Fight for the Shaman King (Shaman King RP) V.2

[Leviathan~]

Ryoshi...

Ryoshi looked around, his eyes seemed to scan all the way to the horizon, though his view was blocked by a few structures here and there. "I don't know. I feel like regrouping now would give our new Queen a reason to sit up in her throne. I think it's better that we act with a little more subtlety. If anything, I'd like to investigate some of these minions, get some information for myself. Soak the sword, let Komo stretch out a little." he said, wondering what someone with so much power would want to accomplish by doing absolutely nothing. Pliea wasn't someone who ignored things, Pliea was someone who toyed with them. His gut insisted that something was amiss in this empty space. Komo bared a bit of teeth at the explanation he'd heard, his grumble not loud, but enough to make anyone nearby feel a little tremor in their soul. "Differences aside, I want you on the other side of her throat when I pull it free of her spine." he growled. Komo was always fond of nature, and the balance and maintenance of the natural world. To neglect the world was a crime that he could never forgive, not that he'd ever consider forgiving the Shaman Queen for any of her great crimes. Roka was slightly shaken, her usual calm collected demeanor was fading to a bit of shock an awe. The aura and power of the two spirits she now stood with was becoming staggeringly potent, and the grand spirit inside her host was merely tolerating her presence, it was obvious that she could be purged from his body as easily as a cat pushes something from a high place. Perhaps her fun and games would have to be postponed for a very, very long time.

[Chadanaiy]

-Arisu-

"Hm, fair enough." Arisu's face tightened a stitch, pinching at the sides of her smile. On her side, Bastet shot a smile at Roka, glazing her eyes on the warrior woman's milky flames. The girl opened her mouth an instant before starting her explanation. "Gathering info is pretty hard in the Sino-Japanese region —especially in Tokyo— so you better have the right equipment for this. Or stuff to trade off for it or something... Goods and services." The wet backpack Arisu had detached from her shoulders seemed ready to yawn with its many zippered mouths. She sniffed, and flicked the Oracle Bell which dangled from her side. "Tokyo's not as calm and free as it seems... A lot of doing well here has to do with looking just the right amount of conspicuous. It's in your interest that Pliea doesn't know where you are or what you're doing, but you can't disappear from the map or do absolutely nothing either. Pliea's governor here doesn't bother tracking auras spiritually on a large scale anymore, especially since people started developing aura tampering stuff. Mostly she uses the old human tech to track the oracle bells with spiritually-augmented GPS and reports to Pliea." The device glimmered under her fingers. "Smart, actually," she shrugged, "since the lot of us don't know a single thing about human tech... A lot's about adapting to the new stuff. Some still manage to slip under the radar though: there's this hacker, Asha, who can cut off your Oracle Bell's signal and give you a device which generates fake satellite positions and copies your ID. Right now, the Governor's servers think I'm still in Osaka, heading towards Tokyo for my first fight a few days from now." She looked up and hit the symmetry where Ryoshi's brow sloped into his nose, her thoughts nipping at the memory of the hacker's tart strawberry perfume and the prospect of finally returning to competitive battle. "I'm pretty sure Asha's working on getting their communication protocol too but there's no way she'd admit to that, or even think of selling it to anyone... She's a genius but she doesn't want to get killed either... Plus, the whole tech part won't even matter anymore in a few days."
"No it won't..." Said Bastet, turning away from Roka and wrapping her tail around her bottle-like figure. "Pliea's changing technique; she's going to be pouring sentinels and agents into all the cities where the first round takes place. Most likely in Tokyo the sightings are going to be compared to the GPS data she's getting for all the contestants, including you. My guess is the first thing we're going to get noticed for is having an average of two spirits per shaman: the recent Tokyo measures suggest Pliea likes her competitors to remain 'disciplined and modest', at least in appearance... Our queen may seem inactive but she's very keen on keeping track of her subjects. We'll be getting attention no matter what."
"It just depends what you want to do, really," Arisu continued, the Spirit of Rain's blue aura slicing the sides of her cheeks. "Subtlety's not gonna be an option anymore in a few days so if you want to investigate, now's absolutely the time. I might want to go see Celeste on my own before then; it's really been a while I've wanted to see you guys again. Anyway, if you wanna go in for the kill already you can: there's not all that much already gathered about how Pliea does things and what she's planning, but the little info people have is already shared between the trustworthy shamans, and I can get you to them. If you want to do your own digging though, that's another story entirely..."

[Leviathan~]

Ryoshi...

Ryo gave a gaze to Arisu, just a glance to remind him that she was still there. His friends had been away so long he was more accustomed to seeing them as mirages of his own mind than actual beings. He dipped his hand into his pocket, the cold metal of his oracle bell was a sensation he hadn't experienced in ages. He always forgot what he was, he forgot he had a title and a calling that came with the power and the bond to the spirits. He felt like just a person, a person who could fight for something he believed in. There wasn't any need for a name. "I'm not interested in hiding if being found is inevitable. If that's the case, I'll cut down the first person who decides I'm worth their attention. There's only one person who makes me fear for my life anymore." His voice was cold like an unexpected raindrop on someone's forehead. "I think I will go do some digging on my own. It might be a good ide-" Eye contact with his first spirit stopped both his sentence and his plans. The thorny dragon's twin tails swung gently across each other, waving like a helix. "I will not have my return to this world graced with you blindly seeking out the intelligence of imbeciles. Time is not to be wasted now, Ryoshi. You have the strength, you have the comrades, now you must begin the charge. We cannot let this Shaman Queen turn this war into a game. If we play by her rules we feed her even more opportunities to tear us apart in mind and body. The ancients did not run and hide and 'investigate' in an attempt to gain the upper hand, they stood tall against the enemy and fought for their lives and the lives of their people." The dragon snorted, infuriated with how corrupt this world had become in his absence. Ryoshi nodded, displaying understanding, but not daring to challenge him with any more words. Now he knew why the Spirit of Rain never seemed to bother the old beast. He turned to Arisu, and Roka dismissed herself in his body, deciding that hiding was a great idea with such angry monsters around. "Your call. Whatever we do, we should do it together. The last thing I wanna do after being reunited is separate myself from my friends."

[Chadanaiy]

-Arisu-

Arisu looked up at Ryoshi like at a glass vial tumbling with smoke, holding it up to the light of her stained-glass eyes. Suddenly, there had appeared in words a person who could make the young man fear for his life, their presence streaming into the air unquestioned. Who could they be, that cold sudden sun of a person? She was going to find a moment, a good place, a right time where she would shoo everything else and they'd talk about the past, and talk about the present and let the future come; the small her, the tall him. She trusted infinitely that the world would grant them that.
"I think..." she said slowly, edges of her lips ungluing from her teeth. "That if you're anxious, or maybe the situation feels threatening and that what'll make you feel more in control is immediate action, that you shouldn't ignore that. Maybe you feel more capable when acting alone, or doing with others seems complicated...? Personally, I've been increasingly finding that knowing and functioning as a group rather than as an individual for this kind of thing is much more easy for me. I think we're going to be forced into being alone for a very long time, by the surveillance, by the competition itself, by the fights, but what I'm hoping is that we'll manage to work together nonetheless, as a group: people who know and trust each other enough to have sense of belonging that'll remain even when Pliea tries to scatter our numbers." Her feet seemed to quietly smolder into the ground and her voice pressed steadily forwards. "Really, if we can maintain something interpersonal that's positive during all of this, I'll feel braver. Maybe that's not what'll make you feel braver, but I know at least that's what'll make me believe that we can win." Her teeth rose like foam on the edge of a wave about to break. "At the moment, I care about Pliea but I also don't. I wanna see my friends together, and relish in the time that we still have to that, and I'd like to gather people up and see them plan together, and feel stronger together and help them feel prepared! And I'd like you to be one board with this too, and I'd like to spend some time with you because just the fact that we'll be attempting to fight a tyrant who controls the entirety of the world around us doesn't mean I didn't frickin miss you." She inhaled, poked a bit by the volumes she was saying at a time. "If the choice is mine, I'm taking you to gather up an team while we still can and make some plans."

[Bahamut's Regent]

Celeste smiled and looked around the sitting room. "I want to smell true fresh air. Unmarred by smoke and chemicals." She stood up slowly and looked at Kohaku before she looked at Amidamaru "I'm going to make tea, do you care for some?" The great dragon bowed his head, and rumbled. "I would like some." he said even though he couldn't really drink it.

(For Tsu'tey)

[Leviathan~]

Ryoshi grinned. The mark on his back gleamed and he noticed a prickle as Komo came to rest at his side. With friends like these, the world was plenty beautiful. He wrapped a hand around one of Komo's thorns and flung himself onto the precise part of his neck where he couldn't be pricked or stabbed, his feet resting in the same spots they always had. "Well Arisu, all I have to say to that is, I frickin' missed you too." he chuckled. "Now I'd suggest we get moving if we wanna pick up Celeste before she gets especially angry and does something rash." he mused.

((sorry for the shortie, exams are kicking my ass))

[Chadanaiy]

((Don't worry about it! Take all the time you need honestly, exams are the worst sometimes
Also I'm assuming Komo can fly here? Dunno if that's right. Doing a lot of assumptions here because I wasn't sure where you were taking it specifically? Sorry if that's not what you wanted to have going on :T ))

-Arisu-

Bastet was jabbed with instant of temper as Ryoshi threw himself over his spirit's back. "Oh Ra-" her whiskers rose indignantly. "The boys want to take to the skies? In Tokyo?" Pause. "For a stroll out of the city to the Asakura bathhouse?" She turned to Arisu, offering her her irate bewilderment. "And I should allow this?" Maybe it was just a joke. But no, the girl quickly preformed some apologetic grimace and scooped her shallow sorries out of the air. She was surprised they had even managed to run into Ryoshi on land if this was how he'd gotten used to moving around. "...It must be Christmas." she muttered, as golden scarabs materialized around her exasperated roll of the eyes and flew off to surround Komo's take off stance. A series of clicks were heard as their mechanisms fell into position one by one. "You're welcome!" the last blazing insect whooshed past her ear. "And I thought we were worried about discretion for the Gods' sakes... Optical totems! So half of Tokyo doesn't see you happy idiots celebrating in the sky like a rainbow disco ball of misplaced aura!"
Arisu, who was readjusting her bag onto her back, formed yet another excusatory look from behind wet strands of hair. "Thanks Bast." she whispered, waiting for the spirit to finally near and explain how much she loved the fact that they'd just assume she'd help with their dumb shenanigans without any problem. Then she turned to face the cactus dragon. Grabbing his small reptilian eyes from amidst the spiked planes of his skull, she nodded solemnly, receiving her permission to come aboard and carefully slipped onto Komo's back.

[Leviathan~]

Ryoshi...

Ryoshi snickered. "I think Bastet's a bit salty." he whispered to Arisu. Komo, with ears like a bat, snorted in humor at that remark as well. He gently crouched as his wings were freed from their thorny cages, expanding and catching the air from the underdrafts with a smooth hiss of rushing wind. Komo merely kept his wings open, and the wind itself came to his aid, shooting up from below the folds of his second arms and gently raising him into the air. Once he was safely off the ground he adjusted the angle of his propulsion and gently ascended, and by the time Ryoshi had the instinct to grab on a single wingbeat sent them reeling forward through the air. "Now then, where is that watery kin of mine..." Komo grumbled.

((Again, shortness, ugh, hate it, can't be helped))

[RedLionPaladin]

(Argh, sorry! College prep is very time consuming!)

Amidamaru nodded saying, "Yes actually, I would like a cup, ginseng if you have any." Yamata no Orichi chuckled at Kohaku, gurgling at his request for tea. Ghosts didn't eat or drink or do any of the life functions save for rest but that was only after a battle. Besides, they weren't alive anyway.

[Chadanaiy]

((Oh btw Auora, I'm kinda tempted to make a new character who would not be an official participant in the shaman fight but a member of the patch tribe instead? Would that be ok with you?))

-Arisu-

Bastet, fur ruffling from the spread of Komo's wings, had trotted over to the dragon's side and jumped onto her student's lap, interrupting her as she chuckled. Now with their ride's large claws leaving the hill, she started glaring at the other passengers, stung with no real seriousness."I heard that!" she called from her spot behind the slicing wind as they started their ascension, "and yes I am as salty as ever congratulations!" But her tiny diamond teeth fell immediately into her jaw as Komo thrust himself out of the air right into the sky. Arisu gasped, torn from her long gaze at the departing ground past Komo's flank and almost clutched at her golden spirit. Instead, her hands caught thorns and her face pushed into the draping wind, laughing her throat into its nudging current.
Already, one sky was beginning to bleed into the next, purpling through the skyline from beneath its crenelated edges. Arisu felt the idea of cold being pressed into her skin by the dying dark. It seemed the night was blending the world's lines even more pressingly within its last instants.
From her wind-trembled lap, Bastet called an answer to the question which rattled Komo's armor. "Head for Saitama district first!" She offered. "Check the bathhouse!" Arisu pulled hair from under her nose and added, "also try to avoid the business district, the imperial gardens and the docks!" attempting to channel her voice outwards through her spine. "Those were taken over by Pliea! They're full of her underlings! And they don't like their activities being meddled with!"