Yuuyake Koyake (IC)

[Kasanip]

Yuuyake Koyake


夕やけこやけで　日が暮れて
山のお寺の　鐘がなる
お手手つないで　みなかえろ
からすといっしょに　かえりましょ

子供がかえった　あとからは
まあるい大きな　お月さま
小鳥が夢を　見るころは
空にはきらきら　金の星

~*~

Yusubara: Our Town

The small town of Yusubara is a peaceful village, like any other, that lies within the mountains and forests. You can find it by the winding paths that shift to dirt and road, and are covered in snow in the winter. It is a quiet and sleepy place in the warm summers - you may hear the semi (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDXlR7go-84) and see the hotaru dancing in the evening.

And it is a place of nature and people- where the wild pig and the fox might still be seen on occasion. It is a place of bright momiji in the fall, and of brilliant plum and cherry in the spring.
But perhaps more important to this story, this is a place where youkai and human still may meet, though such a thing is a rare and special time.

It is here, in the mountains that you have made your home- some of you longer than others. Maybe a few of you have interacted with the village...but none of you are known to them as shapechangers (at least yet).

The town of Yusubara is not very large. May be only about 8,000 people live here. While it may seem large for a small mountain town, it is split by rolling hills and a mountain stream. The center of the 'city' is small, but dense, while the rest is very rural and spread out. With this balance, the mood can change quickly between a feeling of isolation and community. Many of the winding roads pass through the trees amicably, and sometimes the border between 'nature' and 'human' is not so clear. Of course this is an inaka place, so it is quiet, but still can be lively during the day.

There are two schools, (North and South) each has elementary and junior high school in the same place (though South is soon to close because of lack of students). There is no more high school here, and so those students must take the bus to the next town. Such is a small town life.

It has it's own drug store, a large park, and several convenience stores as well for shopping. The farmer-market and grocery store are well kept, but small.

Perhaps of interest to you also, there is a Shrine called Yusubara Jingu. It is run by one priest and his daughter, and sits more isolated at the mountain edge. It is said upon the mountain a tengu was sealed long ago, and the shrine stands in reminding of it.



But such is not so important to our story now. Let us start our story at the beginning...



~*~

Links


Recruitment Thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=154127)
OOC and Status Thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=155117)
Character 'Connections' Chart (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8662043&postcount=9)


~*~


[Scene 1]

It is near the end of the month of Nagatsuki. The priests have finished their most recent prayers, and now the crisp feeling of autumn begins to come with a chilly morning breeze. The trees are beginning to paint themselves in vibrant colors for the season, and there is the fresh and alluring smell of smokey fires from the town at night.
Winter is coming, and all of you are aware of it deep within. But it isn't a problem yet. The stars above are still bright, and there is some time left before winter preparations need to be made for yourself. One thing is certain however- that it is a time of changing seasons, and henge like yourselves thrive in such times.

But now our story must begin after much sidetracking. You will find yourselves in the forest, not so far from the Shrine. Of course, each of you has your own reasons for being here- perhaps it is a simple retreat from the city where you have been soliciting for food. Or perhaps it is simple enjoyment of the autumn colors here. Perhaps you were busy playing about the shrine as normal, or perhaps you have left your own home in the forests and traveled until you have come here.
It is quiet at the moment- only the sounds of the wind and the birds chirping in the woods, but it is only a matter of time before you cross paths...


ooc: Please feel free to introduce yourselves and meet up with each other. If you would like me to add more or give your character some help, please ask, I can certainly make the meetings more structured if you would like. After everyone gets a feeling for their characters it will become more structured. I am sorry for the delays, but it should be smooth from now :smallredface:

[Kasanip]

[Reserved Post]

[Kuma Da]

Tora

Come here, you! The mouse flickers away, darting around the side of a tree and plowing into a mound of leaves.

Don't even think about running. You can't escape these paws. I AM A FURRY GOD OF DESTRUCTION. The mound explodes with flailing claws, shredding bits of autumn brightness--but no mouse.

Turned invisible, huh? Just what I'd expect from a rodent. Withcraft won't do you any good, little mousey. I never miss my prey. Whiskers twitch as a little pink nose sniffs at the air. Somewhere near by, a tiny heart beats a relentless rolling rhythm. The hunter's ears swivel.

Got you. Tora lunges. The mouse bolts. It slips under an exposed root, dives over a rock, and rockets into an abandoned burrow. Safe.

Minutes later, it peeks out to find that the pursuing tabby is stuck under the root.

Okay, fine. Stand there and taunt me. Soon as I wiggle out of this, I will have my revenge.

OOC: Kasa, your English is amazing. That was a great opening post. :smallbiggrin:

[UglyPanda]

Benkei

A little red and white dog runs around the forest, wagging its tail as it looks around the forest in amazement. This is all so beautiful, all the reds and the oranges and greens. Now where am I?

The little dog stops for a moment, puts his nose close to the ground, and takes a deep sniff. Ok, so I marked my territory somewhere in the east, I approached from the west, I crossed a stream to the north...

So I'm lost.

The dog continues to walk around, still unsure of its location.

Oh well, it's not that bad being lost. This place is wonderful, with all the birds and mice and the trapped cats. Hey, maybe she can help!

Benkei walks up to Tora and begins to speak.

What Benkei tried to say was <Hello Trapped Cat, I was wondering if you would assist me in finding my way out of this confusing forest.>

What came out of his mouth was "Ruff! Ruff! Ruff!" right before he attempts to lick the cat's face.

<Want to be friends?> he says, again in the language that only dogs can speak.

[littlebottom]

Taji bounds through the forest with utter glee in his heart. thinking to himself haha that old lady didnt see it coming, and i got out of there before anyone else saw! it was perfect!

suddenly a dog barks in the distance. Taji stops in mid bound. his heart froze. theres someone close by! Taji stumbles over himself as he rushes behind a tree.

after a moment Taji calms down. safe in the knowledge that it was just a dog, proberbly with its owner on a leash, taking a walk through the woods. yeah. that was proberbly it. Taji decides to investigate.

slowly Taji peeks out from a tree with his head sideways to see a dog barking at a cat lying under a root. instantly a prank comes to mind, but after watching for a moment its clear to see that the cat is actually stuck, and the dog doesnt seem to be helping. his head dissapears from view.

unsure of what to do he debates whether its too cruel to scare a trapped cat, then decides that no. its never to cruel to scare a trapped cat, because it might help him get unstuck at the same time!

with this plan in mind, he sneaks around the trees leans out from behind the tree the cat is stuck under and winks at the dog before jumping out suddenly infront of the trapped cat with claws and teeth showing and an evil look in his eyes! "RAAAAAAAAWR!" he snarls.

[Kasanip]

OOC:To try and help you, I will add this. I hope it help:smallsmile:)

Tsuki

Who will you play with today? This morning you woke up and went in town to investigate. On the way, there were school children you had fun playing wtih. But you had to run away when you came close to school! After that, it was a bird who you jumped with for a while. But he was not hapy to be hugged. You tried to say 'sorry!' of course, but following him back to the forest, you became a little lost.

You know this area a little. It is a beautiful place. Sometimes the shrine maiden seems surprised by the mochi you leave her, but you haven't stayed long enough to see what she does with them. Maybe you might find one of your friends as you wander towards the shrine.
Ah! Your big ears hear a familiar voice on the wind... And then a roar!! Who could it be?

Tora

A dog has cornered you while you are stuck! Perhaps he is a little scary, but soon he is asking a question, and trying to lick you!

Before having even a chance to struggle, a giant monster has landed and landed with his claws open!!


Tora and Taji : Please make a Surprise Check! (Taji must use 'Shifter' score but may add more points secretly), Tora may use his highest score to resist (and may add points secretly!)
If you would like it to be secret, please send pm. Of course, maybe just roleplay the result is also okay! :smallwink:


Awards

Tora receive 1 Dream point. Maybe a cat in such a situation is cute I think!
Benkei receive 1 Dream point I like his good-heart attempting!
Taji receive 2 Dream point. For surprising entrance! :smallsmile:

[Yuki Akuma]

Tsuki

Tsuki walks along through the forest, hugging herself a little nervously! She doesn't like to be alone. Where did that bird get to...?

She's in human form at the moment, although she's letting her ears show because there aren't any humans around. She likes being in human form. Thumbs are so useful! And the longer legs are much better for getting around. The larger size can be a problem sometimes, though, when she tries to squeeze through tight spaces...

The roar makes her jump, her usually-floppy ears standing up straight with surprise! She looks around quickly, and then heads in the roar's direction. It sounded familiar!

[Kuma Da]

Tora

His face is wet. Wet with slobber. Slobber belonging to a dog. This is far from ideal.

Tora opens his mouth, then promptly closes it again. There really aren't words for him to form, just little subvocalized tremors of indignity and rage. His whiskers twitch. His back arches. His fur stands on end, shining with an electric gloss. Claws slide out of their sheathes, and he's just starting to crawl out from under the root when Taji leaps out of hiding.

Tora skids back so fast that he hits the tree that the root belongs to.

OOC: Beast score of three with no points spent to resist being startled.

DP Awards: Benkei and Taji, 1 DP for helping to set up a hilarious situation.

[Xsesiv]

Taiyou strolls through the forest, feeling satisfied in body and soul, having spent the day hanging around outside a school being fed little bits of the children's lunches and listening to them say how cute he is. He's going about as a dog, of course, being a human takes so much effort. And it's horrible being thought strange for trying to be affectionate. The woods aren't like that. You help someone here, you'll have a friend.

He snuffles around, wondering whether he will find any new friends, or a place to sleep that is nicer than his current pile of dry leaves, until he hears a loud barking - someone asking for help from a trapped cat, and then asking to be friends, silence from any cat he may be talking to...

Before he's allowed himself any time to think about it, he's speeding off towards the place of the sounds. Shyness can be forgotten if a cat's in trouble, or a fellow dog is about to be torn to shreds by some weird creature that he has assumed was a cat.

What am I doing? thinks Taiyou, speeding towards the dog, hair finally out of his eyes as it streams behind him. Then, he sees the red-and-white dog, with a writhing cat under a tree-root. "I'm coming!" he barks, and accelerates.

He sees Taji leap out in front of him then, but not in time to stop. As he struggles to put the brakes on, he barrels into the poor raccoon dog from behind and goes flying through the air, howling.

[UglyPanda]

Benkei

As the various shapeshifters encounter and crash into each other, the little dog takes a step back and turns himself into his human form. He adjusts his ski cap so that it now longer covers his big dog ears and wraps his red scarf a little bit tighter around his neck. It takes him a second to realize he forgot to transform his tail, but he figures he's far enough from humans for it not to matter.

"Umm, hello little cousins!"

"Could you please not tackle the tanuki, little cousin?" he says to the dog who just appeared.

"So, do any of you know how to get out of this forest? I'm a little bit lost."

OOC:Which points do you have to spend to transform and such?Awards:Tsuki and Taiyou: One point each
Reason: So their players don't feel left out. Also, cute!

[littlebottom]

Taji falls to the ground when the dog runs into him. this had not been part of the plan! he turns around to see the dog which ran into him was a second dog. oh no. im outnumbered now. he thinks to himself. but this thought is short lived when he sees Benkei transform into a human.

upon hearing Benkei talk, Taji speaks up "hey! your a shifter too? well i know a way out the forest, the way i came in. which is..." Taji looks around "eeeerrm... i cant remember." Taji looks at his front paws guitily. "whats your name by the way?"

Taji looks around at the animals assembled. two dogs one racoon dog and a cat. well we're an odd bunch.

awards!
1 point to tsuki and tora
tsuki for the image the post put in my head :smallbiggrin:
Tora for the whole incident with the tree

[UglyPanda]

Benkei

Benkei, not understanding the tanuki's yips, looks a bit confused for a moment.

"I don't speak Tanuki, little cousin. My name is Benkei, by the way. Would you like me to pet you or something?"

Benkei takes a seat on the forest floor and sniffs at the air a few times before turning to look back at the other animals.

"By the way, are any of you like me? You know, able to become human for a little while."

[Kuma Da]

Tora

Tora stumbles a few steps away from the tree, then embarks upon the most self-absorbing fit of composure-grooming that any of you have ever seen.

"I am also a shifter, if you must know," he says around a mouthful of paw. "I just don't go around making a big deal of it. There are simpler pleasures in life I could be enjoying, like chasing mice."

"I think I've seen some of you before, on the edges of town. Why aren't you there, instead of here, ruin--I mean, uh, interfering with my hunt?"

Next time, little mouse. I will get you next time.

[Yuki Akuma]

Tsuki

Tsuki stumbles into the area everyone else is congregating in. She has a few twigs stuck in her hair, and one of her ears is bent at an odd angle. Her clothes are tattered - she just crawled through a bush that was somewhat too small for her. However, she seems to be in a perfect mood regardless. "Oh! Hi guys!" She waves happily at all the people she already knows - she knows pretty much everyone, after all, even if they don't know each other.

She's that sort of rabbit.

[UglyPanda]

Benkei

"I'm here because I got a little lost, neko-chan." he says, still under the impression that Tora is a girl.

Benkei takes another sniff in the air before greeting the others.

"Hi, Tsuki-chan, Taiyou-kun. Shouldn't you two be back in town? The forest is dangerous for little guys like you."

[Xsesiv]

Taiyou managed to land awkwardly on his side with his tail underneath in landing, crushing the tail with his weight. He whimpers for a while, licking a grazed paw. "Sorry, tanuki", he squeaks - not meaning to, just out of nerves - and then when the conversation turns to shifting, he thinks to do so himself, so that he can reach his own injured tail with his oh so useful hands.

It strikes him he might be seen as showing off, so he goes behind a tree to wring his tail in his hands and listen into the conversation going on without him being involved. "I'm bigger than you are," he replies to Benkei, before being able to stop himself.

[littlebottom]

in reply to taiyous apology Taji mutters "its alright, no harm done."

at the arrival of Tsuki, Taji looks around at everyone else and asks "tsuki, you know these guys? well if thats so, i best introduce myself. My name is Taji, and yes, im a shifter too."

Taji thinks about changing into his human form, but decides against it. his ability to communicate with everyone was proof enough.

after his introduction, he sniffs the air in the direction of the newly arrived Tsuki, his eyes widen and his ears prick up. "you wouldnt happen to have any of that delicious mochi would you?" there was a childish tone of excitement to his voice.

[UglyPanda]

Benkei

"I'm bigger than you are,"
"Of course you are, Taiyou-kun."

Benkei walks over and pats him on the head, in the same way one would with a small child.

He then heads back to where he was sitting before and walks around it for a few seconds before starting to sit again.

"So, anyone know any games or anything to play once we figure out where we are?"

[Kuma Da]

Tora

Chan. Chan?

I will suffer your impudence no more! You will address me as mister cat!

Tora's back goes straight up, although he manages to keep the words from tumbling out of his mouth.

Impertinent scoundrel!

It's kind of a close call.

[Yuki Akuma]

Tsuki is being quiet and just listening with interest. She seems to do that a lot - she loves nothing more than watching people interact! It... it's somewhat creepy if you think too long about it.

As Taji approaches her, she promptly flings her arms around him and hugs! "Taji! You want mochi? Okay!" Hyperactivity! She lets go of the tanuki, and reaches into the cloth bundle she always wears around her neck - inside are a few pieces of lightly sweetened mochi. She hands one to Taji, beaming.

[UglyPanda]

Benkei

"You look upset, neko-chan. Do you want me to pet you?"

Benkei crawls over to Tora and attempts to pet him.

"I don't believe in all that 'Cats and dogs don't get along' stuff. Every animal should be friends!"

A smell crosses Benkei's nose, it was the smell of delicious mochi. Memories start flooding back to him - painful memories. "NO, Hikari-chan! Don't swing that mallet! NO! NO! NO! My Fingers!"

Benkei rolls into the fetal position, crying, trying to forget the incident involving his sensitive fingers and a clumsy mochi-maker.

[Kuma Da]

Tora

I have...magical powers?

Tora studies the fallen dog with something approaching wonder.

I willed him to stop petting me. And it worked. I am like unto a tiny, furry god!

...of course, he can stop crying any time now.

Any time at all.

Seriously.

Wrinkling his nose in distaste, Tora sets a paw on Benkei's shoulder. "There there. You're okay now." His voice is utterly empty of sentiment.

DP: 1 to Benkei for having rabbit-induced PTSD.

[littlebottom]

as Tsuki hugs him, Tajis cheeks turn red, luckily under his fur. "th-thank you." he says shyly. when Benkei drops to the floor wailing Taji looks puzzled ":smallconfused:" and asks "Delicious, delicious mochi makes you cry? whats wrong with you?!"

Taji walks over to the crying Benkei and sits beside him eating the mochi infront of him. "mmmmmm, Tsukis mochi is absolutely deviiiine" he taunts.

DP:
DP awarded to tsuki for the mochi and to benkei for same reason as above

[UglyPanda]

Benkei

After a minute, Benkei gets back up, wipes his tears with his scarf, and suppresses that bad set of memories for another couple decades.

"So, do any of you want to go back to town and do something?"

Awards:Tora : One point
Reason: Ah yes, the rare and powerful kitty telepathy.

[Yuki Akuma]

Tsuki

The little bunny stares at Benkei for a few moments. Then, her lower lip trembles. "M-my mochi isn't that bad, is it...? B-benkei-kun...?" She sniffles a little bit, her ears drooping even more than they usually do. She clings to Taji!

Awards
1 DP to Benkei for references my previous character. >.>

[littlebottom]

oh dear, what have i done now:smalleek: Taji thinks to himself.

"there there Tsuki, its allright" Taji says as he pats her on the back. "theres no need to cry"

please dont cry, please dont cry, please dont cry! i dont know if i could handle that... Taji thinks, bewildered by the position his in.

[UglyPanda]

Benkei

"Don't cry, Tsuki-chan! Your mochi are delicious! I don't know why I was crying just then. Something about a big hammer and a moon festival..." Benkei struggles to recall the memory, as a large part of his mind is currently focusing on repressing that same memory.

"I'll think of it eventually, I guess."

[littlebottom]

Taji decides the silence has gone on long enough and announces "isnt it time we stop standing around in the middle of the woods? maybe we should go somewhere if were going to talk?"

Taji wonders howmany people are still listening or paying attention...

[UglyPanda]

Benkei

"We should. One question: how do we get out of here?" he asks for possibly the dozenth time since he arrived in the forest.

OOC:
GM, you there?