Something, something, jingling bells

Mission Deets:

Still within the mysteriously snow ridden, pine wood forests of this…winter wonderland, at least how some could put it, was the scar-ridden misfit. A younger brother, and orphan by this point within his years on this mortal coil. Hiko, raised under the last name of Shimada until he had found out his true lineage. Upon his mother’s side of the family, a few generations back, they were a part of the Tau Clan, living ragdolls. Most however, viewed them to be an atrocity or abomination to mankind, hence the inherent fall in which he took as a young boy. Burdened with being blamed for his parent’s deaths, when in reality, it truly wasn’t him who had committed the crime. Was he there to witness the act? Did he leave with the person who had done it? Why, sure. But she had the answers in which he needed.

But now, in the present, there were some different questions that needed answering. Like where was Hiko currently? It was certainly a far cry from his native village of Kumogakure, or even where he had currently found residence within the Land of Rice. Luckily enough for himself, within the distance lay a series of lights. A glorious chorale of voices, both singing and talking; laughing and cries of joy, could be heard expanding outwards from said direction. Perhaps the answers to which, could be at least started there.

WC: 235

Rin sat on the porch of the log wood cabin that she had been using as a base of operations ever since getting stranded here, whatever bizarre space time wonkiness that kept them trapped here seemed to still be drawing people in from all over the world, but that was not her concern, no her concern was how to escape, and to do that she needed to decode whatever mysteries this strange village had, there were so many small inconsistencies, the behaviors of the towns folk, normal almost all the time had small moments where they seemed almost... hollow was the best word Rin could think to use, like they were empty shells running on some pre-arranged sequence of actions, and yet as soon as they were questioned they returned to normal. There was the bizarre storm that raged around them over the tundra, the wind's and torrential frost keeping everyone trapped here, and the few strangers to this land who had tried to brave the storm to escape? they had ended up turned around and returning to the town, completely ridden with frost bite and with nothing to show for their troubles but the occasional missing digit.  All of this worried her, but what was most concerning was the oddities that happened when she tried to take advantage of her knowledge of the space time continuum. No matter the technique she tried, whether the technique worked or not, there was something subtly... wrong about how the techniques felt here, they were slower, more sluggish, and whilst she could use any technique she wanted within the bounds of the village and its small surroundings, the moment she tried to open a portal to another location, or shift herself further than the surrounds of the town, she found her technique failing, as if those locations just... did not exist.

As she sat there pondering the bizare mysteries of this town, absently lost in thought, she felt an itching at the back of her mind as codex interrupted her silent musings. 'Another individual is coming in from the wastes, they should be here shortly' It said, conveying a mental image of the stranger heading in from the tundra.

Standing and dusting herself off Rin sent out a mental command to Codex and Vis who both took up positions on the surrounding houses, each one visible to whoever was approaching they would make it clear rin wasn't alone, of course in terms of pure skill it would be unlikely anyone summoned here would be a threat to her, but unfortunately the corruption rushing through her veins, coiling inside of her spirit and rendering the vast majority of her chakra all but unusable, she could still put on a show of power, but anything more than that would quickly leave her upon the ground, writhing in pain, her chakra network crippled for months as she tried to widen her channels around the ever growing threads of corruption that wove their way through her, constantly looking for any shred of chakra to feed upon. Just the thought sent a pulse of pain through Rin's empty eye socket, the seed of corruption that had taken root there seeming to pulse in pleasure at the thought, though of course that must be her imagination, the seed had no intelligence, it was merely a disgusting parasite that acted on instinct... right?

Regardless Rin squared her back and strode forward off the porch of the log cabin and onto the snow covered street that the stranger was no doubt heading towards, the snow beneath her feet, perfectly white and fluffy, crunched audibly as she trod upon it, the crystallized water powder being crushed underfoot as her weight padded the layer of snow into the ground, much of the village streets were covered in a similar way, thick cobblestones covered the ground, but all were barely visible, instead the streets looked to be pure white, covered in a flattened snow that was almost thick enough to be reduced back to pure ice. Reaching the boundary of the village, the thick wooden cabin with its iron spout protruding from the ceiling, layers and layers of firewood stacked against its wall in preparation for another storm, sat to her left, whilst a more modern looking cottage built from stone and mortar sat to her right. Codex and Vis each sat atop one of the buildings, their legs dangling over the edges in a casual looking manner, though each was ready for trouble if it arose.

Rin stood there waiting for the figure to finish approaching, the glimmering festive lights and clamoring of the towns folk celebrating another day of whatever festival this was. Once the figure had made its way close enough she looked the figure up and down examining him in detail, a thick worn coat of leather covered most of his body, the material seemingly worn from many days on the road, she could see a number of places where it had been haphazardly patched, stitched over with threads to cover holes and damage that it had no doubt accumulated throughout the figure's travels, so it was likely at the very least that this individual was a wanderer like herself, though whether he was stuck on the wrong side of the law as she often found herself was yet to be seen. The man, for thats what he seemed to be as he strode forward, more of his figure becoming visible through the snowstorm that blew around him, occasionally obscuring parts of his figure from view, wore a pair of sleek black gloves, again made from leather, though unlike the coat he wore Rin could tell even from this distance that they had been cared for immaculately, the gloves had that shine of leather that had been treated with care every day since its construction, and the fit of the glove seemed to be tailored exactly to the man. That was, a little concerning actually, she knew few people among polite company that wore such gloves, and even among the criminal underground's that she frequented the only people who took such care of their hand wear were almost exclusively hired killers, assassins and mercenaries who's bathed in blood and sought out slaughter more for the fun of it than the money involved.
Rin had to suppress a shiver, her mind wandering even as she examined the gloves. Shaking her head she turned her gaze to the rest of the man, much of his figure was still obscured by the thick leather coat but she could see underneath a simple tan shirt; the shirt itself had very little of note about it, though Rin did notice that the colour was close enough to the colour of dried blood that it wouldn't be noticed by a cursory glance, whether that was a coincidence or had been by design she couldn't tell, but with the rest of the man's outfit it was certainly enough to put her senses on edge, a faint itching sensation that always showed up when she sensed danger, scratching at the back of her mind, a sensation that only got worse the more she looked the man over. His trousers were probably the least worrying thing about him, a simple pair of combat pants, adorned the man's lower body, coloured to match the rest of his outfit, certainly they were the sort of attire worn by shinobi around the world, but that was not news for her, the number of non shinobi trained strangers found wandering the strange wastes outside the town were so small as to be basically non existent, it would have almost been more concerning if he was not wearing such garments, no what was concerning was the thick brown combat boots that the man wore, perhaps the most notable thing about his outfit, the footwear was a pair of thick knee high boots, their outer layer composed of some sort of chitin like material, if Rin had to make a guess the shoes almost looked like a scorpion's body, though where the man had found a scorpion large enough to make a boot from, let alone someone willing to work with such a material, she had no clue. Around the base of the shoe she could see tiny bristles akin to the barbs of a scorpion and she couldn't help but worry what sort of poison those barbs might be capable of producing.

It wasn't odd given the weather, but the man was certainly covered almost head to toe in clothing, even his head was someone obscured, covered by a cloth hood that had been wrapped over his head to protect him from the howling wind and blistering cold. The hood itself was simple enough, another plain tan looking fabric it was unadorned by patterns or anything unnecessary to its function, but underneath she caught brief glimpses of a short brunette haired youth, a rather unremarkable face that would have been easily described as handsome, except or the horrible scar that had been roughly stitched together in a way that left both a visible scar and had the stitches still sitting within it. 

Rin had to stifle a gasp and push down the rising panic in her chest, it wasn't him, she knew it wasn't him, the two looked nothing alike, their builds were different, their hair different, reaching out with her spiritual senses she could tell even their aura's were different, this man's chakra lacking that bone deep corruption that had been strong enough to turn the world around him to rot. But even so, even if she knew logically that these two had nothing in common, even so... the sight of stitches like that, thick and black threads that crisscrossed a marred face... she couldn't break the bone deep fear that she felt rise up within her, she couldn't suppress the churning in her gut, even as she struggled to keep the contents of her stomach in check. It took every ounce of her will not to turn tail and run in that moment. She could feel similar sentiments radiating through her mind from her two mirror images, each of their residual memories from her feeding into their own worries and qualms about this stranger, but she couldn't run here, not only would she look like a fool but the man's garb marked him as at the very least a trained killer, one who may very well take that sign of weakness as an opportunity to end her.

Waiting as patiently as she could manage until the man had come into earshot she would speak, shouting over the wind to be better heard. "Welcome, I take it you found yourself swept away here with no real understanding how you got here, unable to leave, as well?" she would ask, her words more a formality than anything.
TWC: 1813

When the man didn't say anything, instead just standing in the cold for who knows how long she simply shrugged and had Vis jump down, carrying him off into the city where it dropped him in the village doctors surgery, which also happened to be the village barber. Whilst there it saw a child begging it's mother for a toy, showing a rare moment of compassion the clone used it's chakra to quickly create a copy of the toy, walking up to the child and giving it a gift.
WC:89
Final Wordcount:1902

[Exit]]
Rin Claims
2 x D-rank Mission Reward: 2,000 Ryō / 10 AP / 500 Winter Equinox Tickets
2000 * 2 + C-rank bonus 4,000*2 = 8,000
Final claims
8,000 Ryo, 20AP, 1000 Winter Tickets
1694 words towards Vanish Rest claimed here = 3750/3750  
Remaining 119 words towards Demonic Illusion: Mirror Heaven and Earth Change

Vis Claims
2 x D-rank Mission Reward: 2,000 Ryō / 10 AP / 500 Winter Equinox Tickets
2000 * 2 = 4000
Final claims
4,000 Ryo, 20AP, 1000 Winter Tickets
19 Speed Stat points

Codex Claims
2 x D-rank Mission Reward: 2,000 Ryō / 10 AP / 500 Winter Equinox Tickets
2000 * 2 = 4000
Final claims
4,000 Ryo, 20AP, 1000 Winter Tickets

Rin Togakawa wrote:When the man didn't say anything, instead just standing in the cold for who knows how long she simply shrugged and had Vis jump down, carrying him off into the city where it dropped him in the village doctors surgery, which also happened to be the village barber. Whilst there it saw a child begging it's mother for a toy, showing a rare moment of compassion the clone used it's chakra to quickly create a copy of the toy, walking up to the child and giving it a gift.
WC:89
Final Wordcount:1902

[Exit]]
Rin Claims
2 x D-rank Mission Reward: 2,000 Ryō / 10 AP / 500 Winter Equinox Tickets
2000 * 2 + C-rank bonus 4,000*2 = 8,000
Final claims
8,000 Ryo, 20AP, 1000 Winter Tickets
1694 words towards Vanish Rest claimed here = 3750/3750  
Remaining 119 words towards Demonic Illusion: Mirror Heaven and Earth Change

Vis Claims
2 x D-rank Mission Reward: 2,000 Ryō / 10 AP / 500 Winter Equinox Tickets
2000 * 2 = 4000
Final claims
4,000 Ryo, 20AP, 1000 Winter Tickets
19 Speed Stat points

Codex Claims
2 x D-rank Mission Reward: 2,000 Ryō / 10 AP / 500 Winter Equinox Tickets
2000 * 2 = 4000
Final claims
4,000 Ryo, 20AP, 1000 Winter Tickets

Approved