Starring:
Odin (emitter), Hiroyasu
Date: June 16, 2013
Summary:
Hiroyasu finds a crowd of like minded individuals who also love goats, perhaps even as much as him. Though, it's more like they find him.
"Animal Lovers"
Mountain Plateau in Kumogakure
It's was a dark and stormy day, the morning had broke dawn with a looming storm which by mid-day had turned into a torrent churning and raging. From the mountain nestled in the heavens, there is nothing to witness of the land below but the growling black beast which snarls and lashes out violently. In perhaps the most unique feature of such a day, is that it first rains upward before it falls to the ground below carried aloft by the heavy winds which strike against the mountain below sending the rain racing skyward before falling out and scattering to the winds like cherry blossoms.
Running about the rain is Hiroyasu, dressed in usual attire plus his traveling cloak, darting amongst the rocks and tree's, leaping into puddles sending them water and mud in all directions, occasionally attempting to skirt across the surface as practice.
Under the sound of the rain, like a deep timbre carrying the wind of a word, a rumble sounds. Steady. Resonant. A quaking. Thunder, perhaps, this thrumming in the air? But no, whatever is the source of this subtle rumble does not come from the dark of the clouds below but the stone of the mountain above. And it does not stay a subtle thing for long.
Louder now. Notable now. From the south it comes, the rumble rising to stony growl and then rocky roar. In the distance a man comes into view, having come up the narrow path on the other side of the mountain. Stave in hand he flees as though hell's hounds were nipping at his heels, breath puffing in and out of his chest in hurried gasps. And then, from behind, comes the terror…
Goats. A massive herd of goats. Heavy horned and bleating, they're a dreadful thing to behold as they chase after this man, foaming at the beards in their fervor. The earth begins to shake as they grow nearer, the sound of their stampede beginning to hold both the low beat of their collective hoofs and the more frantic sound of that bone striking stone.
Hiroyasu glances up from staring at his muddy reflection when the thunderous shake begins to send it a tittering. "By the goat-ogre's beard what is that?!" he exclaims before the vision of a shepard or travellor appears then the malcontent which doth chase him most profuse. Hiroyasu shouts out to him while some distance is still between them "Are you in need of assistance, friend?!" he yells while waving his arms back and forth across one another trying to draw attention to himself, he was ready to leap into action should they continue to charge his way without err.
The man lifted his staff for a couple of strides at Hiroyasu's call, clearly in distress. But alas, the red faced man was far too winded to give any kind of verbal response. He tried through. Huffing and puffing, a few wheezing breaths came out that sound nearly like the words of a dying man, not even heard by the shephard himself over the sound of trip of goats barreling down the mountain path towards him. So eventually he simply nodded. Vigorously, head rocking up and down as he pumped his arms, right up until the motion unbalanced the fatigued runner, sending him tumbling to the ground and sprawling.
Hiroyasu should have known better than to distract someone while they were in flight mode, he makes a quick reach into his seal pouching fingering several slips of paper throwing one on the ground in front of the man.. There is spiral of chakra which like a mist in the rain forms into a giant glowing wall. "Please! Halt! STOP!" he shouts not wanting to hurt the goats as much if not more than the man, the man likely has an excuse and probably a poor one.. whereas they who rode upon hooves of thunders have no excuse as they do as they must. He holds up the wall as long as might be needed or it shatters.
The goats never seemed to see it.
They never slowed. They never veered. They never blinked. With bleats that could strike fear into the hearts of many of the land's bravest, they forged onward, careening directly into the chakra wall that spiralled and solidified in place. The first hit it and were stopped dead, falling stunned, but like a rising tide those behind jumped over those before, slamming into the wall like an avalanche of bovine flesh. The barrier shuddered and sweat chips of chakra as the tide struck it, growing until the goats began falling over it… and then it shattered.
And they all fell.
Hiroyasu winces watching the furry flesh pile up against the barrier before it shatters into glowing dust before being carried on the wind. He reaches out a hand to the man who is laying under his stead. "I hope there is a good explanation for this?" nodding his head to the grotesque mound of fur, flesh, and horn.
The still gasping man looks back at the tipping pile of horn, hoof, and fur, watching as it begins to separate itself. "Thank you so much," he blurts out in a burst as he pushes himself to his knees. He reaches out to the offered hand from the kumogakure medic, but what comes enters his hand isn't another hand but a stuffed, fake goat. Plush and… pungent.
And then the man was up and running again, despite barely having caught half of his breath. "Save my goats!" is the final thing he manages to say as he runs perpendicularly to Hiroyasu. Out of the path the stampeded would've taken. Surely, it wouldn't take too long to figure out why the man was fleeing again after the goats had been stunned like that. But if it did, the next noise would clear it up.
The bleat. One, then four, then many, soon followed by the sound of hoof striking mountain once more. The antpile of goats had mostly sorted itself out, those on top already dashing towards Hiroyasu now with those who'd been stuck falling into step behind. The charge was reforming and headed for the Kumo-nin.
Hiroyasu looks in his hand.. "I've heard of getting someones goat! but this ridiculous!" he shouts to the guy as he bolts from the area, a quick glance over his shoulder and he would set out running as fast as his legs would carry him.. Running until he had a chance to either figure out what to do, or until they caught him.. "Can't we just all just get along?!" he pleads with his arms flailing behind him as he runs for dear life.
It seemed that the goats couldn't get along without Hiroyasu. The goats bleat for him. Or whatever the pretty (musky) smelling thing that was within his grasp. Regardless, they were on the move again and the group's pace was picking up speed as momentum found them again. The clatter of hooves, the rancor of goat shouts, all but those left on the ground from the initial impacts with the wall focused on the fleeing ninja. And they were intent enough to gain on him.
Hiroyasu takes notice to that their attention seems focused on the doll, he needed to see what they did if he was separated from it, he puts it under his arm that he can make the proper handseals, drawing up the rocky material for a hollow bullet made of earth, he puts it on his finger and fires the doll at a nearby tree high-enough that they could just get it, continuing his jog until it was clear how they reacted.
Just a second after the goat-doll is shot away from the kumo ninja with an 'arrow' of stone, the trip lets out a collective bleast, veering off to follow after it. The doll is firmly pinned to the tree and the goats rush to fix this issue. The first couple leap up as they reach it but get slammed by those behind, hitting the tree rather than climbing up it. Some manage the climb, working their way up but before any can reach the doll, the swarm of hooved creatures become too much for the tree. It collapses, roots snapping, the goats atop it bringing it fully to the ground. They become a seething mass of furry heat centered around the goat doll, reminiscent of a breeding ball of snakes.
Hiroyasu now understanding their drive and worse can now not unsee what has been seen. "By goat-ogre's beard that is… unnerving" he says with a quiver of disgust, before reaching a hand backwards into his seal pouch pulling out two seals, the first is a barrier which he lets fly halfway the distance to his target, when it begins to coalesce into a tower shield facing upwards he leaps onto it, vaulting himself into the air over the mass of fur, he throws the second seal he had prepared, it flies silently before hitting in the vincinity of the object of their lust.. "Capture!" he shouts slapping his hand together and a pyramid of chakra forms around it sealing it inside a capture seal barrier.
The seal finds it's mark and the pyramid forms over a globbed together group of goats, trapping both the animals and that wonderfully smelling stuffed vixen underneath them. But unfortunately, the mass of goats are too close together for a clean capture. Here a goat's leg is caught beneath the chakra pyramid, and there one is caught by the horn, leaving openings underneath. This allowed the scent on the doll to get through, though it was cut off enough that the activity outside of the core of the group began to slow, many of the amorous goats stopping their jostling.
Looking on from a bit up the path, the shephard looks down at the happenings, leaning on his walking stave. He scratches his beard before rubbing the back of his head. "Thinkin that might've been a bad idea…" he said to himself.
Hiroyasu groans as he lands with a combat roll sliding to a knee, he reaches into the small of his back pulling a pair of gloves from his medical kit pouch. He puts them on with a shake of his head, this better pay.. He charges towards the group of half-goat, half-barrier pulling out another seal and then reaching into the barrier (since it's permeable from the outside only) and rooting around for the doll, slapping a the capture seal directly to the doll, then pulling it from the mass when the barrier breaks from being released, he throws into the air, slapping his hands together "Capture!" allowing the pyramid to form around it in the freedom of the open sky, before it comes back down resting on the ground in a safe tidy little bubble.
When the doll is pulled out of the capture seal, the goats immediately surrounding Hiroyasu have a sudden spike in activity, starting to bite and butt him, a couple beginning to try and tug him down. But soon the doll is tossed skywards and the thing is fully sealed, cutting off the scent from the goats.
The effect is near immediate. By the time the captured doll lands on the back of a goat and falls to the ground, it only bends down to lip and lick at it for a moment. And then it gives a bleat, exploring Hiroyasu's shoes with some experimental chewing.
Hiroyasu looks around spotting the guy who started this whole thing, watching on.. he shouts over to him "Hey! It's okay now!" waves his hands around trying to flag the man over to him. He is keeping an eye on the trapped doll of goaty grins. While feeling around his chest and back looking to see if he was in any major way hurt beyond a few cuts and bruises.. he didn't seem in any pain or shock so he forgoes the healing jutsu. "What is that, monstrous thing!" he points to the pyramid of chakra housing an innocent looking goat doll in it center.
The Shepherd walks down to Hiroyasu with the help of his stave, wiping the hairs stuck to his forehead by sweat off to the side. "Thank ye kindly, ninja," says the man relief pure in his voice as he approaches Hiroyasu. He comes to a stop before him, looking to the trip of goats now starting to spread out in search of grazing material. Soon, though, the question directs his eyes to the doll.
A sheepish — the irony there — look finds it's way onto his face. "I'm afraid that right there is the proof of my… foolishness. I was gullible, it's true. Some man sold me that for 500 small ryo and the very clothes off my back, he did. Said it would let me leads my goats wherever I wanted 'em to follow. And it… well it… worked." He shrugs. "Kinda."
Hiroyasu goes to say something, then pauses, then raises a finger, then opens his mouth, shuts it then pauses again.. before saying "Well I suppose you weren't completely fleeced. I'm sure what to do with it, it seems a little to unstable to let it just stay around luring both goat and man to their doom." He needed a way to destroy it cleanly, if only he had a lightning bolt jutsu like Hiei has, or a fireball jutsu.. or an explosive tag "I'll wait for you to get them to a safe distance before I handle it." leery of what they could entail.
The goat herder lifts his staff, scratching at the corner of an eyebrow with it, grinning. "Heh. Well, ya see…" He shrugs slightly, as though what he were saying didn't matter to him despite the expression on his face saying otherwise. "There's a reason I needed that thing over there. I'm not too good of a goat herder. Heck, most of those aren't even mine. They just joined the group when they caught wind of the doll. I couldn't lead those things anywhere if I wanted to. And I do. Very much."
Hiroyasu rubs the back of his head in anguish and frustration.. "I guess, if you put it in like pickling jar something air tight, you could walk away open it, when they come close it, and repeat.. maybe if the smell isn't so strong they won't react so strongly.." theorzing on goat mating behavior's, not normally a combat medics area of expertise.
"Well…"
The goat herder spreads his empty arms. "Do you have a jar or something? Because…" He gives a heavy sigh and shakes his head. "Know what? Nevermind." He shoves his stave at Hiroyasu. "You take it. Goats were my father's business, anyway. You can keep 'em. I'm going to move to that Kadomai place or something." He whirls around, starting back to the south where he'd come from, grumbling loudly about fulfilling his dreams of being a dancer or fisher or some such.
