SomeNewGuy !!AxAJRjLwyv 2013/01/09 (Wed) 05:04 No. 164312 ▼ File 135770789199.jpg - (650.82KB, 1280x1024 , 6a7f6f1c1bfc4810644128c9dc0a21bc.jpg)
Thoughts of violence race through your head, of you reaching up and snapping this girl's neck like a twig, because this can't actually be right, can it? She's faking this, lying to you, and when you let your guard down they'll grab you and they'll do even worse to you than what happened before and that's not something you can take, not again.
Failing that, you could run, and while they could give chase you know kappa aren't at home in the woods, and you could easily lose them before they could follow through on whatever schemes they had planned for you.
The gentle brushing of fingers against the back of your neck freezes those thoughts in place. And, just like that, the anger and hatred and terror melt away, leaving only a deep, deep weariness. You don't even bother trying to stop the waterworks from pouring as you hug her back, sobs wracking your whole body. She bears your tears with remarkable grace, and you just keep crying.
And crying.
And crying.
Eventually, your supply of tears taps out. You take a shuddering few breaths of air and carefully pull free from the embrace. You immediately recoil as the girl, free from your hold, starts to wheeze for air.
"Aaaaagh." She gasps, greedily gulping down oxygen. You cover your mouth, aghast at your lack of control, but her coughing subsides after she manages to get a few good mouthfuls of air.
"I think you'd have compacted me if you hugged any harder." She wryly admits, though she doesn't really seem mad about it.
"I'm sorry." You rasp out, voice hoarse from ages of disuse. She blinks in surprise.
"So you can talk!" She says, triumph coloring her tone. You nod in reply, unwilling to put your vocal chords through too much of a workout right off the bat
"Well, that's half the battle right there!" She declares, clasping her hands together and giving you a confident grin. "Anyway, name's Nitori! Now I just need yours and we are golden."
Your brows furrow as you sift through your memories, but you come up dry. You shrug helplessly and give her a rueful look. She frowns, but her expression softens when another breeze of wind causes you to tremble.
"Well, I guess we can work on that later." She muses, glancing down at your state of undress. She looks over her shoulder and waves at the mob as they wander around. "Yo, Rika? What's the holdup?"
"You ain't the one who had to sort through all of the laundry, okay?" 'Rika' calls back as she pounds across the ground at an astounding rate, a jumpsuit balled up in her arms. She lobs the garment with surprising accuracy, and Nitori snatches it out of the air. She stands and offers you her free hand, and she pulls you to your feet when you accept.
"You should be able to get a bit of privacy back in the woods." She tells you as she pushes the bundle into your arms, and you nod. Casting a look around the camp, a pressing question comes to mind.
"What are you doing here, anyway?" You ask, tilting your head. She scratches the back of her head as she thinks on that.
"Well, Kana got it into her head to go search for underwater treasure." She says, jerking a thumb at a kappa with her eyes obscured by a pair of goggles. "So I figured why not, yeah? And it lead to us getting you-" She pokes you on the nose for emphasis here. "outta the drink, so I guess that we succeeded. Not in a riches and glory way, sure, but I don't think you're complaining! Eh?"
"...Excuse me." You whisper, and sidle past her. She shrugs and adjusts her cap as you go.
You trot past the curious eyes of the other kappa and head into the treeline, hoping for a bit of solitude. The trees loom overhead, giants watching over a world of insects, and after a minute of travel you come to a halt in a grove. Sunlight streams down from above, filtered through the branches above, and it lends a calming atmosphere to the area. You quickly strip the tattered rags from your flesh and unfold the jumpsuit, looking the blue garment over with a speculative eye. It's a quality piece of clothing, so you waste no time in putting it on. Once you zip up the front it fits very nicely, and you make a sound of approval.
As you sweep your eyes over the clearing, you pause on one tree that has a roughly man-shaped indentation on its trunk. A puzzled noise escapes your throat, and you gently trod over. You run your hand over the wound, the contours strangely... familiar.
You'd paused for just a moment to take in the beauty of your surroundings when they came for you from the underbrush, youkai with blades and clubs and tools in their hands, and then the first came at you and you crushed the life from him, but the second one grabbed you and smashed you into that tree, splinters flying. She left herself open and you reached out and snapped her neck like a pencil, but there were so many and they swarmed you
"Ghk!" You choke, the memory having shot by in a flash. You jerk away from the tree and stumble, your vision a haze of red and black, twisting the grove and giving it a nightmarish quality. You could swear you see movement darting between the shadows, and a peal of dark laughter drives you towards the center of the clearing and they're coming for you and it's going to happen again
Oh, God, they're charging, hundreds of dark, shapeless monsters and they're coming for you and you run
you run as fast as you possibly can, scraping your feet on rocks and branches but you don't care because anything's worth it to just get away from the dark woods closing in around you, reaching out with bloody limbs to grab and suffocate you and you wonder how you could ever have found it peaceful with this ugliness lurking just out of sight
you clear the forest at a mad dash, and the kappa base is right ahead and you're almost there when you trip and hit earth and then they catch you, crawling all over you stabbing and cutting and clawing and biting and it hurts and you need to
BREATHE
You shudder as you inhale precious, precious oxygen, curled up in a ball with your face in the dirt. Sweat coats you as if you'd come down with fever, and water drips into the earth as you sob, a seemingly inexhaustible supply of tears running down your face and blurring your vision.
The fear slowly, gradually subsides and after a few minutes spent breathing in and out you roll over onto your back, the better to stare up at the blue sky. Birds and insects flit around with nary a care in the world, and a part of you envies their simple existence.
You wipe your face on a sleeve, trying to rid yourself of all the stickiness and dirt clinging to you. After that, you give yourself few moments more to watch the skies before you clamber up to a sitting position. After you dust off any traces of dirt with your hands, you're able to watch as the kappa tool around in their camp, completely unaware of your return as they inspect the coffin and chat amongst themselves. You take the opportunity to try and pull your thoughts together.
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[X] After all that you've gone through, you think you've earned a nice rest here. It's better than heading out and possibly triggering even more of those... visions? Flashbacks? Hallucinations? Whatever they are, you've had enough for now.
[X] Thank them for their help and leave. They freed you, and for that you alone you're eternally grateful, but staying here just makes you feel uneasy.
[X] Skulk away quietly. You want some distance on them by the time they realize you're gone.
[X] Write-in?
