Starring:
Odin (emitter), Okami, Kiwi, Tsubaki
Date: August 15, 2015
Summary:
A riot occurs in the fish market, and the shinobi perform less than admirably…
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Cacophony of Flesh"
Fish Market [Land of Water]
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As one enters the market they will be bombarded by the strong smell of fish, both freshly captured and rotting. There are many stalls set up here in a bazaar fashion and many merchants shouting at the top of their lungs to get one's attention. Though this is not a highly populated area, it seems one of the best for fresh fish.
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Here in the Land of Water, the sun sits high in the eyes, shedding light and warmth onto the world below that it may live and thrive. The skies are nearly clear, the few cotton clouds adorning them never touching the eye of the sky. From the sea comes a steady breeze, its touch a light caress to the skin of those upon the land, fresh air tinged with ocean spray. The afternoon was a gift for those who cared to see beauty in the things one had.
Truly, it was a beautiful day for a riot.
The Fish market was awash with people fighting. The place smelled of fish and heat and violence, sounded of rage and pain and abused flesh. There seemed to be no sense to it. No focus, no cause, and no end. It had sprung out of nowhere, beginning with one small fight that people around abruptly began to join in. There were few who seemed to be averse to the melee, women and children and the occassional animal as embroiled in it as the men.
Once Kirigakure was alerted of the riot, they swiftly sent a team to organize the guards and reestablish order armed with a flare to signal backup should it be necessary.
It had been quite some time since the young, rabid boy had once again been picked up like a stray, or rather, attached himself like an accessory to the only person he knew. He was taken back to the village where he lived once more under Yuuka's roof, though he did find that Yuriko was far busier than the last time he stayed with her family. Yuuka patiently educated Kiwi, catching up with him and teaching him how to speak properly with ohers and of many rules and ettiquetes for dealing with others. However…
Utilizing the chaos that ensued around him, creeping up on all fours behind the slim areas between and behind stalls, Kiwi was on the hunt… though in this case, for unmoving, unchallenging, prekilled prey. It was strange for him, but it was also easy and filling, so he didn't complain even though it nagged at him that it was a tad boring. This would be his third fish today if he was able to keep a low enough profile. He'd already been shoowed away, after obtaining his prize twice before, but he was still hungry. Sinking his teeth in to the cold, slick flesh of an iced eel as he popped his head up suddenly, the shop keeper would snap back for a moment. Thoguh this was not in shock… this was to grab a fishing spear as he yelled, vein throbbing along his forehead, "THAT'S IT YOU DISCORD!! YOU'LL REPAY ME EVEN IF I HAVE TO SERVE /YOU/ NEXT!!!"
Kiwi would giggle oddly with the eel between his teeth, though he'd flash a glance at the irrate fish peddlar and his weapon. Stopping his retreat with a stable skid of his small frame, he would simply stare at the merchant, no longer looknig amused as he chewed on the eel that dangled lively from either side of his lips. The merchant also stopped suddenly, leveling his spear towards the boy as he'd squint at him. He would jab towards the boy a bit, falling about six inches from actual contact while still aiming towards his face. Kiwi would simply finish his meal with agile tongue and lips, not bothering to use his hands as he continued to almost seem to stare the grown man down.
The man would prop his spear against his shoulder, rub his head, and chuckle a bit. "You don't seem to have the fear of a beggar…" He would muse lightly. "In that case… you've earned it. Still… you can't just go around taking things that belong to others boy. You disrespect my efforts and everyone else that earned their keep. Do you understand?" Kiwi would shake his head no before replying much more eloquently than he was capable of before Yuuka's tutelage, "If you aren't strong enough to keep it, then I will take it." The merchant would laugh hardily at this, still to no amusement from Kiwi himself. "It… it doesn't work like that boy. Just because I don't break your bones or kill you for stealing from me doesn't mean that you cna do what ever you want." Kiwi would tilt his head slightly as he replied, "That is exactly what it means." At this point, the merchant was begining to fume once again…
A fight? A feud? A RIOT?! Okami was brought in to help keep this thing down.. or stop it from escalating.. or fill it with deadly neurotoxin until it stopped.. or something. Organizing the guard sounded more like usher the villagers with sticks and sharpies that are on the level-headed side into keeping things sane. However, Okami was hungry and the smell of protein was so delightful, and all the fighting made it clear that nobody would really miss a fish or two exchanged for Ryo in the carnage, ne?
In any case, she looks far and wide to see if any guards were wearing uniform and somewhere not in this carnage that could be rallied.
Tsubaki helps with the harbor master, thanks to the fact that she has been assigned to learn under Taree. While the young Shirayuki hasn't seen her Sensei in quite some time, nor is she a student, the girl continues to work at the harbor and helps with the various bookkeeping and dock organizing. Today was much like anything at the harbor, and Tsubaki was readying herself for a delivery to the fish market.
And that is when she stumbled upon a large amount of action in very little time. "Ahh…" she murmurs, looking around the fish market. This wasn't good. Tsubaki frowned quietly and hefted her basket on her back up a little higher to temporarily relieve the burden on her shoulders. She was not a part of the calming squad, but she figured that she may as well help. Okami is unnoticed, but Kiwi's little … situation is picked out amongst the rest of the chaos. Tsubaki knew him… Barely. She had seen him once before, clinging to the back of a Kaguya Yuriko. It seemed like he was handling himself properly, at least. But there was still this group of people to deal with.
With a few handseals, Tsubaki would gather her chakra. And then she'd push it out quite suddenly, turning the area from slightly warm as it neared spring to freezing cold. As if it were the dead of winter… Some snow flurries went by, and the wind picked up too, as the young Shirayuki brought about this intense cold. Maybe that would get the people's attention. And perhaps some of the peacekeepers could actually do something while Tsubaki made her way to give her basket of fish to the merchant that Kiwi is stealing from.
Okami has +finger'd you!
As the chilling air would suddenly blast from behind, Kiwi would react to it instinctually, slipping behind the cover of a stall and kneeling there as the air became frigid around him. His breathw ould escape his nostrils in thick plumes indicating not only that the temperature had dropped suddenly, but that he ran rather hot regardless. He kept his eyes on the fishing spear wielding merchant, who was now bundling up a bit jsut as he got swept up i nthe fighting around him, distracted from the boy as his stand was now almost under siege.
Wiping his mouth of the bits of flesh that still clung to it and popping anything the size of a morsel on to his waiting tongue, he didn't seem too phased by the fighting near him. Not excited, nor distressed. If he were still hungry, he would have gone about taking more food, but instead, he would begin to rise from his position as the air around him was now saturated in cold. He recalled the lessons of the world:
Keep moving.
Breathe slowly.
Protect the lungs.
Tighten the digits.
It was far from a blizzard, but hard lessons became autonomic after a time. The merchant havign all but forgotten about Kiwi as he defended his stall would spare a few screamed words, "Get out of here boy! It's a bleedn' battle field or close enough to it! Run!" Kiwi almost seemed distracted or lost as he waded along the outskirts of the angry mob in apparent ignorance to the dangers around him.
A small figure in a brown cloak slips out from between stalls, a fine dust blowing from under their shadowed hood into the fish peddlers face causing him to cough and hack. The figure swiftly continued on, only sending a glance in the direction Kiwi left in before melding with the shadows.
As for the status of the guards, Okami would find that there were a few around attempting to hold the peace. But their efforts seemed ineffectual. And there were… definitely too few of them. No, that's not quite right. There were more guards but they were a part of the melee, the uniformed men and women joining in the cacophany of flesh. Their faces were frenzied, insane. As were the faces of nearly every other person fighting. As was the face of the spear wielding fish peddler who began stabbing at anyone nearby, no longer holding those few inches of reservation in his heart.
And now it was time to act. Okami's not too pleased about.. the group of others she was heading, it was much more fun and dashing to think she was alone. But she had to play boss. With the guards not helping things -at all-, the middle nin has to see if any rationality is to be had. With the sudden cold-front coming on, she chitters. This will keep the meat longer, yes..
"Subdue who you can, these people aren't ninja and aren't trained to survive too much injury. This isn't your graduation exam, this is a group of angry, intelligent things that are likely to not have as much restraint _we_ need to exercise." the okumo states to her groups. "I want you more skilled to try and intercept the guards and oust them from the brawl if you can. If we can have them calmed down, they can help us further. If not, treat them as the others. Now split up and claim an area of your own to work through, don't rush in as a group."
Provided the ninja with her have any semblance of proper training and protocol, they'd split up to surround the ring of melee and start dragging people out of it and giving them sweet nap-time, while Okami herself is rolling her sleeves up to her shoulders and weaving up webbing nets to yank any that're in the way of her and approaching the snowflake going on to a stall.. and, a feral child?
Tsubaki is used to the cold. She welcomes it, even. That is why she decided to act in such to calm the raging hearts of battle. That, and she just wanted a bit of cold. Selfishness… When it could be considered selfless? The best kind of selfishness… The young girl slipped through the crowd, determined to reach the stand. And then she set down the basket of fish for the merchant. The battles raged on around her, and occasionally someone lashed out at her as well! But all the strikes were parried quickly enough by water that seemed to flow around the girl's body effortlessly. Tsubaki always keeps a bit of water on hand for just that occasion.
Being amongst the fighters, Tsubaki could tell something was wrong. Everyone seemed to be … Crazed. Tsubaki knew a number of these people, too. Some of the fish peddlers and merchants in these parts were friendly, and they would /never/ raise a spear against someone without good cause. Nor would they be hacking people to bits. No, they would threaten people and maybe attack, but only enough so that everyone would learn their lesson. Nothing lethal… That was what was the strangest thing. Tsubaki continued to keep an eye out, only now spotting Okami as the spider made her way around the area.
"… Okumo-san," she greets quietly when Okami finally comes over. She glances at the fighters, then back to the Chuunin with a raised brow. "… Do you… require assistance?" she asks, tilting her head. Her green eyes were flowing faintly at the moment, turning them a bit cyan with the blue glow. And she had an air of calm around her… Or was that the icy aura?
COMBAT: Tsubaki focuses 5842 stamina to turn it into 8000 usable chakra!
RP: Tsubaki transforms into ARCTIC-BLAST.
The crowd never seemed to notice the sudden blast of intense cold, despite it taking the temperatures below freezing. Piles of fish and puddles of blood gained coats of thin frost, and those who had been beaten into unconsciousness or immobility began to shiver but those fighting never slowed or looked away. Indeed, steam rose from them in near plumes.
Okami's team of shinobi did as ordered, beginning to surround the crowd and pick off individuals, trying to pull them from the melee. Those who were taken from the crowd fought against the military men seeking to subdue them, fighting literally tooth and nail if they had too whether they were guard or merchant. It was plain to see on their vaguely purpled sheened faces that there would be no calming them.
The pitch of the violence seemed to be growing. A broken plank of wood flew from the tumult with surprising speed for having been tossed by someone lacking shinobi training, heading straight for Okami. As more impromptu weapons are drawn, and more structurual damage is caused, flying debris is swiftly becoming more common.
It seemed the devil's luck hovered around the young Kaguya boy. WIth all of the objects flying around, enraged people, adn confused and panicing individuals amongst them, it was sheer luck that he had nto been injured by now, especially as he didn't seem to do anything to protect himself from harm. The merchant that was now a bit away from him showign the face of rage and unchecked anger would catch his eye as he looked back for a moment. Noticing nothing else of what transpired, if Kiwi was aware of anything at all, it was the face of rage. It was not the same face the man had before. It was… not his face at all. It was twisted, perverted… perhaps incited… but certainly not the same man he had the light altercation with. At this point, Kiwi picked up the pace and would begin to jog a bit away from the area, hopping over toppled stalls and ducking under banners and poorly wielded brooms and cuttlery. If he had been the target of the madness specifically, he may not have been so lucky as to come out with only a couple of small cuts and a bruise for his efforts. He ended up near the shinobi team that was worknig its way around the crowd as he turned to watch the performance or subduing the natives. By the colors and symbols, he recognized it as some of those who lived in Kirigakure. He was not entirely aware of what that all meant, but he did know that they wore the same as both Yuuka and Yuriko, and he even thought he may recognize one of them.
COMBAT: Kiwi defends against PHYSICAL(12) attack from Odin with a DODGE…13
COMBAT: Okami defends against SHARP(18) attack from Odin with a BODY-FLICKER-TECHNIQUE…19
Okami quickly comes to terms that the group isn't going to be brought to heel easily. Once Tsubaki acknowledges Okami, she offers a slight bow in return to the cold one. "I would ask what the little snowflake is doing in the midst of such strife on delivery, but, help would be appreciated. The village has sent in a team to quell the fighting, with as little lost life as possible." she states. "If you can help in this way, then do what you can to ensure we lose no more than have already been. Try not to join the fallen, little snowflake." the Okumo is then accosted.. or, she would be, if the attack hadn't hit at a plume of gossamer threads in her wake. Instead of attacking the villagers directly, as sweet and fun as that may be, Okami just decides to lace her way around the berserk combatants and thread any that seem to be rather near to striking an ultimately bad decision, and knocking them over.
COMBAT: Okami attacks target 1 with SNARING-WEBS with a roll of: 34
Tsubaki makes a soft noise of displeasure. The crowd was under some sort of spell, it seemed. Someone had sent them into this frenzy, and she had no idea why someone would create such chaos. Kiwi was at least out of the way, so she didn't need need to worry about the kid. Just her own well-being. … And the civilians. The best way to do this would not be through her usual methods, though… From what she could tell.
As a sailing /something/ comes at her, she ducks the board. It was simply random debris that would have gone over her head regardless, so she truly didn't need to make the effort to avoid it. But she did, anyway. Just in case…
"… Hai," she murmurs to the spider, making handseals and sending those nearby into the illusion of frozen legs that keep them in place long enough for others to bind them.
RPCOMBAT: Tsubaki defends against with a DODGE…13
COMBAT: Tsubaki attacks target 1 with FROZEN-LEGS with a roll of: 44
COMBAT: Tsubaki attacks target 1 with FROZEN-LEGS with a roll of: 32
COMBAT: Tsubaki attacks target 1 with FROZEN-LEGS with a roll of: 43
The frenzy continues.
The efforts of the shinobi team to individually pick people out is a consistent but a time consuming one. They are slowly managing to cull and subdue some people, either through binding them or knocking them unconscious, but it is slow going. It didn't help that some of the shinobi were often pulled into the melee and forced to fight their way back out. There. One of the group hadn't made it back out. With things progressing at this pace, more people would be dead or unconscious than would be subdued by the time things finished even despite the efforts of Tsubaki and Okami's respective genjutsu or spider silk, both of which are proving entirely effective.
And to make matters worse… smoke starts to rise from the southern side of the fish market. With the cold, dry air whatever fire had started was likely to spread quickly through the wooden stalls. But that may come as a good thing. The below freezing temperatures from Tsubaki's aura was beginning to turn those who were subdued blue. Fire might prevent hypothermia from setting in and killing them.
Kiwi continued to observe as the shinobi team worked and as the market people's continued to berserk. He was very curious as to the ninja-folk, but he did begin to recognize the severity of the situation. Mother had told him not to fight anyone yet… and he'd listen begrudgingly even as his blood began to raise in temperature from watching the fighting so intently. He would lift his nose to the air and notice the smoke, pointing it out and saying clearly but without inflection, "Fire." for those who were sane enough to understand him. However, he had more to say, "They are frenzied, like a wounded boar or a protective mother-creature. No… rati…rational…ity. No reason. No quarter. No pain. No weariness. Only blood. Only death." He would rattle off, likely primarily to himself. Looking for the merchant specifically, he began to wonder…. was this condition infectious? Was this rage contagious? Based on what he saw of the guards and the shinobi… no. "Where does it come from?" he would ask then.
Things are not heading down too quickly, and the brawl even has the ninja taking things slowly. It's a definate that the people are being manipulated in some way, but just killing the group was not going to work. The middle-nin relents and lets things play out further, she doesn't want to end up withdrawing this thing too early, however, she takes the center of the brawl and starts weaving yet more webbing to restrain the villagers, yanking them out one at a time and binding them up in the silk.
COMBAT: Okami attacks target 1 with SNARING-WEBS with a roll of: 37
COMBAT: Okami attacks target 1 with SNARING-WEBS with a roll of: 33
COMBAT: Tsubaki attacks target 1 with FREEZING-WHIRLWIND with a roll of: 79
COMBAT: Tsubaki attacks target 2 with FREEZING-WHIRLWIND with a roll of: 65
COMBAT: Tsubaki attacks target 3 with FREEZING-WHIRLWIND with a roll of: 72
COMBAT: Tsubaki attacks target 4 with FREEZING-WHIRLWIND with a roll of: 65
Tsubaki notices some of the more still people turning a bit too cold, and she remembers a certain Shimizu's advice: most cannot withstand the freezing temperatures that she offers. The girl makes a conscious effort to calm the icy nature of the cold, and those who are still may get a bit of color back in their bodies. Of course, it may not be quick enough… But hopefully it'd help.
There was still the fighters to deal with. Tsubaki tells those she can to get out of the way, but then she lets loose, a washing almost everyone that was packed together and fighting in a freezing cold whirlwind that would affect friend and foe alike. Hopefully the guards and Genin would have heeded her warning before she did such. She also alerted Okami, too, so the Chuunin could recall some troops if desired…
Things definitely took a turn.
As Okami entered the fray, getting into the thick of things and continuing her subjugation efforts, others on her team took her lead. They moved into the fray, becoming more aggressive. More heavily surrounded, they managed to take people down more swiftly, mostly through beatings but they also began to take damage themselves, coming under group attack.
This also positioned them poorly when Tsubaki made the decision to launch a sweeping tornado of ice winds into the group. Some that pushed in deep had managed to catch wind and leap to safety but three shinobi were caught up in the attack that was strong enough to lift a large swathe of people from their feet. The ice within the whirlwinds pelted and sliced the flesh of those caught within it, flaying people and bloodying the whirlwind. One of the shinobi managed to trap themselves within a water prison technique, blunting some of the effects of the attack, but the rest of the victims were at Tsubaki's whim. People were dying.
In better news, those who'd been bound or were unconscious didn't regain their color, but they stopped getting bluer. If they were still getting worse, it was much more slowly. Of course, that could be because of the fires that had gone unchecked and had begun spreading from the south side of the markets.
There's a warning? It's not like most of the nin would have picked it up in the brawl, and Okami is a bit glad that as many that did escape.. escaped the inconsiderate icy wrath coming from the genin. This is the point where Okami needs to have attention diverted. She flickers through the crowd to all of the chuunin at her disposal to have the genin back from the fray, as well as having all of those with proficiency in water-jutsu to contain and combat the fire. She also relays to have those that have been incapacitated to be withdrawn from the combat and into safety.. She doesn' head into the storms to confront their user, and instead takes her own command to yank those that're not in the icy grip from the fight.
Okay, so that might not have been the best way to Handle it, but at least Tsubaki was able to stop a lot of people from fighting. The other good news is that Tsubaki can fall back and just start healing allies. She has a bunch of herbs and medicine on her person, all of them encased in a pouch that isn't affected by cold.
COMBAT: Tsubaki heals target 1 with MEDICINAL-HEALING with a roll of: 35
COMBAT: Tsubaki heals target 1 with MEDICINAL-HEALING with a roll of: 30
Once the freezing whirlwinds ceased, a multitude of people fell to the ground. A number of them were still from that point. Unconscious, mayhaps some. But the lack of vitality in some made it clear that they would never be getting back up at all. Those who'd been rioting who /were/ still moving… no longer seemed interested in rioting. Instead, they were simply confused and in immense amounts of pain. The sounds of fear began to rise.
At this point, there were only a couple dozen rioters still senselessly causing violence, whether to eachother or those who'd been downed. One was slamming his fists into a downed and unconscious shinobi's head. Or was before an ally kicked them away — probably hard enough to break ribs and hurredly dragged them away. But there were few left to corral them with all of the water users sent to fight the fire.
For the flames, they'd been growing noticably swiftly, fanned by the air the whirlwind fed it. But with every water user except for Tsubaki fighting it, its progress was quickly stopped and given a little time, it would be put out.
One of the shinobi Tsubaki was healing pushed her hand away as she reached towards him. "Go help the villagers," he growled through bloody teeth. Anger flashed in his eyes and he intended to stare the Shirayuki down until he did what she should.
As soon as the winds drop, Okami zips in to toss more webs at those that were still going at it, seeking to isolate them from those that… weren't. She hadn't gone to change her orders to those already pulling the downed out, and with the flames depleting the water users -should- be helping with the rest once their job is finished. There are certainly going to be words about Tsubaki when she hands in her report, but that is not important at the moment.. for now, people still need to be quelled.
COMBAT: Tsubaki heals target 1 with MEDICINAL-HEALING with a roll of: 37
COMBAT: Tsubaki heals target 1 with MEDICINAL-HEALING with a roll of: 42
COMBAT: Tsubaki heals target 1 with MEDICINAL-HEALING with a roll of: 35
Tsubaki has mostly been healing people without checking to see if they were villagers. But now that one of the shinobi has actually spoken up, she simply nods and keeps a lookout for those that are badly hurt and /not/ shinobi. Guards included, assumedly. The girl tries to tend to as many as she can, knowing that she was the one that had caused most of the destruction. It's not like she could have done much, though, given her talents lay in creating icy chaos… And she didn't believe herself proficient enough with water style to actually try and help with the fire. So all she could do was continue to heal people in need.
It was clear that things were winding to a close. The number of those placing themselves in danger and endangering the lives of others would soon dwindle to 0. The fires were being put out with haste, the suiton ninjutsuists making fairly quick work of it. As it grew smaller, some felt they could turn their attention away from it and left to finish quelling the 'riot.'
And so it was. The rioting was over. An unprecedented number of bodies were laying around, all of them wounded, some of them bound, some of them dead. The last couple dozen that had maintained their aggression still did even though bound, fighting animalistically against their constraints. The furthest southern area of the fish markets was scorched but no longer on fire and the shinobi forces appeared disgruntled. They'd sustained one casualty and a couple were in need of true medical attention.
But the riot was finished.
Okami sighs.. things are clear enough. "Alright. The fire is down, and the threat of injury has diminished. Everyone, start giving some first aid if you have training. If you are not trained in such, contact and bring some medics here. We need to have these people treated and diagnosed, and the dead counted. I don't expect everyone is going to just turn out fine here, let's try and atleast organize and prepare those that need evacuation for it as we work on checking everyone over." she barks out, then turns her attention to Tsubaki. Well, she seems to be assisting in cleanup. While Okami herself is trained in healing arts, she doesn't quite have the means to.. non invasively check on people, so instead she stays in the midst of the angry ones and keeps an eye over them, ready to pounce should they start making any progress on escape.
RP: Tsubaki reverts to her normal state.
COMBAT: Tsubaki heals target 1 with MEDICINAL-HEALING with a roll of: 23
COMBAT: Tsubaki heals target 1 with MEDICINAL-HEALING with a roll of: 32
COMBAT: Tsubaki heals target 1 with STAMINA-RESTORATION with a roll of: 39
Tsubaki continues to travel amongst those who are injured. Those that seem to need a pick-me-up because they are on the brink of death get a surge of energy, as well. Tsubaki was far from practiced as a medic, but she knew enough to hopefully help the people that were injured here… She pays no mind to others assisting her, focused solely on the one task of healing.
Once the shinobi force divides between giving on-sight first aid and grabbing more practiced medics, Okami takes a stand. "After all of those involved are sorted out and delivered to where they ought to be, return to me with any unusual information you may have to report. Pass this on to any returning shinobi and medics that arrive…" she goes on to give inclusive and routine instructions for the proceedure, and sighs. "Food everywhere, and not a bite to eat." she mutters as things fall into measured pace and the quelled riot is cleaned up and tended to.
