Starring:
Date: March 21, 2014
Summary:
An oncoming downpour forces a temporary relocation of man, woman, and lizard to a rundown warehouse district. There they discuss — or better yet, Ayumu tries to convince the lizards the merits of seeking out the scaled one's adversaries, only to set out by the end with only Misaki and Shun as back up for a dangerous gamble.
"The Chronicles of the Shady Lizard Hero - Peace Seeker"
Ward 9 [Fuuma Alley]
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Blending seamlessly with the surrounding shantytowns, the grinding electric behemoth of Fuuma Alley welcomes you with neon light and the stink of humanity. Raised tracks carry trams, freight, and sparking power cables over the wide streets between the ordered city blocks of disordered buildings. The expense to light the city under the shadow of sick-colored smog is as staggering as the electricity is sporadic. The apparent secret of Fuuma Alley's booming industrial sector is that there -is- no industrial sector, or rather that the entire town seems to have been zoned for industry. Smokestacks of power stations, mills, and factories can be found on every block. The tramways travel right through some of them, weaving through the second stories of buildings like a bizarre second city over the first. Bars, merchants, and tenement houses catering to the factory workers operate right across the street from the workplaces, or next door, or in a converted mill building, or have been converted into mill buildings themselves. The dams dividing one class and business from another have broken and everyone and everything mingles together in easy reach.
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Clouds gather and darken, bringing the threat of rain, although the temperature remains warm and pleasant. Since stacking on weather changes on top of dealing with the reinforcement thugs was simply out of the question, all inquiries and the like were put on hold in favor of finding a safe place to recover from the day's earlier event. Ayumu would ask that the Chameleon's put their faith in him and follow the Iga towards a safe place to crash. Rather or not they followed him however was another matter entirely.
"To each his own," Ayumu would mutter at some point in their journey. An off-handed comment that would follow his not noting them following after their human rescue party. The words, however, never leave the man's mouth due to the lizard's choice to follow. They even introduce themselves along the way as Tosai and Kuromaru, father and son respectfully. Their faith turns out to be not misplaced, for the Iga stayed true to his word in regards to the others by leading them to shelter within one of the many abandon warehouses of Fumma Alley. "Hmm… Shun, You'd be a dear and see if that's still about won't you?" Shun merely gave her lord a extensive look before vanishing into the darkness of the rafters above.
Misaki huddles along at her own speed. A light draft, blinking and sticking close to Ayumu as they meander through unfamiliar territory. "So what is the plan? Where are you guys from?" She asks towards some of the animals in general. "And are they why we're here, Ryoji-sama?"
Ayumu observes the little interaction, but kept his focus apparent on trying to keep an eye on the nigh-invisible shinobi in the rafters. Granted, all he 'sees' is darkness anyhow, so…
"I haven't the foggiest in all honesty, darling Misaki." He admitted readily enough. "But I imagine they just have a part in that." He folds his hands behind his back and turns to regard the others. "Truth be told, I'm still awaiting answers regarding the incident from earlier. Care to take this moment to enlighten us all, Tosai-sama?"
"Incident? What incident?" Tosai says with an almost funny sounding accent. As if nothing happened what-so-ever. Misaki giggles at that. "Yea Ryoji, what incident?"
Ayumu lofted a brow, and then brings it down with a frown leveled at Misaki. "The incident from before… with those thugs 'nd… your son being kidnapped?" He says calmly. "I would imagine something like that would stick… though, I'm hardly the sage of all things fatherly." He says brightly, if a bit sarcastically at the same time.
"My son was fine, so was I…" Tosai says to Ayumu. "We had it alllll under control. But thank you anyways." His eyes roll around, which in 3d is quite comically. "Yea right…" Misaki says sarcastically, covering her mouth with her right hand. "Sorry.." She grumbles.
Ayumu nodded with a look that bespoke genuine belief in the summon's ability to handle the situation, though internally was another matter. A soft chuckle escapes Ayumu's lips in response to Misaki's slip up. "It's alright Misaki-chan, I'm sure Tosai-sama here didn't take offense to it by much." He says, hoping to assuage her with both words and a few pats on the head. "… But I really must insist that the situation from before be explained. As… uncomfortable that may be to do so, if such happenings have been going on for awhile or potentially involved one of my.. assets, here, I'd rather not have to walk into that again blindly if'n it can be helped…. Well, not anymore in any case." He says, grinning like a fox at the end.
Tosai sighs and looks at Ryoji. "There's a bunch of people who want to use us… To learn about our natural abilities." He begins crawling up the wall. "Our sticking feet… Our tongues." Tosai then sighs again… "Our skin…" He then turns nearly invisible." Misaki looks up and then down… "I'm sorry… That's… terrible to hear." She looks at Ryoji a bit uncomfortably. "We tried to make them stop. Problem is, they keep coming, no matter how many we scare away. But as I said, I have it - all - under control!"
Ayumu listens respectfully and nods where appropriate. All the while the mental gears earn greater fuel and oil with every point made. If not for the unreadable mask he kept up it'd be clear that the Iga was less than pleased with the appearant intentions of Tosai's aggressors. "I see…" He bows his head and makes his way towards the exit. The rain seemed to coming down harder at this point, making travel even more ill-advised. Still, until he reached the threshold itself it would seem Ayumu had every intention of walking out right then and there.
"It is rather unfortunate that things are the way they are right now… So unfortunate that I don't think I'd be able to resist these impulses of mine." His face is practically split from smiling. A rather creepy, foxy smile that he leveled upon Tosai. "The way I'm feeling now I… Heheh… I might just wonder into the wrong place and wreck carefully laid plans. Certainly might I render accomplishing vile pursuits impossible… Wouldn't that be misfortune for some."
Tosai looks at Ryoji and swats him across the face with his three fingered… hand…. Ouch, he knows Chamelon-fu! "Silly human. You're clearly not as wise as you try to sound. Conflict begets more conflict. That's the law of these lands I am afraid. Destroy one and two more will grow. The potential for conflict is plentiful." The chameleon turns around and lays down in a darker corner. "No, I believe that hiding is the best policy." Right… Not a big surprise coming from a giant chameleon.
Ayumu isn't so easily overtaken or surprised, but Tosai certainly pressed his ability to anticipate and react appropriately. As a result, Ayumu only barely manages to enhance and lengthen his bangs in time to soften the strike. The residual force still turns his head around. Ayumu remains in that position even as Tosai speaks, seeming shocked… until he turns to look upon Tosai a few moments after the over-sized gecko finishes speaking.
"To start, I will never claim to have wisdom on my side to begin with, so.. please refrain from making such a mistake again." He says, rubbing his sore cheek lightly as he spoke. "Though I will say this tid bit of wise words. You cannot hide from conflict forever. Nor if you want it to go away can such a change without getting involved…. Well, least your a Kami. Shun." Shun 'materializes' at Ayumu's side with a large bag tied strapped to her body.
"Since it's gonna take change to convince you, then that's what I'm gonna do. Your welcome to stop me if you want, but… that'd go against your own policies now wouldn't it?" Ayumu turns to Misaki and wait. He could advise her on rather or not to come with him or stay. However, this was a decision she needed to make on her on.
Misaki huddles along with Ayumu… "You okay Ayumu?" She asks, looking at the Chameleon which stares at Ayumu in silence. Slowly crawling towards a corner to hide in. "Poor guys. All they want is to be left alone. DO you really think doing this will stop the hunting?" Misaki looks a bit down. "I know… I know what it's like…" She says softly. "It's a faith that nobody deserves. But I hear what they say. Conflict doesn't solve anything…."
"Hardly, says the cynical side of the Iga," Ayumu jokes without any real mirth behind his tone. He turns then to regard the Chameleons for an extensive moment — or at least where he sensed them to be — before turning his attention upon Misaki. "As inclined I am to agree with it and playing more distant roles, standing idle will not solve anything as well." He sighs sadly and turns back to the outside. "Better to move and live with regret for only a mistake, then to bear the regret of having not moved at all… and let others suffer as a result…. Mah-ee! What does a child such as I know though, eh?" He grins sheepishly.
"Wait wait wait whaaat!?" Misaki points at Shun… "SHUN'S A FREAKING KAMI!?!???" She looks at the Chameleon who seemed interested, if only for a moment. "I see what you say…" She grumbles… "SO what's the plan?"
Both Shun and Ayumu turn towards one another at once, then level the same befuddled look upon Misaki. "No." Shun strikes first with all seriousness behind her tone. Ayumu on the other hand just gives a lop-sided smile and shakes his head. "Plan? Hmm… Right. People do those things these days…" He murmurs, promoting a sweatdrop out of his cousin. "I suppose we will have to start with the obvious. Find the thugs ourselves and go for there. Presumeably if they haven't already been taken out of the picture for having failed in their capture." He shrugs. "Either that or muck about with the exotics."
"We could present a tasty target with a henge? Act as bait?" Misaki asks, curiously… "Draw them out, use them to find out where to go?"
Ayumu shakes his head negatively. "We may be able to fool thugs perhaps, but there will be a greater intelligence behind these abduction… an intelligence that would not be so easily fooled or take kindly to such mediocre deception." He explains casually. "Not to say that your transformation skills are to be scoffed at my darling…. though perhaps there is some merit to that."
Misaki shrugs and looks at Ryoji. "So what do we do then?"
Ayumu would frown and tap Misaki upside the head if she isn't fast or attentive enough to avoid the light blow. "Just follow me darling, 'nd you'll see." And on that note, Ayumu pulls out his umbrella and head out with Shun… grudgingly taking the bag off to pass over an umbrella for Misaki to use as well.
