Starring:
Date: November 5, 2010
Summary:
A surprise visitor arrives at the Land of Water ferry docks, after seven decades of absence. One of the Seven Swordsmen and a skilled Chuunin are present to greet him.
"Bonds: Family - Upon The Shores"
Land of Water Ferry Docks - Land of Water
The Land of Water's ferry docks are simultaneously crowded and barren. Dense fog banks roll in off of the ocean, engulfing everything in a shroud of ghostly vapors and mystery. People continue to traverse the mist anyway, and the boats continue to sail regardless, but the threats both on land and on water are such that neither travellers nor ships move with any degree of confidence in this thick soup of uncertainty.
All is vague. All is hidden. The Kirigakure security forces that are stationed around the docks are trained to use the fog to their advantage, and to operate without much penalty to their senses. And yet even they can be caught off-guard. Such is the case when a dark shape is caught on the edge of vision out on the water by one guard. "Hey…" he mutters to his partner. The other man quickly turns his attention to the water. "What is it?" the second man asks. The first says, "Something on the water. Big. Wasn't shaped like a boat." The second peers out into the fog but sees nothing immediately. He does not dismiss it as the imagination of his fellow guard, however. Kirigakure does not make stupid mistakes like that. So they continue to watch the water…
Hisakawa stands between the guards, peering out into the water. When she arrived there, its impossible to tell.. She wasn't there.. and now she is. "What is it you are peering at?" She stands straight, erect, her hands in her sleeves with her arms in front of her. "are you going to wait til it arrives on shore?"
The men turn swiftly to the unexpected voice, but the more experience of the two halts his friend from reflexively drawing his sword with a hand on his arm. The man pauses and realizes who he almost drew steel upon. He pales, and moves his hands far away from his still-sheathed blade. "Gumaru here says he saw something large that was not a boat." Gumaru starts to confirm his partner's words, when Hisakawa asks so politely what they plan to do about it. The two men share a look.
Then Gumaru says, "Fumaru, go alert the others. We have a possible U.F.O. incoming!" Fumary nods, turns, and starts to dash off, but then skids to a stop and turns around. "A what?" "An Unidentified Floating Object!" Gumaru snaps out impatiently. "Hurry!" Fumary nods, still a bit confused, and heads off to the nearest guard house.
While that's going on, things have been mostly quiet. Gumaru turns back to the water, desperately hoping he wasn't just seeing things before. No sign of anything out there. The seconds tic by, and he becomes more and more nervous. If he is wasting everyone's time… The Mizukage might… Gumaru swallows. He considers pretending he sees something just to justify his continued existence, but then he really >does< see something.
Some round bulk approaching in the distance. The fog continues to hide much of it… But something shoots out of the fog suddenly! Some kind of rope or cable, silvery in color, snaps out and strikes a wall several feet to Gumaru's right. He turns his head to look at it, and then another one snaps out and strikes a building far to the left. Moments later, dozens of these cables start whipping from the concealing mist and striking buildings, poles, the docks themselves, and anything else that appears to be stable. All these 'cables' lead back to the same general point… And then tension is applied.
The bulk becomes visible. It is massive. Larger than any ship that any country has developed. And whatever it is, it is now drifting directly towards the dock that Hisakawa and Gumaru are standing on. The shape strikes the pier, and the boards shatter, snapping in half and flying in every direction. The alarm bell begins to ring, notifying everyone that something is going on.
Gumaru just backs up slowly, too stunned to do anything else as the pier continues to splinter and fall apart. He stupidly draws his sword as though he could cut this oncoming U.F.O. and make it stop.
A flurry of snow blows through the place Hisakawa once stood. A second flurry flies up, revealing the swordswoman standing on the far tip of the dock. She watches the cables dispassionately, eerily calm amid all the chaos from the others. She doesn't draw her sword, she simply takes her hands from her sleeves and observes.
Quite comfortable in the haze of the mist Iori walks along the docks silent. The massive figure isn't hard to spot even in the mist. Iori would walk up on the guards reactiong rather calmly to the alarm they sounded "What seems to be the issue?" he asked in a flat tone. Looking at the object with just as much bewilderment as everyone else, yet he is quite in his observation, Iori would sigh. As the cables shot out Iori would look to the origin of them all. "An invasion attempt?" Iori muttered. He stares down the massive object watching the cables aswell. "Be ready…for anything."
Gumaru looks around wildly as the chill of Hisakawa's departure alerts him to the fact he is now alone and facing some unidentifiable dark thing that is smashing the dock apart! He looks down at his sword in his hands, realizes it is utterly inadequate for the job, and turns to run! He flees down the dock, and to Hisakawa's eyes, she may notice that there is some figure atop the still-unidentified mass… Also, that figure is pulling on all those silvery cables one handed, bracing its feet on the surface it stands upon, and then taking another handful of the lines and pulling with the other hand, gradually drawing the mammoth shape forward. Just one person is doing this? Whomever he or she is must be monstrously strong.
The guards that Iori encounters start to explain, but Fumaru interrupts to say, "I was told to alert the other guards of a U.F.O.! We have spotted something unseen!" He sounds like a drunk. U.F.O.s? Seeing things that are unseen? What? But then the loud sound of breaking boards can be heard and everyone turns to look and gape. Fumaru has the presence of mind to run up to the tower where the alarm bell is and start ringing it for all that he is worth. That's where the ringing came from.
The guards scatter, trying to sound the alarm verbally as well, shore up defenses, anything they think will help.
Gumaru finally reaches the wall of the building that most of the cables are stuck to. He tries to run off either side to get out of the way, but the board have piled up on one side, and on the other, a crane has collapsed and blocked the way. He thus turns and presses his back to the wall, and holds out his useless little tanto, and squints and bares his teeth and is totally terrified. The dark mass continues to approach, one board after another breaking, and at this close of a distance it almost seems to be >speeding up<! But then… Then at the very last second… The figure atop the towering dome-like shape stops pulling on the cables, and lets go of them.
The thing comes to a stop, taking up the lanes for >three< piers, having damage two of them, and destroyed the one in the middle. Gumaru opens one eye hesitantly and peeks to see why he hasn't been crushed to death yet. And then he gasps and opens both eyes to stare. He realizes what this is now. It's a corpse. The corpse of a Blue Whale. And it is possibly one of the largest Blue Whales to have ever lived, at around 140 feet in length, and likely more than 200 tons. Not that there's a scale big enough to weigh it.
Hisakawa disappears once more, a flurry of snow where she once stood. She reappears atop the whale, still a mask of calm. She crosses her arms once more, her hands in her sleeves. "there are other ways to get into this nation that are less destructive and more… proper.. you know." She glances down at the cables a moment, then at the whale. "I suppose you have an explanation for this?"
"I see…" Iori responds to the guard, "Get word to the Kage, immediately, he would want to know about this." Iori gets a closer look at this U.F.O vessle now. It came in fast, he had to get off the dangerous docks, Iori avoids the destructive entrance. Standing beyond the dead whale Iori would take in the enormous gurth of the whale. It was clear that the figure atop the thing had been using the whale along with the cables as a transport. He must have a god-like amount of strength. Iori would walk closer standing by the frightened guard now, however Iori payed him no attention. "Are you stupid? You have caused quite a commotion with your little stunt." Iori speaks to whom ever had been responsible for this.
The guards run off to alert the Mizukage, while Hisakawa and Iori confront the whale-rider. Whomever it is does not respond immediately to either individual. But the skittering of many legs across wet flesh may be heard, shortly before the skittering becomes a cacophony. Many smalll creatures, possibly insects, are presently emerging from >inside< the whale's corpse! On top, towards the rear body of the whale, there is a large hole in it, which apparently was being used as cover for a very large number of spiders.
The arachnids come pouring out, swarming past Hisakawa and torwards the figure on the whale's head.
He appears from behind to be garbed in a ragged brown cloak and hood. From the front, the same is evident, but there is also visible some more weather-beaten clothing underneath of the same dull-brown coloration. Nothing special, no symbols or markings to denote his identity or affiliation… And yet the spiders head for >him<. Then they crawl up his legs, all those thousands of them, and vanish somehow within his cloak.
Once all the spiders have vanished, the man says calmly, in a somehow slightly 'off' voice, that seems to almost contain electronic tones to it, rather than merely the range that human vocals are capable of, "Our apologies. We became hungry during the trip, and required sustenance. This creature was available. In order to replenish and conserve energy, we have been consuming and travelling aboard it. No harm was intended." And then, as though that made everything okay, he simply leaps down from the whale and is already walking away when he hits the wooden docks… Or what's left of the ones in the vicinity of the whale's corpse.
The man bows towards Iori as he approaches and then keeps walking. Apparently he feels he has explained adequately and can depart.
Iori is disgusted by the spider's appearence and even more so as they disappear under the man's cloak. "…how pleasant." he says sarcasticly. Iori would watch the character closly, he looked to be a wanderer, no affiliation with any other lands, as far as his appearence goes. Iori would snort at the man's explaination, "Hungry right…" Iori said sharply. He would pitch a look to the other ninja, he didn't like the feel of this character. As the man bowed Iori would give a glare in return. Letting the man pass him by again, Iori would look to the whale. He would turn and reach for the man's shoulder "Excuse me, where are you going? You forgot your little snack. You and your friends should clean up after yourselves. Also, I am going to have to ask you what business you have here."
The mask of complete calm does not even crack as the swarm surrounds Hisakawa, her palpable aura of cold keeping them from getting too close to her. She looks on as the man blows past her. She looks after him a moment before taking a graceful leap off of the whale carcass. She lands gently, pausing near Gumaru, "see about cleaning this up. Next time, do not allow such things to get this close to shore or you will be standing guard in the water itself." She disappears from the guards side, appearing in stride with Ra. "When entering to anothers territory, be it their house or their nation, you should announce your name and intent. Has your time at see robbed you of all sense of propriety and manners?"
Gumaru nods eagerly to Hisakawa and bows. "Hai!" Then he starts trying to organize a clean-up effort. He also yells at Fumaru to stop ringing the alarm bell. They don't need all of Kirigakure bearing down on them. Already there are both normal foot soldiers and ninja flooding the area, demanding updates, looking for enemies, questioning everyone, etcetera.
The mystery man does not move too swiftly to catch up with, and seems not to be in any particular hurry. So Hisakawa matches his stride, most likely. He stops suddenly and turns to face the woman when she asks her question. He starts to speak but Iori's hand coming towards his shoulder would result in a chorus of hissing noises from that shoulder. It seems the spiders that dwell on the stranger are well-aware of what goes on around him. Continuing to try to touch that shoulder would probably be unhealthy. The man turns his head briefly to look at Iori.
"We will return for our prey when we have completed our business here. Our business here is with a Clan of Kirigakure, and its Elders." He then turns his focus back on the Swordswoman before him. "We have only been at sea for three days. But we have been apart from humanity for almost three-quarters of a century. We regret our manners are lacking. We will learn from this experience and adjust our behavior for the future." He starts to turn and walk away, but then remembers the other things that were said. He turns back. "Our name is Okumo Ra. It is our intention to organize and relocate the Okumo Clan from the Land of Water to the domain of the Spider Queen: Fukaizan, or 'Deep Mountain', also known as the Hidden Village of the Spiders."
The hissing noise would catch Iori's attention and make him think twice about what he was about to do. Iori withhdrew his hand and just listened to Ra explain himself. "Okumo clan…hmm very well." Iori says, not too familiar with that clan, but aware of their traits. This explains the spiders. He decides to accept and believe the man's claim. "Relocation?"
Hisakawa hmms softly. "Your forthrightness is appreciated, but the Okumo clan is a valuable part of the Village hidden in the Mist. They will not be leaving with you anywhere." Her words are not threatening, simply informative. "I am sure you will wish to speak with the kage, of course, but you are wasting your time."
Ra had started to depart again but pauses to nod towards Iori. "Yes. It is our understanding that the Okumo are presently situated in the Hidden Village of the Mist. We wish to relocate them to some place more accessible, and out of harm's way in terms of any possible war in the future. We have spoken to the Spider Queen, and she would welcome more of our people in her kingdom." He once more starts to depart only to stop when Hisakawa makes her statement. This time he does not turn to face anyone. "We led the Okumo during the Clan Wars. We are the >founder< of our Clan. We are sure the Elders and your Kage will see reason. Those who wish to remain may remain. Those who wish to depart this place will be welcome. We wish no difficulties with the Mist Village, but it is time for us to provide direction to our descendants once more."
Iori shrugs "I see well then, my job here is done." Iori says as he heads back to the Kirigakure. Passing up the man Iori gives him a quick look. "I trust you have a safe endeavor." Iori fades into the mist as he departs.
Hisakawa stops as the odd Okumo walks further on. She observes him for a some time as he waalks away in the distance before speaking aloud to no one imparticular, "This will prove to be much less simple than this person proclaims it to be." She folds her hands inside her sleeves again. "make preparations as if a battle were coming, but none are to actwithout authority."
