couple of my friends who can help us build some snowmen. If you do not want to get close to them, you do not have to. If you feel uncomfortable, just tell me and I can make sure you are somewhere safe, Ok?" The other kids nodded, two of the smaller ones hiding behind the larger kids.

After forming the handseals, the black symbols spread out across the top of the snow-covered ground and a large poof of smoke followed immediately after. The kids all gasped as they watched and the boy still clenched his fists, waiting for the smoke to clear. As vision returned around Dracoso, five wolves either sat or stood in a circle near him. Among them, three were no more than pups with the fourth only being a bit bigger. The fifth stood several inches taller than Dracoso himself but sat peacefully as he observed the pups and children in kind. The children gasped for a second time as the wolves came into view. Some of the younger children cooed at how cute some of the younger pups were, before pausing at seeing the large form of Kechi watching over them all. As Hike, Kaku, and Chimai began to wander towards the children, Kujan began to gather them up and tried to keep them from startling them too badly.

As Hike and Chimai began to wrestle with one another, Kechi cleared his throat firmly, causing all the pups and kids to jump softly before looking casting his eyes over them. Kechi whisper softly to Dracoso, "was it really a good idea summoning so many? I know you like to teach people things, but having the younglings here as well will only make this more chaotic." Dracoso looked to the wolf and said softly, "I figured meeting more than just one wolf, especially if they are more their size, might give them a bit more context on how wolves really work. They know the full-grown wolves that are used to scare them into being good. Meeting a few wolves that are a bit softer, both in body and in personality, might help them relax." Kechi gave a soft chuckle at the concept of being soft before looking back to the children.

Kechi took a few steps towards the kids and bowed his head before sitting and stating in a calm voice, "It is good to meet you all." Most of the children jumped as the wolf spoke to them. Most were trying to hide now as the boy with the clenched fists appeared to be shaking softly, now trying to stare the wolf down as if his life depended on it. Kechi let out his breath and shook his head softly before saying, "I am not going to eat any of you. So just stop wimpering." A few of the kids seemed unsure, but began to relax. The rest were still trying to either hide behind one another or keeping their distance, "my name is Kechi, and we are a few of the Okamis of the Haze. My companion, Dracoso, has told me that your parents have told you scary stories about wolves in the past? Well, I can tell you right now that humans taste awful. Especially when they are wearing clothes. Besides, most of you are too small for me to even call a snack!" Kechi chuckled at his own words. Most of the kids seemed to be a bit more at ease, but seemed caught off-guard by the comment of being snacks for six-foot tall wolf.

Kechi realized that his usual method of teaching did not seem to be working to calm the kids the way he had hoped, so he cleared his throat and continued. "We are here to help and to get to know one another. We will work together to..." Kechi glanced back at Dracoso, realizing he still did not know why they were there. "Build snowmen," Dracoso responded. "Work together to build snowm-," Kechi cut off. He looked back at Dracoso and tilted his head. "We are building humans made of snow?" Dracoso shrugged softly and said, "apparently you just make a very fat looking person made of snow with sticks for arms and other things." This was the first time Dracoso had encountered snow, so he was somewhat confused by what a snowman was as well. He had heard stories from his parents about using ice to make sculptures and something called a skating rink before. His mother had described making snowmen once, but it sounded like making a meatball person using snow.

By this point, the three younger pups had snuck up around Kechi and were trying to army crawl towards the children. A few of the kids looked very interested with the little pups and were inching their way out of hiding as well. Kechi simply shook his head, realizing that he might not be the best one to try to connect with such small humans. He was surprised as one boy walked up to him, staring him in the eye awkwardly, before the boy slipped on a bit of ice in the snow. Kechi caught him with a quick paw and raised his eyebrow. The boy spoke as he shook softly, "see-ee? I knew I could b-be br-brave!" Kechi glanced at Dracoso, who gave a small nod. "You sure did," Kechi said, helping the boy back to his feet.  "Most of the pups in my pack still have trouble meeting my eye. Good for you." The wolf seemed as awkward with praising the boy as the boy was addressing him. The praise seemed to work though, as the boy smiled wide at the words before putting his hands on his hips as if he had won a victory for himself.

Dracoso glanced back to find that some the kids were already working alongside the pups to build what looked like a small army of snowmen. A few of the other children had gotten distracted and had begun to pelt one another with small chunks of snow as if they were in a make-believe battle. Dracoso decided to join in and began to use his ice techniques to shift and mold the snow. Several of the children became interested and asked him about how he was able to shape the snow and ice so well and he explained how he was a Yuki and that they were naturally attuned to the ice. Many suggested ideas for things he could make to put on the snowmen and the army slowly became more....interesting. Some ended up with top hats while others received ice swords and shields. One little girl even asked to have a dress made for her snowman and, after a bit of time and failure, a rather stiff looking dress adorned one of the snowmen.

Dracoso also took some suggestions from his teammates, if they asked for anything made out of ice, and eventually the army was done. Time had passed so quickly that when Dracoso looked up, there were several snowmen he did not remember making. A few people, most likely the kids' parents, were standing towards the edge of the clearing watching the fun. They waved, keeping an eye out to make sure the kids were ok. The wolf pups had begun to play hide-and-seek with the children around the snowmen and Kechi was explaining how to be brave to the child who had approached him. Dracoso shrugged, deciding that they had made enough snowmen and could move on to figuring out how they ended up here and what to do next.

Just as he was turning to ask Kechi for his assistance, a snowball smacked into the wolf's face. The snow slowly slid down his jaw and Kechi had a look of irritation as he stared at the children. Several had already ducked in cover while a few looked like they wanted to melt into the snow around them. Kechi raised one paw and brought it down, causing a rapidly traveling rumble which launched several of the kids a few feet into the air before falling back down into the snow. Several of the parents watching suddenly looked panicked and started to run for the clearing. Dracoso looked back at Kechi in disbelief and asked, "what the hell are you doing?? They are children!" Kechi just glanced back at him and raised an eyebrow as he responded, "if they can't handle that, I doubt their parents would have thought it was safe to let them out here."

As Dracoso went to reply, laughter slowly began to fill the air. He looked back and saw several of the kids were sitting up in the snow, unharmed. They were either giggling or laughing at how much fun it was to be tossed softly in the snow and a couple of them were even asking to do it again. The parents who had come running had slowed to a stuttering halt and looked on in concern. They shared a few words before gathering again, this time a good bit closer to the group, just to keep an eye on them. Dracoso scratched his chin as Kechi said, "See? just like I told you. It might have surprised a few of them, but they seem to be able to handle-"

Another snowball hit Kechi in the chest, cutting him off mid-sentence. The wolf looked back at the kids and raised a paw. A few looked excited and the parents seemed to become more anxious in response. A grin, at least what might be taken as one, appeared on Kechi's maw as a standoff commenced. The wolf pups looked on curiously, seeing one of their captains outnumbered and engaged with their new friends/'allies.' The pups moved to start circling Kechi, but the larger wolf stared them down, just in time for another snowball to hit him. His grin turned into a neutral point of frustration, just as a small volley of snowballs began to pelt the wolf. Dracoso quickly crafted himself a tower shield and simply put himself behind it as he saw the kids had decided to all work together against the wolf along with the pups.

The children began to rapidly gather up snow around them and tossed it as quickly as they could at the large wolf. Several were rather poor attempts and simply fell a foot away from the children. Most flew pretty well, but Kechi had begun to rapidly swat the dozens of snowballs out of the air. With his rapidly moving paws, he created a wall between him and the children of flowing limbs which kept him safe. The kids pouted as they saw little result from their efforts and tried to spread out a bit more of an advantage on the wolf. Dracoso moved away quickly, not wanting to be in the midst of the next attack, just as Kechi launched himself up into the air. He began to dance along the air above them, using the very snowflakes to maneuver from one spot to the next. Some children began throwing snowballs again, but most simply stopped and watched.

They had never seen a creature, especially a wolf, flying through the air like this. It was a sight to behold for the children and even their parents were worried. Dracoso overheard one of the kids say in a bit of a defeated voice, "wolves can fly too?? I think we are doomed." A younger girl simply giggled and shook her head before taking his hand and leading him over to build another snowman. The wolf landed after a minute or two and some of the kids ran over and started asking Kechi questions about how he did all the things he did. Kechi glanced at Dracoso, who gave a shrug and said, "looks like you got them to be comfortable with wolves."

Dracoso then turned to find his teammates and checked back in with them. He said "well, flying children and wolves aside, I think things went pretty well?"

WC = 2588
TWC = 3469

Claiming WC and (with total WC of thread over 5k) claiming following missions:
Do You Want to Build a Snowman? x5
Snowball Fight! x5

WC = 3469
Missions x 10 for Chunin = 20k
Rewards - 10k Ryo, 50 AP (turned into 2500k Ryo, 32,500k total), 5k winter tickets
Stats Maxed, AP Maxed, 25% discount on learning

Learning Jutsu:
C Rank - Fuinjutsu Amplifier - 750 (originally 1000)
C Rank - Lightning Rod - 750 (Originally 1000)
C Rank - Summoning: Rising Summoning Pillar - 750 (originally 500)
C Rank - Summoning: Wandering Oasis - 750 (originally 1000) **(The cost in the jutsu lists 100, someone may want to edit it to 1000)
C Rank - Genjutsu Denrai - 450/750 (originally 1000)

Also claiming, with total thread WC over 5000
Do You Want to Build a Snowman? x5
Snowball Fight! x5

Reward: 1,000 Ryō / 5 AP / 250 Winter Equinox Tickets x5
Reward: 1,000 Ryō / 5 AP / 250 Winter Equinox Tickets x5
10,000 Ryo, 50 AP, 2500 WE Tickets
150,000 from Kage stipend

Emi Tanaka wrote:Also claiming, with total thread WC over 5000
Do You Want to Build a Snowman? x5
Snowball Fight! x5

Reward: 1,000 Ryō / 5 AP / 250 Winter Equinox Tickets x5
Reward: 1,000 Ryō / 5 AP / 250 Winter Equinox Tickets x5
10,000 Ryo, 50 AP, 2500 WE Tickets
150,000 from Kage stipend

Approved