Ryozanpaku

[Bloodedge]

Kou wasn't even fully conscious of his hand's movement, but that swaying tail grasped his attention rather quickly. Only then, did he create a link to the cause of said action. Was this a pleasantry? It certainly had to be, which only made him wonder what sort it was. Speaking of wondering... he also wondered something else since entering this world. "So, the animal parts... what do those feel like?" he questioned, making no effort to cease this strange act of petting. Tamamo seemed to enjoy it by her physical response, so there was no reason to stop. "Whatever I like, huh?" there were so many things he could have said in response. He considered a joke about fifteen cheeseburgers or something of the sort, but the tone applied to Tamamo's offer made him consider something more... sensual, as well. "I'll offer the same then. If I've got it, have at it whenever you like."

Strange though he may have been, the road to victory had already been paved and traveled by Rimuru. In Slime form, he landed just where he wanted to be, squeezed within the oversized bosom of this new comrade. This was always the way. Success was guaranteed the moment women witnessed the harmless little Slime they could take hold of like a plushie. In this case, he was even offered the position of leadership toward their needed destination. "Sou ka. Alright then, Outlier of the Great Rimuru's Legendary Harem, take us to the tree!" he announced, forming the shape of a hand with his slime to point toward Ryozanpaku's center.

[Apollymi]

Kou's hands upon her canine ears were quite encouraging. There was a unique amount of pleasant feeling which came from having such parts on her body. When asked about animal parts and how they felt a small smile came to her face as well as the lighest of blushes. Her body gained an almost anxious quality, but there was much comfort to be gained from the lad's continued actions. She gave it a bit of thought before the words came to her. "I suppose it feels pretty normal. But they're sensitive. And the tails all seem to move on their own," she said in a general explanation. "Ah, but I really like this, it's comforting I think..." she said looking into the lad's eyes with her golden irises shining with both innocence and something else, just below the surface. What was more, beyond his curiosities about the animal parts, he offered more of himself to the lass than she'd ever have imagined. His claim basically providing a level of equivalency to what she'd offered before this point. A wicked smirk spread across this lass' face, she was a pervert after all, her mind jumped ahead several steps. And she was just greedy enough that she wouldn't have backed out of such an offer ever. "Sou ka, I'll definitely keep that in mind ya' know. I really can't say no at all to stuff like this~" she said as she leaned into him. she slipped her arms around him leaving him the freedom to continue petting her while she held him. All the while Tomoe watched with a knowing glance, she'd never really known what to expect her boss, but if this lad was her decision she wished them nothing but the best. As they were very obviously some kind of couple even without her listening to their conversation or anything like that.

Mizore came to the conclusion that this little slime had some serious delusions of grandeur. It wasn't really that unusual long term, but at least he had somewhere in mind to go. And if she was being honest, the little plushy like boy was cute enough to be carried around at least. She'd do so as they approached the tree in the neutral territory. Each step seemed strange to her but there was little else for her to do. The same could be said of the pair of Oni who were currently making their way to the top of Mt. Kurama, well on their way to start clearing out a spider youkai infestation. The country of Ryozanpaku seemed to be well on its way to some pretty great changes.

[Bloodedge]

"Sou..." the lad murmured. It was easily understandable that these extra appendages would be considered sensitive, though clearly in a positive manner. The 'petting' motion became even more deliberate as Tamamo caused there to be even less distance between them, holding onto the male while mentioning that she couldn't pass up the opportunity of their agreement. "I don't think I can either. I'm not really sure what to do ever, but I'll do my best for whatever it's worth." Kou spoke only truth. A girlfriend? What was that really? Any time the realization hit him that they had entered such a state recently, he was thrown aback by the thought. Currently, his eyes repeatedly averted, as if being pulled toward those shifting tails of Tamamo's. Perhaps he had a few more perversions than he'd admitted thus far, but at least one of Kimiko's Avatars had discovered that fact. Could Tamamo be counted as one who knew? Time would tell, perhaps. "I should... be doing something now, shouldn't I? Is this a sexy thing? Or is this one of those wholesome things? I... have read a lot of stuff, and I can't really tell how the real thing's supposed to go."

[Apollymi]

Kou's petting of Tamamo became more deliberate as he learned that she liked this activity. "I'm rarely sure what to do myself outside of certain situations~" she murmured happily. "Still, I am really happy, and you doing your best is worth quite a bit~" she chimed happily. He couldn't know his efforts were always appreciated by her. And what was more, there was more value in his ability to do things for her or at least try them than most could ever offer her. Their relationship held that much more value to her. He was really her partner? Amazing! And her boyfriend doing his best for her?! That was the most unrealistic sentence she'd come to know as fact since their official coupling. He went on to begin thinking aloud, asking if he should be doing something. Kou expressed a certain level of confusion, as to whether or not this was a sexy activity or a wholesome one. A bit of confusion played across the lass' face in this moment and she nuzzled herself closer into him, speaking directly to him and hiding her face ever so slightly. "Um... well, if I am being honest. I've read just as many things and I am not really sure either. I'm only certain of things inside of very specific instances. But..." there was a brief pause from the lass. "I am not opposed to either wholesome activities or sexy ones," she mused happily as she pressed her lips against his neck, just outside of the line of sight of anyone present. "That being said, I don't think I want to do sexy things in front of people. At least not in a way that is obvious~" there was an openness to that statement which would lead many to know that the girl was something of a pervert, but she'd already admitted to that.

[Bloodedge]

He was not alone in uncertainty, it seemed. Good. If neither of them really had a clue what they were supposed to be doing, then they could simply move forward while figuring out what the other desired of them instead. Overall, it would likely result in a better end than otherwise. Voiced happiness was a point of contention for the lad as well. Never without his hang-ups, knowing that he could offer at least that much in this world, he was internally elated. Yes, this could work magnificently so long as the proper pieces were in the puzzle. Speaking of puzzle pieces, there was one duplicate that worked perfectly. Tamamo, or rather Kimiko, also practiced degeneracy in her media consumption. What they both enjoyed above other things was still up for debate, but that didn't matter much; they were a pair of perverts nonetheless. In fact, Tamamo specified that she had no issue with their current meeting being either 'sexy' or 'wholesome' as he'd put it moments prior. Once more, this Avatar showed her ability to get a rise out of even the more reserved Avatar, Kou. Hearing her speech so close to his ear, and feeling the soft, warming sensation of her lips against his neck immediately afterwards, he was rather quickly put under a spell of arousal. Ah, but his attention was brought inadvertently to another existence nearby: Tomoe. There was still someone around? What did she mean when she said a way that isn't obvious? Could he ask about that? What would asking result in? At the end of this thought train, Kou only muttered a single clause. "I... uh... well─" he stammered. "So you mean...?"

[Apollymi]

Their combined inexperience and shared degeneracy would indeed make for an interesting combination. A chuckle escaped her as she imagined the lad's mind working in overtime. She could practically feel it racing even as they spoke to one another, and the feeling of his skin against her lips might have hinted at such. Beyond this point it seemed that he was having quite an interesting flurry of thoughts. She pulled back from him but only far enough away to study his face. And true to her earlier assumptions and assertions, his face was indeed much more readable than those of his other counterparts. Her hand remained around him and she allowed her fingers to trace along the back of his neck. "Oh? There are so many things going on in that head of yours... if you have a direct question you could always just ask it where others can't hear us~" she mused. "Though if I am taking your curiosities the right way then it's likely the case that you interpreted what I said the way I meant it~" she confessed a tiny bit of wickedness appearing in her golden eyes. "We could also take a walk... I assume reaching neutral territory will be necessary for meeting with everyone, Mikon!~"

[Bloodedge]

Where others couldn't hear, she said. Kou found himself wondering if any of the questions he had in response to this Avatar's statements would be appropriate, or simply off-putting. She may have been perverse in her own right, but did their levels of degeneracy match one another? It was very possible that he could present clauses so far beyond whatever limitations the fox had, that she experienced a change of heart. It wasn't as likely as he once thought, but the chance remained. Maybe he'd take her up on that offer, posing his queries in solitude... eventually. Whether he did or didn't, it seemed at least Tamamo could interpret his train of thought, perhaps even to the letter. "Well..." His statement went unfinished, but his tone implied a certain amount of complacency. Moving on from it though, there was the idea of them taking a walk to reach neutral territory. This, of course, produced more questions. Was this suggested for the sake of progressing their goals here, or was it an excuse to be alone? Well... it didn't really matter which one, did it? Both reasons were viable, and each was more than enough reason for Kou to agree. As such, he nodded. "Yeah, that sounds awesome. Let's walk toward the center, maybe take in a few sites on the way," he said, giving a bit of extra thought in light of the potential reasons of this trip. "... Scenic route?"

[Apollymi]

There were some discrepencies here that Tamamo and rather Kimiko didn't really expect. Though she'd admitted to this lad that she was quite the degenerate in her own right, she hadn't considered the idea that he might not know the full extent of that. She thought it would be a bit more obvious considering their earlier interactions. Ah, but maybe the fact that he didn't know about their long term date wasn't helping him remember all the sorts of things she'd already agreed to? That could be the case. No matter, she'd take up leading him to the right set of thoughts and interpretations of her her whims. Of course, she didn't really have to do too much she was the kind of person who would say exactly what she wanted or needed to the lad directly. What was more his use of a singular word let her know that she was at least on the right track. "Um-hm, as you like then Mikon~" she said willing to let him take his time and express himself properly. Apparently even without great detail being needed the lad was willing to take her suggestion for them to head for neutral territory. Even better, he had an added suggestion of them taking in the sights on the way the 'scenic route' he called it. A grin spread across the fox lass' face as she finally unhanded the young man in their esteemed closeness only to claim it in a very different way.

She reached down gently slipping her right hand into his aiming to gently interlace their fingers and move along with him a gentle smile upon her face. "Of course, Mikon!~ Let's go sight-seeing!~" she said excitedly. All the while Tomoe watched what was obviously the start of a date. She didn't need to see this part all the way through, nor did she feel the need to go to the tree. No she had a bit of work to do among Oni Kind and she'd remain to take care of this, while shaking her head gently at the idea of witnessing a lass like Ashikaga Kimiko actually go on a date. 'Where is everyone else when I need them. Better yet, what would he think...' she mused internally as she watched the rather forceful girl drag away her lovestruck boyfriend.

[Bloodedge]

There were quite a few things that could be done in this very moment. Unfortunately, options that came to Kou's mind were repeatedly ones which did not lend properly to the time in which he had them. On the other hand though, there was the fortunate part in which none of it was necessary for a satisfying scene to play out. The pair agreed to take their walk away from this quarter of Ryozanpaku, and to start it, Tamamo released Kou's torso and took his hand. Fingers clenched when laced to solidify the hold, and it seemed the lad hadn't even done it consciously. There was something to be said about the random quality of comfort he felt... whether Kou himself understood it or not. Regardless of his perception, they were off soon enough. Only once they were out of earshot did the male speak a question that had been kept in his mind for the past few moments. "So... did you suggest this for efficiency, or...?" Of all the questions he had, Kou found this to be the most prevalent. With the answer to this alone, he could easily piece together other answers... perhaps. It was, after all, much harder to solve the puzzle of Ashikaga Kimiko than all others he knew.

[Apollymi]

Tamamo felt the slightest clinching of her fingers upon slipping her hand into Kou's. Something about this gave her an unknown bit of comfort. There was a bit of warmth involved, that didn't start in her hand but instead somewhere in her chest. Her tails shifted happily behind her as she mentally got to wonder about this contact. 'I'm really holding his hand and walking with him!~' she chimed within her own mind. This was truly an exciting turn of events, what was more as her mind swam with this happiness, the lad worked his way up to asking a specific question. She expected something like this but still she was happy to be moving and alone with him already. Did she do this for efficiency? Or... something more open-ended. This boy had a habit of asking questions without definite terms. It was something noticed by this pink haired lass in any form she took. "Mikon, you're really fond of those questions~" she stated knowing his mind was working towards answers both direct and indirect. "Efficiency is quite important but in this case, it grants me the ability to be alone with you a bit more. So..." she mused making her own open statement. "Yes!" she chimed to further clarify. Whether she fully explained herself or not, every face this lass bore was quite honest about liking this lad and wanted to be with him as much as possible. It wasn't simply their current relationship status that had her feeling this way. She felt a comfort around his person that she could not rightly explain, and would take advantage of it, whenever it presented itself. "And a moment alone, outside of the direct gaze of the others, can be fun right?~" she questioned in a manner most teasing as she walked along. She wondered if her word choices were obvious enough now, if she was clear enough about her desire to have him.

[Bloodedge]

Hand-in-hand, they gradually made their way toward the agreed destination. Kou was in no rush, and it seemed Tamamo wasn't either with how quickly she agreed to taking the scenic route. On their way, Kou's question was given an answer... vaguely. Of course it would be her to answer, but to also do so in a way that left him with further questions. That Ashikaga Kimiko was an enigma, and impossible puzzle made less solvable with every added piece... and it was exciting. If he never solved that puzzle, he would be content to keep trying until his last breath; this was his thought process. How strange. Such a definite, conclusive thought he had, when he otherwise showed no signs of commitment to most things that weren't games or the like. "It can be fun, yeah. Privacy, no interruptions, no incoming judgement or unnecessary stares... but─" He cut himself short there, knowing there was a lingering question produced by the vagueness of Tamamo's retort. Instead of presenting it in the form of another inquiry, he decided to go for a slightly different approach. "It's weird. You say things with this Avatar, and it really feels like being one of those characters in Naruto. Every time I open my mouth, I don't know if your next thing is going to be continuing the conversation, doing something risque or... both. I even wondered if that temple situation was going to repeat itself a few minutes ago, and I don't usually have to be so curious about the outcome of something."

[Apollymi]

A casual stroll and some tantalizing conversation were indeed in order. Tamamo for her part in this, was simply pleased about the level of intimacy presented by this situation. It was appealing to her, that this lad managed to give so much of himself while still maintaining a set level of interest. She was always a bit worried when she wasn't directly in charge or guiding things. And only in business did she feel truly comfortable being the guiding force and absolute judgement of an interaction. In this way, she was never really sure how things would progress between them but she could take comfort in knowing this level of trust and freedom in an interaction. It was refreshing and worth chasing in her own opinion. Strangely his response to her previous statements weren't at all what she expected, she found herself looking in his direction while holding his hand. All of the things he said made sense but the ending or lack thereof of his sentence made her think he had more on his mind. He exploded from that point forth, into something of a tangent which seemed related to his open thought pattern. "Sou ka, you don't seem ill at ease with that amount of curiosity though~" she teased him lightly. She felt very comfortable in the moment and leaned her head against his shoulder as they walked closing even more of the space between them. "To your point though a lot of things could happen, and I am never sure where anything is going before it starts... but I know I'll be satisfied by the results~" Once again the pink haired lass found herself teasing this young man, but would she try to take advantage... maybe???

[Bloodedge]

True enough, Kou had no issue with having so much to be curious about. Truthfully, it was a positive, if nothing else. "My favorite thing to do is solve puzzles. If it takes a while to figure something out, it's just a better puzzle, right?" he asked rhetorically. It seemed strange once the thought was put out in the open, but it was fine while the thought was in his head. Perhaps it wouldn't be too strange erupting from his mouth. With their discussion continuing, Kou found his shoulder met by the head of Tamamo, and his eyes shifted to gaze upon her shortly after. Still, he made forward progress... albeit at a slightly slower pace than before. "Any result, huh?" What a strange claim to make. The pair of them had yet to experience 'any' result as it was put, so he wondered how she could sound so certain. Of course, the sentiment was shared. Kou was sure he could find contention with any outcome to their interactions at this point, as he was content with every moment of considering seconds yet to come. Even now, he was mentally on edge. What came next? He'd have to find out the normal way.

[Apollymi]

Kou mentioned that his favorite thing to do was solving puzzles. Tamamo or rather Kimiko had already figured this out. But hearing him say it just brought a smile to her face. There weren't many things she could say, but she appreciated the amount of genuine feeling the lad had towards what he enjoyed. "I guess that is true. You never really seem displeased when your mind is moving at such a pace~" the lass said, her words were teasing but she enjoyed how much he liked puzzles. She respected his ability to throw himself into something and to make it apply in all aspects of his life and continue to enjoy it. Moving along after she spoke he seemed to question her statement about any result being positive. She found every second they spent together fun and exciting but also relaxing and comforting. It was a hard ideal to grasp but she enjoyed the dichotomy. "Hai, any of them..." she said happily taking in the scenery. The scenic route was mostly just her stealing glances at the lad she was with even so she couldn't have said she had a better use of the time. Of course, she was already leaning her head against him, could she stop there? Of course she could, but would she? No. Absolutely not. She wanted a bit more, so she came to a gentle stop and when she did this if he stopped as well, she'd aim to kiss him gently upon the lips. After all, any outcome was positive, and she found no reason to deny herself such things when they were like this.

[Bloodedge]

"Why would I be? If the gears are turning in here, I'm having a good time," he said, using his free hand's forefinger to tap the side of his head. He continued to walk at a comfortable pace, taking in only about 6% of the scenery on this 'scenic' route due to the repeated fixation of his gaze on the Kitsune. Eventually, the level of distraction he suffered was brought full circle as Tamamo stopped moving. What could she have stopped for, he wondered. This was exactly the type of situation they had been speaking of moments prior, where Kou's mind raced due to him having no idea what the outcome of the lass' actions would be. He naturally stopped all forward progress as well, and in doing so, his wait to discover the next action became nonexistent. Lips were pressed against his without any signs of hesitation, and after only the hesitation that came as a result of shock, it seemed Kou would relax into the moment. As his eyes closed and his lips pursed, his hands found either of Tamamo's sides as their temporary resting places. A positive outcome indeed, this was. Kou, in fact, hardly saw the potential for a better one. Hardly. As such, he was more than content to let his mind blank as he leaned in to taste of the fox's lips.

[Apollymi]

Kou tapped his head with a free finger and spoke of how he enjoyed having his brain moving. And Tamamo for her part in this nodded her understanding. Knowing him the way she did now, she could clearly see the lad enjoyed working things out for himself. "Mm-hmm~" the girl chimed her understanding of what was said. She couldn't help but find him amusing. She looked at him several times as they walked and found him also looking to her. She noted that neither of them seemed to be paying much attention to their surroundings, even so when she stopped and stole a kiss, she could see his mind working. How entertaining, watching him trying to figure out what would happen only to have his lips met with her own. Tamamo had mentioned already that she knew what she was after, it would be more apt to say that Kimiko was indeed very certain that she wanted this lad above all others, and as such she was content to pounce on him in this way without much hesitation. She liked him and knew he liked her back so she could easily be this much herself and as such she sank into the moment. His momentary hesitation seemed to be from shock. Even so, his hands soon found their way to her sides and his eyes closed and they both sank into this moment.

This kiss would last for quite a while, as Tamamo had no intention of stopping herself too soon. She had to enjoy such a moment, or else what was the point of the scenic route? The press of their lips would evolve just a bit on her part, as she had a hand gently laid against the side of his face. She'd prod his mouth a bit with her tongue looking for a small opening to claim him in this way as well.

[Bloodedge]

The passage of time was marked by Kou, but... only in terms of it being lost. True enough, this extended moment gave purpose to taking the longer path toward their destination. Sure, they could have simply chatted the additional time away, but they also could have continued talking after arriving within the original timeframe. This was different; this was the superior outcome. How very forward the pink-haired fox was, as well. What was this extra sensation he felt some imaginary hours into this meeting of lips? Was it arousal? No; that started ages ago. This other sensation was the appendage within Tamamo's mouth seeking entry to Kou's own. Naturally, he was compelled to allow this entry whilst his own tongue rubbed against the invader to his maw. All the while, his hands seemed to have trouble remaining still. Those fingers of his were in constant motion, gripping and shifting as tension built throughout his body and released itself through his digits. It seemed there was a building aggression to the kiss on Kou's part, perhaps due to the shift on Tamamo's part.

[Apollymi]

Progress was Tamamo's aim, but why did she push so much? This kiss as it expanded was meant to communicate something... but would it be lost as she delved into the moment? Maybe? But regardless the outcome of this situation was well worth the potential loss of thought. What was she trying to communicate though? It was simple enough, her desire. A desire to share and expand upon the things they were talking about. And a potential explanation of her openness... here and now she was fine with what they were doing and anything offered would be taken. As her tongue managed to pass the barrier of this lad's lips, it was soon enough assaulted by the lad's matching appendage. A wrestling match would occur in the space between their mouths and she wasn't sure who exactly was winning. It truly didn't matter though, because what she could feel from this lad was tension, or maybe... something more?

As they explored each other through their mouths she felt the tightening and shifting grips of the lad's fingers. How strange. When held like this Tamamo felt heat rise to her face and a clinching sensation in her stomach which led directly to her loins. She was currently standing properly and felt her knees weaken slightly at the sensation. The effect that Kou or rather the lad behind all of these faces had over her was quite surreal. She leaned further into him in the moment, that hand which rested upon his face slipped around the back of his neck as she pulled herself closer still. She felt the softness of her body press against his, giving way to new tingles under her skin which gave rise to gooseflesh as their activities carried on. She could consume this, or rather, be consumed by it. Bit by bit she was losing all but her desire to possess him. Her mind buzzed with potential fantasies all which told her stopping before they started wasn't an option. What if they leaned against a nearby building and were able to hide themselves better? Would he flip her around and fondle her body, molest her fully even those tails which were likely sensitive given their position? What if he pulled away from her mouth and explored other areas of her exposed flesh with his tongue while she stifled her moans? What if she reached into his pants and began rubbing against his manhood discretely as she kissed his neck and spoke on the things in her head? Her own media consumption told her all of these things were possible... but what did he want? Where could they meet in the middle of their fantasies? In the same way she could have pried into his mind to read this thoughts, she decided to share her own complete with the accompanying images, she prodded the lad's mind gently while they kissed and showed him her thoughts, an offering to him, of her personal deviance, in a manner much more forward than any of her other selves could have offered. These probably weren't the scenes he had in mind but... they should suffice to communicate that which she couldn't have said.

[Bloodedge]

Something was meant to be done by these two; what was it? Whatever it was, it couldn't have mattered much if Kou was managing to have it erased from his memory so easily as he was. He could never comprehend why the massaging of one tongue by another could be a point of arousal, but now, he was beginning to understand everything. What he didn't understand though, was how anyone managed to make choices when so many options could fill a single mind. Tamamo, upon entering his consciousness, would perhaps understand one source of his indecision. They were kindred in the fact that both of them considered many things of an unsavory nature. Kou's thought process wasn't very far off from Tamamo's, though it was simultaneously very different. . .

As he recalled, the Kitsune had the ability to conceal their presence entirely, leaving even the open space they presently occupied as a viable option for debauchery. Kou found himself starting with this thought, and trialing off to other things. What sort of sensitivity did those tails of hers have? Could he use them as points of leverage with a firm enough grip? If that didn't work out, then what of that lengthy pink hair? Ah, what else could be made use of? The fox had so much flesh that was easily made accessible by that oversized kimono, he wouldn't know where to start.

In the midst of his consideration, there was something more. These further visions were not unlike ones he would have experienced as well, but the perspective was all wrong. Were these visuals directly from the Kitsune? Kou's tongue paused against hers, his eyes widening as his shifting grip finally settled for a moment. These things were surely shown to him with purpose, but now, what was he to do with it?

[Apollymi]

They did indeed have plans of things to do, but if she were being perfectly honest, most of those could wait. She was wondering how the lad went about making decisions and she found herself just as incapable of settling upon one. While Kou was busy considering all the different abilities and body parts he could make use of, she considered that their thought patterns while not exactly aligned seemed to be at the very least complementary. Much like they seemed to be at a base level, without being exactly the same they could work together to achieve both of their desired outcomes. That was a good thing to know, strange though it was, she didn't initially intend to see such things, but saw them because she offered her own. She also noted that the lad stopped moving his tongue against her own he seemed to pause a bit more than was required. So she withdrew her own to speak but not without a playful flick being involved with her exit.

"Ara ara, it seems I shocked you~" mused the young woman, as she slipped her tongue across his lower lip. Those golden eyes of hers now fully open she couldn't help but seem more amused by this than anything else. They still had work to do, obviously they couldn't just completely delve into everything within their minds. "I can see your mind working you know... I was just offering insight. In exchange for all I've been reading in your expressions~" she explained while nuzzling herself into the side of his neck. She'd wanted to give him a bit more insight into how her mind worked, without having to be too hung up on the details. That small snapshot, into her thoughts would likely be enough for that purpose. And would likely give just enough without ruining the fun of his working mind. Whether he completely understood her point or not, wasn't really important. It was only meant to let him know that she was generally receptive and equally as motivated to pursue her degeneracy or rather, their degeneracy. She understood his indecision though, it was hard to choose just one thing, which was why she took everything, whenever she could. Ah, that was a thing wasn't it? She was supposed to be getting rid of the annoyances in this place so they could have some more extended alone time.

[Bloodedge]

Shocked, indeed. Such a thing had been happening with increasing frequency since this Avatar appeared, though it was no strange feat for him to be surprised by this lass in general. He didn't have so much as a single complaint about this, but he did have an undying curiosity. The gentlest of sighs passed his lips as Tamamo's tongue flicked his own, as well as his bottom lip. Alas, there was hardly time to give this much consideration. It was made clear that Tamamo had, in fact, entered his mind to show her own thought process. Whether she had seen his or not was up for debate, but that didn't matter at all when considering what he'd been shown. "Insight, huh?" he questioned as shaking eyes scanned the fox's visage. The longer he looked, the more he felt an unnatural burning within himself. Perhaps he was meant to take this as a sign, much like the recent decision of Tamamo. Yes, that was a thing worth doing. Kou would answer that burning sensation and firm his grip once more, all while pressing himself against the soft mounds upon the fox's torso and bringing his lips to collide against hers again. Was this the proper answer to that odd feeling? Perhaps it was, or perhaps he was mistaken about the feeling itself. Either way, his forward momentum was not halted even by the forced contact at hand; he continued pushing forward even against the lass' body.

[Apollymi]

It was all but confirmed that she'd surprised the lad a bit. Even so, the gentle sigh which escaped him as she separated her mouth from his, was an encouraging sign. His eyes were tracing her face, shaking just a tad as he questioned her more directly. "Hai hai, just a little~" she mentioned of the glimpse into her own mind. It was obviously not her goal to completely explain anything to the lad. Knowing that he liked coming to his own conclusions she left him most of his curiosities. She meant only to give him enough that he would know it was possible for him to act and to have her understand those actions. He took to this lesson quickly, as he was soon coming in again. This time, it was he, who pressed his lips against her own. Her eyes widened slightly, mostly because this was unexpected. She gave him plenty to work with but never really expected such expressions of interest immediately. "Uhm," the smallest noise of surprise accompanied this meeting of lips and tightening of grips. Still nothing would be found in her person but acceptance. She opened herself up to this attention, causing her eyes to flutter to a close as she left the lad to progress at his leisure. She'd move her own lips against his, and enough the feeling of closeness as his body pressed against the softness her own offered. It was a delightful contrast which she couldn't help but enjoy for however long it lasted. Her original purpose wasn't forgotten, it was merely set aside as she explored this particular avenue, it wasn't as if everything would be completely finished in mere moments anyways.

[Bloodedge]

Just a little, she said. Well, she was free to whatever amount of modesty she preferred, but there was hardly a thing 'little' about what he'd seen. From so few images, there was such context, so many lines to read between. Kou could have been reading a bit too deeply, but doing so could have been the fault of that incredibly queer sensation within his core. Speaking of that sensation, he was keen on discovering the cause of it. The current situation occurring prior to that feeling's arrival made him equate it to some unknown sensation of arousal, and the fact that it only grew as he pushed forward provided some sense of confirmation. Even so, he couldn't understand the amount of aggression erupting from within himself as forward momentum became... forward steps.

He had already committed to not stopping against the blockade that was Tamamo herself, and that commitment carried him forward several steps. What would the stopping point be? At this rate, it would be due only to a wall against the Kitsune's rear, functioning as a blockade while Kou pushed further still. Eyes that had come to a close during this advance opened once more, carrying an emerald glow within those starry, purple irises. The half-Celestial's gaze trailed down Tamamo's face again, and with it came the abandonment of her lips in exchange for... her neck. It seemed something was compelling the lad to accept these visions as something more than simple insight.

[Apollymi]

She had only shown him a little. He couldn't know how far her mind went when she had such a thing clouding her thoughts, surely it would only be taken the way she imagined. But then her body was met by his and pushed against. She had to give more and more space as they moved. Oh?! She only came to a stop right against the wall. This was a familiar thought progressing quite far even as they kissed. Her mind was instantly set ablaze, what was he doing with that information she gave him? Where they about to live out one of those moments she had shown? Just the thought was enough to stir her loins and cause that known damp feeling within her panties. What would she do as he pulled away from her lips. Her heavy lidded eyes would open to look upon the emerald glowing gaze of those starry eyes.

Heat came to her face as the world seemed to keep spinning around them. Specifically, they'd long since disappeared from the conscious mind of the people around them. They walked by casted glances in their direction, but none seemed to actually see this pair anymore. "Haah," a gentle exhale left the girl's now reddened lips as the fangs of her mouth became obvious. Her face blushed with intensity as arousal overtook her. "If you look at me like that, Mikon... I won't be able to stop myself..." she murmured softly against the lad as his face moved to her neck. What had she intended to stop initially? Herself from taking too much in a single moment, but as was always the case, when he freely offered so much she couldn't well stop herself from accepting. His access to her person was unimpeded by the lass against the wall, those golden tails of hers, gained more and more light as time progressed and shuffled a bit under his attention. Her own hand came forward and slipped further and further down his body, she was told before she could take whatever he had. She slowly trailed against him, until reaching what should have been a bulge within his breeches. Her body was becoming more and more used to his body and as such she aimed to touch him more to learn more.

[Bloodedge]

If asked, Kou would be incapable of explaining what had come over him. He had a thirst that he didn't understand the source of, but he felt strongly that Tamamo was the source of quenching said thirst. What he didn't take from her lips, he now aimed to take from her neck as his heated lips repeatedly pressed against one side. Up and down he moved just slightly, as if he couldn't settle on a precise location. He continued without pause, until one sudden moment during which he felt the press of a hand against his groin. If there was a single concern about others being able to see ongoing events, it was now far from Kou's mind... alongside the fact that none were capable of seeing them anyway.

Lo, Tamamo's hand would not be permitted to retain whatever amount of dryness it had upon touching the male's manhood through his breeches. There was a bit of a wet spot at the tip of his stiffened member, surely the fault of their interactions over the past few minutes. He didn't even seem aware of it, but he was very aware of this touch─ so much, in fact, that he was driven to further action. His lips continued moving in a more pointed direction as an immediate response, making their way onto Tamamo's collarbone and continuing down onto the curve of her bosom. All the while, that obscure grip he'd been shifting around for so long, finally managed to settle its firmness on the lass' beltline.

[Apollymi]

If Tamamo had been of the right mind, she might have questioned this lad's rather sudden increase of behavior. But in the present moment, it only worked in her favor, and she didn't have it in her to turn down his attention. Besides all of that, a line of warm kisses made their way down her neck after he moved from her lips. Her breath hitched in her throat as she couldn't help but sigh. The entire ordeal stirring feelings within her legs, causing her to quiver beneath his touch. Her hand found its home against his member, and found a single wet spot. This was something she'd gotten used to, and was yet another sign of arousal, one much easier to interpret than most others. Tamamo or rather Kimiko had initially been unsure of how this lad thought of her, but moments like these she was quite certain of his interests.

Her hand began to move against him, even as his own hands finally seemed to settle. In the current moment, her beltline was being held even as she rubbed against his length. His lips continued to move down her bosom. Each time his lips made contact with her person she felt an undeniable warmth within her person. If she'd been worried about being seen, this would have been quite troublesome, but she'd taken care of that already. There was so much progress happening here, so few hangups on display, she could do nothing but indulge.

[Bloodedge]

Every inch of skin his lips touched felt markedly different when compared to the last. By the time he finally settled on a location, there was a far cooler sensation meeting him, alongside a very different amount of pulse feedback than what he found against her neck. Kou took a strange amount of interest in these differences, but the most notable one was the quality of skin atop the lass' chest. His hips seemed to be shifting just slightly without any conscious effort, all due to the movement of Tamamo's hand. There was even another movement of his hands, which rose for the sake of pulling Tamamo's mostly-open kimono down from the top, all to create more space to explore as he moved about further. Of course, his hands would also seek that flesh, starting their journey against the fox's shoulders.

[Apollymi]

Every time his lips touched a different space of skin, a ripple was sent through the body of Tamamo. She couldn't rightly explain why this felt so strange to her, but she couldn't discount the pleasantry it granted her. All the while she kept moving her own hand, even as her kimono was pulled down to grant the lad more access to her skin she didn't seem to care. Her ample bosom exposed once again seemed to send a different string of feelings throughout her person. The peaks of her bosom tightened as they were exposed to the open air and the anticipation within her person mounted. How did this make her feel? If anything it seemed to push her forward. Surely he wouldn't mind if she moved forward as well? He'd already told her to take what she wished from him, he was already moving against her hand, surely it'd only be fair if she granted him the same kind of attention she was currently being given? A gentle moan would fall from between the fox lass' lips through labored breath as her hand slipped between layers aiming for more direct contact with the manhood she'd been rubbing against already, moving closer towards exposing it so she could stroke it more freely. "Hmm-umm~" the sound she made wasn't one which she understood fully. What was he doing with these soft touches against her shoulders? She didn't know but she could feel the tension rising. The muscles of her thighs and core tightening as she anxiously waited for what was to come next.

[Bloodedge]

So abruptly, Kou seemed lost to the world, and to time itself. Everything he'd been doing came to a brief halt due to the simple act of a direct touch to his manhood. Leading up to that moment, everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. He felt that hand moving about and shifting its way into his trousers, brushing against his pelvis on its way down until he felt the open air against his phallus. Something was coming─ something thrilling, for sure. When he got over the pause which suddenly overtook his body, Kou would finally acknowledge that approaching 'something' physically... in more ways than the ongoing throbbing below his waist, of course. The first thing he'd do upon returning to normal, was acknowledge an earlier claim made by Tamamo in conjunction with her more recent vocalization. "That goes a little farther than expression reading, doesn't it?" he questioned, clearly understanding that looking into his own mental state was far from the limits of the Kitsune's actions thus far. Following this query, his hands began their journey properly by following a similar path to that which his mouth previously took, albeit on either side of Tamamo's torso. Neither extremity would stop until both of the fox's breasts were in hand, with one going so far as to hold its hostage still as Kou's lips pursed around that stiffened nipple.

[Apollymi]

As she approached his manhood and began that same gentle stroking in earnest, Tamamo was confronted by the words of Kou. His body had paused initially but it came to be that at least one part of him was perfectly fine with the progression taking place here. "Ara ara..." she said as she began her work, stroking comfortably up and down his manhood as she chose now to speak while on his way to claim her exposed chest. "Does it?" she asked as if she had no idea. Of course, she wouldn't be allowed to keep up this coy behavior because when the lad's mouth closed around her nipple she took a sharp inhale and moaned. "Araaaah~" she had started to say something but it was lost. That feeling of his lips upon her sent explosive tingles down her body and tightened her body within. She liked that, enough that she'd even managed to lose her pace if only for a moment. "Are you trying to distract me, Mikon?~" she questioned as her hand went back to its previously established activity. She definitely wouldn't allow herself to stop completely again, even though her knees threatened to drop with every motion of this man's mouth.

[Bloodedge]

What a cheeky question asked during the heat of the moment. Tamamo knew what he meant, and he was well aware of that. He was hardly able to respond immediately through the inhale of the lass' nipple via his mouth, as well as the noises escaping Tamamo's own mouth. Among those noises, there was even a question. Was he trying to distract her? Such a thing would be the most foolish decision a man could make, as far as Kou was concerned at the time. Speaking of distractions, it seemed Tamamo was easily able to silence him before he started speaking. That gentle stroking of hers was done with such a dainty hand, the feeling of it was somewhat akin to a tickle while remaining a viable source of arousal that threatened to push him toward the edge with every movement. Kou's breath was caught in his throat the moment he retreated from Tamamo's breast to speak, but in what could almost be considered an act of vengeance, his tongue lashed out against her nipple before he responded. "Why would I do that? It's not like I want you to stop," he proclaimed before his tongue flicked once again.

[Apollymi]

There was a bit of playful yet sensually appropriate banter taking place between them. Tamamo found this whole situation to be going to various extremes, both with her actions and with the actions being taken against her. That gentle stroking she kept up seemed to be doing its work, the lad's breath caught at least once. And she could be at least relatively certain that she was doing her fair share of the work in this interaction. That wasn't to say it was easy on her though. In retaliation for the remarks and cheeky commentary she had her nipple almost visciously assaulted by this lad's tongue. It even came with cheeky speech of his own between them. "Ssssss~" a sharp inhale of breath came from this lass, as her nipple was most viciously assaulted by the lad before her. Her knees finally buckled but since she was leaning against the wall it was hardly a disturbance at all. Even so, she found a rather characteristic clinching sensation taking place in her loins behind her dampened panties. Surely something this simple couldn't do what it was threatening to do? Surely some other stimulation would be needed? Well, she'd keep acting as if this wasn't possible until it was proven otherwise. She once again found herself wondering why exactly she was compelled to go so far, but now that she was so far in, not completing this act in a satisfactory manner would be a crime of massive intent to her. Those gentle movements of her hands continued gaining just a little extra motion where her fingers flicked over the tip of his manhood between those same light strokes she always seemed to manage. "Mmm~ Because you know I won't stop," she mused as she continued each movement. "At least not for long..." the move she moved her hand, the more familiar she became with the sensation of her fingertips slipping over that beaded wetness, what a lovely sensation when combined with the lad's rather obvious reactions.

[Bloodedge]

How very true. Kou did, indeed, know she would not stop; it wasn't in this Avatar's nature at all. If this one even hesitated, it was likely for the purpose of teasing in a very interesting way. Stopping entirely, though? Impossible. Kou remembered their time spent in that trapped temple earlier, when he felt as if any attempt at retreat may have led to an outright sexual assault on his person. Actually, part of him had even given consideration to feigning a withdrawal to bait out such a reaction... but alas, there was always the chance he was wrong, and he wouldn't be taking that when he could undoubtedly have his desires answered instead. "Then I guess I can't either. That's fine, right?" he said regarding Tamamo's refusal to stop. That bead of moisture at his tip, which the Kitsune repeatedly swiped away with her fingers, would sadly not be remaining some simple bead for very long─ not with those increased efforts. Kou remained unawares, but in fact, he was beginning to let loose a slow, albeit outright trickle of clear, sticky, slightly thick fluid against the pink-haired young woman's hand. He'd soon be feeling the effects of this one way or another. Regardless though, his own efforts had to continue. A flick here and there did not suffice for long; this realization resulted in Kou latching on with his mouth once more. In the meantime, there was a second nipple upon Tamamo's chest receiving a circular rubbing-over from Kou's forefinger, performed in unison with preexisting groping maneuvers upon her full breast.

[Apollymi]

He knew she wouldn't stop but she wondered if he fully understood what that meant. It wasn't simply Tamamo who wouldn't stop, any face this lass wore was likely to go very far after reaching a certain point. Without interruption she had no problem taking each and every interaction as far as she could. Though internally she freaked herself out quite a bit, she'd definitely still take whatever was offered, whenever wit was offered. "You definitely can't stop either... that'd be so unfair~" the girl mused in her teasing tone, hinting at her closeness to eruption. Even so, the lad's hands and mouth seemed to be working wonders against her bosom. She didn't remember them feeling this sensitive before. Was it the size increase? Was it the fact that this wasn't something she was pursuing alone? Was it some strange combination that made the internally pulse in gentle waves which were only just barely shy of what she needed to feel that rushing wave of relief? It was there, right on the cusp with that confusing mix of wet and dry, anything more could have set her off.

All the while, a gentle moan escaped her, while her hand became more slick and sticky as it worked along his shaft. Added friction came with this extra lubrication but she didn't allow it to stop her at all. This didn't seem like the 'normal' amount. Was something going on for him as well, was he close? She was, and with her own closeness came the steady quickening of her pace. "It's..." she started trying to explain what was happening to her, but could she get it out in time. Each stroke coming faster and easier by the lad's own anatomy helping her along. "Soooo~" it became a moan but could communicate the fox's feelings nonetheless. Her grip was still the same but those slick, speedy motions along with the gentle flick of her fingers over the tip of him wouldn't stop at all. They'd only take a pace which was meant to help him along, building more and more as her own body felt compelled to seek a pace closer to what her own body would have demanded. "Close..." she managed. As her stomach tightened and the gentle push of her hips as if she could feel the grinding between her legs took place. They'd basically agreed already right? They were certain this wasn't too much for them. This event would end in satisfaction for both of them... they might as well work towards it properly.

[Bloodedge]

Kou was being given every implication that the pink-haired lass had nearly reached the peak of the proverbial mountain, but... why? Surely this wasn't enough to be considered sufficient. He wasn't nearly as capable as males in scenes he read and watched; he certainly wouldn't be capable of massaging a woman to orgasm... right? Perhaps he was thinking too simply; perhaps this was a matter of Tamamo's own sensitivity. Either way, the time was near, and the Kitsune seemed keen on hastening Kou toward an explosive finish as well. This natural lubrication, the increased speed, and the voice of Tamamo in a sensual setting were a combination of things that rendered his family jewels tightened and anticipating a release of their content.

Was this proper, though? After all that build-up, were they to stop here, with this? That would likely be the case if Tamamo's hand continued moving at that pace for much longer, but the stimulation Kou felt so directly was not convincing him to even attempt restraint. "Is this─" was all he managed to mutter as his knees threatened to fail beneath him. His heartrate surely couldn't have increased more than it had done already; action was required immediately. What action would he take? Well, things seemed to be working as they were, so he decided to go for the 'suggested' technique. His mouth, his hand, both returned to their former places. Tongue and finger flicked in unison, though not at all sharing the same pattern. It was his understanding that an upkeep of the same pace would function quite nicely, despite his own body's demand to hasten. The lad would soon find out if his gatherings were correct. . .

[Apollymi]

Kou might not have thought himself capable of creating satisfaction with something so simple, but the feeling of the girl's body made it very obvious that this was something well within his grasp. This body of hers seemed to be way more sensitive than she would have remembered her own being, and beyond that the lad seemed to understand very well what she needed to reach that proverbial peak. What was more, the quickening pace of her own hand seemed to be doing wonders for the lad before her. His heart was beating faster than she'd heard it in quite a while. There was tension in his body as her hand sped up even faster. Every piece of smut she'd ever consumed said that men and women were very opposite in what they needed to reach flourish in moments like these. Girls required a steady pace unless otherwise instructed, her own body was like this. The speed of her hand steadily increased even as a feeling of overwhelming excess hit her own body. A flush reached her face and a break occurred. Like a dam releasing the flood gates the girl's entire body broke out in gooseflesh and the feeling of her body reached supreme relaxation. "Ooooh!~" there it was just like that, she was all but done, and the increasing speed of her hand reached its absolute maximum, she didn't dare stop that speedy stroking until she knew for certain the lad had reached the same kind of finish.

[Bloodedge]

Well, there was the answer to his curiosity. His efforts were sufficient enough, it seemed, as confirmed by the audible cue of Tamamo herself. He could have been in question still, but a simple glance up at her face spoke all the words that needed to be said. She was apparently willing to bring about his end here and now as well, which registered as a curiosity to the lad. Through panting, he spoke: "Tama─" he started, before a hitch in his throat paused him again. "If you keep doing that, I'll─" And another. Simply put, he was not fated to last this encounter. He was, in fact, presently reduced to a state that had almost become kneeling. Knees were buckled, nearly giving out as his upper body collapsed against the Kitsune's. He panted and groaned, heat welling up in his core and choosing his groin as its outlet. Still, that curiosity remained. Was this truly the plan? A quick foreplay experience was surely more than one could ask for, but Tamamo gave every implication of desiring more. Perhaps he was slightly mistaken, and this was fine. Either way, he resisted that building sensation in his loins... just in case.

[Apollymi]

The heat that flashed through Tamamo was indeed exactly the thing she sought, and also still the thing she sought to give. Kou for his part in this, did a very nice job resisting the continued efforts of her hand, but she had no intention of stopping at all. Her body was a bit more used to such attention now and she could carry on without pause, even though the lad stumbling through trying to say her name. "Ara ara, you can't do something like that to a girl and say her name like that, Mikon~" she teased the lad lightly. His body leaned against hers gave a new amount of feeling to her person, and a sense of power she couldn't quite be done with. A wicked grin came to her face. But why hold out? Did he want more, was there something he desired? Surely he could finish now nothing stopped about her motions as she teased him lightly through heavily lidded eyes. "I know... let it out~" she mused. "It's not like it's the last time or the only time~" she explained. Though she was indeed the type to take and take more, she still didn't really want to rush. Was this a left over thought from her other self, an insecurity of her perverted teen persona? Was this a future more mature version, waiting on a more appropriate venue for their first exploration of each other? Was it something else entirely? What if it caused strain? What if the moment wasn't right? She wouldn't want to put either of them in the position to regret the time they spent together and she was happy enough with this... for now. As such her hands continued that ever quickening pace, her full intention to give this lad release. Only when this was achieved would she stop. The entire time he face held that flirty little smile but her eyes held a certain amount of adoration for the lad for managing for so long against what had to be torturous amounts of stimulation.

[Bloodedge]

Great truths were spoken. This was not their only shared experience of this nature, nor would it be the last if either involved party had any input. Why then, would it matter if he held out? Timing and placement were, indeed, important factors. If he'd been of a right mind, Kou would have also surmised that a more suitable location would be not only ideal, but also mandatory in a way. He didn't want his first experience to be in broad daylight in some foreign land, especially given the fact that they were already in a strange world. Clarity struck him in the wake of Tamamo's words, and with that, he heaved a sigh with two purposes. What were those purposes? First, there was the matter of his mental strain disappearing. He didn't need to be so worried about any ability to continue, even though he was likely to be capable of doing so with this particular incarnation regardless. As for the second reason, well... it was another type of relief─ the type which accompanied release of that pent-up fluid that demanded exit from his body through his member. Out went the spurt, and out went the rest of Kou's ability to stand as he slid down onto his knees. The torture of holding back against that singular hand was over, and in came a clarity of mind the likes of which he had in the temple previously. "Sou ka. I think I get it. . ."

[Apollymi]

It seemed that the lad she was with took her words in stride, and soon enough heaved a heavy sigh. What came along with this sigh the release of tension clear over his face and the twitching of his member as he released that pent up fluid in a burst. His knees lost their ability to hold him and he slipped down to them, in the meantime, Tamamo lost her gentle grip upon his manhood but managed to feel the warm stickiness which was his release with her palm. How interesting. What would this feel like later? Under different circumstances she might have wanted to try that immediately, but here and now she was pleased with only a minor use of magic it disappeared from within her grasp. She lowered herself as well, hearing the lad's words that same little smile appeared on her face. "Good~" she pecked him on the lips after this and would be content to remain this way a few moments longer as they both regained their calm and redressed properly with no mess to speak of.

What was happening in the rest of the land while these two had such a tryst? Well, Shuten and Ibaraki were walking along until they found themselves at the western base of Mt. Kurama. They'd become fast friends and were having an interesting time, joking and laughing about the life of having a stupid big brother. "Iia, Nii-san's the best. Stupid and shut-in but a heart of gold. That's worth looking after~" Shuten said of the lad who'd bore three different faces this day. "Ha'ah! Must be nice, my brother's a dumbass... but he's kinda still my dumbass. I definitely let this go on way longer than I meant to. Making up for it now~~" she mused knowing that her work here would begin to fix the wrongs she'd let her older brother perpetrate. "Yosh! Just make sure you give off big energy from now on. He's gotta know you're the boss!~" Shuten mentioned happily, this was most definitely just part of the girl's personality obviously. All the while thin strings and spider webs peppered the lands. Her senses were quite intense and she expected a bit more of a forward greeting, perhaps it was on its way, as they delved deeper into a 'Spider' territory.

[Bloodedge]

And so, the white-haired young man would rest for a moment. Kou shuffled himself about until his back pressed against the wall next to where Tamamo stood. It didn't seem like his heart would stop racing soon at all, but that was fine and... likely related to another matter entirely. After all, that strange sensation within him had yet to go anywhere. That could be worried about later; now was the time to recover from recent events, and enjoy the afterglow for what it was worth. His eyes shifted to observe the Kitsune's movements. Her hand was virtually painted white, and he wondered what would become of that. Ah, it seemed magic was the answer. Seeing that, he blinked a few times before leaning his head against the wall. His imagination had, interestingly enough, taken a different route. Too much media, it seemed. "I wonder if the others will take long to meet in the middle."

As for some of those others, particularly Shuten and Ibaraki, they were at last stumbling upon the lair of spiders. There were several Youkai inhabiting this domain, but even though it may not have seemed to be most powerful, there was a small male with white hair. This particular figure boasted the eeriest aura, which radiated evenly throughout the entire forest atop Mt. Kurama when intruders were sensed by his subordinates. Did more pitiful Youkai have the audacity to invade his domain? They would learn, just as all the others who now hung from various spiderwebs did in their final moments.

[Apollymi]

Against the wall, the lass found herself sitting as well clothing still quite disheveled but it appeared she had a bit less modesty than most. As she found herself enjoying the afterglow she didn't have much to be worried about. The lad's look at her made her wonder if they'd shared the same initial thought. She'd originally had a mental image of doing something very different with what was left in her hand. Perhaps the look upon his face meant he'd like to watch such a thing? Definitely a thought for later as she let her eyes close gently. "Hm, I guess that mostly depends on how long spider slaying takes. I assume everyone else will make their way without much problem," she said giving a gentle idea of the time frame they might be faced with. Under many circumstances she'd be content to carry on until they were actually needed, but she wondered if that course of action was worth pursuing in the next few moments. She didn't want to seem crazed or overly demanding right? She'd just said she could wait so they couldn't do too much immediately afterwards. There was a certain amount of genuine awkwardness present in this pink haired woman, despite her rather flirty ways.

"Eh? Does this place feel a bit weird to you?" Ibaraki asked of Shuten as they made their ascent. Shuten gave it a bit of thought and shrugged. "A little, I have a hard time thinking about such things right now," she said honestly. One might have thought this was a matter of all the alcohol she'd consumed before this moment, but it wasn't. Shuten-Doji was an interesting man in his previous incarnation and found little to nothing properly intimidating. He felt all powerful and as she was now, the lass behind this current iteration found it a bit difficult to properly separate herself from his feelings of superiority. "Care though, Ibaraki..." she mentioned holding a hand out she shifted her gaze upwards and saw swaying in the trees from lines of spider webs, several dozen other Youkai who'd obviously been captured by whatever spider inhabited this lair. "Fufu, it seems like the ones who made it up here before weren't very good off..." mentioned Shuten. Ibaraki looked up at Shuten's warning and her eyes quivered slightly. She was an Oni, barbaric and brutal but all of these creatures kept up in the tree as trophy or sport weren't something she could tolerate. Her blood boiled and her magic reverberated around them, as literal seem seemed to erupt with every footfall she made. "Oi oi. I didn't come here to look at this trash. Get your ass out here... coward!" she shouted.

[Bloodedge]

In the midst of this relaxation period, many glances were stolen by Kou. His manhood was far from capable in terms of losing its stiffness, as the disheveled visage of his companion seemed to be keeping his arousal piqued for quite some time. At the very least, the male made an attempt to keep his mind from wandering too far... again. "If Shuten helps out, I doubt there's anything here that could last a few minutes. But... I doubt she'll actually do anything. It's just a test, and I don't think my sister could ever be the type to help keep someone else from coming into their own like that."

Two intruders were present; none would leave. This was the decision of Rui, a young boy with the palest of skin and red dots upon said flesh. Light pink hair with a resemblance to spider legs flowed gently as the barefoot lad walked along a lengthy web toward his female targets, and pale blue irises set between red sclerae gazed down at them from above. One of those eyes was particularly strange, as it bore a tattoo-like marking at its center. That marking... was kanji, which read "Lower Rank 5" even in this world that did not make use of such characters. Whatever the case, that same eye was hidden behind his hair for the time being. "You're disturbing my family. I'll give you one chance to leave," he lied, knowing none would be allowed to take a single step outside of this forest. If these two did listen to the lad atop his web, though, they would at least be granted the reprieve of a less painful death.

[Apollymi]

Tamamo had made no attempts to right her outward appearance, this was mostly due to the fact that she was also stealing glances and knew the lad to be looking in her direction. She stole a bit more than that and knew the state of his manhood even post their activities. As far as she was concerned this was a great discovery in the making, think of how much they could enjoy each other! She shot him a simple wink during one of his glances but for the most part left him to look and left herself exposed because of it. For all intents and purposes she considered this another form of teasing and couldn't help but find something about his continued state a bit amusing. She couldn't have explained why this was the case if asked, but she knew it somewhere deep within herself. What was more, the lad known as Kou seemed to be trying very hard to focus, and as such she'd comment only upon the current topic of conversation. "Hm, she does seem to be like that. It's for the best, my assessment of the situation said that any one of us with combat potential could handle it in a relatively short amount of time. But one of the natives might take a bit longer, especially not one of the leaders. After seeing Ibaraki I figure she should be able to handle it, especially if she wants to prove herself as one of the leaders. Even if it takes a bit longer than one of us would~" she said having thought through the entire situation. Though it probably wasn't as easy as the pair of them would have made such a thing, she figured it would be fine so long as no one underestimated the Spiders to be found in the area.

In the forest, Ibaraki and Shuten were addressed directly by a small white haired boy, who gave off one of the most disturbing auras that Shuten had ever felt. It came with a certain amount of menace she'd only experienced once in her life before this. What was more he claimed that they were disturbing his family and that he'd grant them the opportunity to leave. Shuten was ready to talk a little smack knowing this to be a false claim, but to her surprise... Ibaraki spoke first. The blonde lass was standing with one foot planted firmly on the ground while the other was balanced against her calf. "Urusai. This mountain belongs to the Kitsune, you're just out here infesting the woods," she exclaimed seeming to take issue with this lad. "Besides, you and I both know you don't actually let anyone leave here. Half these people were obviously trying to run when their bodies were strung up. And that's unforgiveable..." she mentioned. Oni were honorable creatures, bound by their words. They wouldn't attack unarmed individuals and they certainly wouldn't sneak in and infest a place that was unguarded. No, they would have knocked on the front door and taken the whole place by force. These Spiders were deplorable creatures to Ibaraki and the longer she stood here, the more she wanted to wipe them out. A boney sword appeared in her hand and the temperature in the area began to swelter. Thinner leaves would begin to burn off the trees, and threads not magically enforced enough would begin to burn as well as heat permeated from her body. Shuten for her part in this nodded willing to sit out the fight to see what this blonde lass had to offer.

[Bloodedge]

"That..." Kou was paused again. Was that a wink? Ah, she'd taken note of his current state of being. Well, surely the Kitsune understood that she was at fault for such a thing! Should he cover himself? No, that wouldn't make sense. All he could manage in the end was a blood-pooled face and an averted gaze, as he made another effort to tunnel-vision his way through the current topic. "That's um... hot─" he said, worsening his state due to the accidental mention of what entered his mind. "I mean! That Ibaraki is a pureblood, so it shouldn't be much of a problem with their... hot... blood and stuff. If it does end up being a huge problem, I think Shuten will be able to lend a hand without bruising somebody's development."

These two Oni who dared invade his place of solitude, would not leave? Very well. He only cared to offer them so much as a chance to make peace with their current selves, but whether they took it or not, he would have his way. He, and his family, would live 'happily' in this place claimed as their own. "We haven't infested anything. My family only wants to live in peace and care for me, like families do. You'd like to be in my family too... wouldn't you?" This lad's aura was one thing, but his voice was another. It wasn't menace which drove him, but something far, far darker. Even his offer seemed to carry an air of foreboding as he spoke with the voice of a broken, yet devilish child. Saying such words with such a small body, there wasn't so much as a tremble in his eye. No, his gaze was fixed, his brow furrowed, and his eye wide with anticipation for these new members of his family. "It's fine if you're not like me. Okaa-san says... I can fix people when they want to join our family. . ."

As this boy spoke, the webs around the forest began to move. Mangled bodies of fallen Youkai had their heads exposed beneath what appeared to be egg sacs. Were they egg sacs? No, not quite. Those thin webs which didn't seem affected by the same heat which immolated leaves and branches in the area, unleashed droplets of blood into the mouths of those below them. As a result of this, that same aura which radiated from the small boy appeared in greater potency from various places throughout the forest. This was why the feeling of him was spread so thin; all members of this 'family' shared the same aura. As live flowed through so many bodies, the boy's power rose. The slightest shift lifted his hair, revealing that strangely-marked eye of his beneath. "We're such a large family; see? You can come play with me, and the other kids. Okaa-san and Otou-san will look after us."

[Apollymi]

Kou's pause let Tamamo know he'd indeed seen the gesture she'd made at him. She found it interesting how easy it seemed to be to distract this train of thought. So, the short answer was yes. She knew she was at fault for his present state, but still she couldn't help but tease him a bit. What would he do in response though? He didn't go for immediately covering himself. That was indeed progress on his part. Though that didn't stop all the blood from pooling in his face. How cute. His next words caused her left brow to rise as she understood them. "Aww, Mikon, you flatter me~" she teased as she watched him try and plow his way into a regular conversation. He claimed he'd meant that Ibaraki would be fine because of the 'hot blood' type of element she had going on. And that he figured his younger sister could probably help out while preserving the lass dignity and ascension to the throne. "Hai hai, of course that's what you meant!~" she couldn't help herself as she leaned in and pressed her lips against his warm cheek. "I still like compliments though~"

This child was next level creepy. In fact... Ibaraki shivered but it wasn't from cold. Her body was overwhelmingly hot, there was a certain creepiness involved with this child, the likes of which she couldn't possible understand. "Yes, you have. That is the definition of taking over a place that doesn't belong to you and creeping all over it," said ibaraki. This lad was quite strange, did he really not understand what he was doing was wrong. What was more he claimed he'd invite her into his family, how weird. "Ew, no. No more family bullshit. I already got one dumbass older brother. I am not adding crazy little brother to the list... and I'm an Oni... I'm not changing for your or anyone else," said the young woman. She was indeed hitting all of the marks necessary on the list which Shuten was using in her head to decide if she was a worthwhile leader to the Oni. This list, didn't just belong to the purple haired girl she was now, but also to the looming presence which was the original Shuten-Doji. Whatever the case, the things falling from the trees were full of something icky and Ibaraki was about to find out just how gross this entire situation was.

Egg sacs? No, there was blood in them. Shuten's eyes widened at the realization that this lad had simply been infecting and spreading himself through other people and this land by association. He was literally patient zero for this Spider Infestation. 'Ugh, when Nee-san said it was spider killing... I expected literal bug squishing. Maybe even giant bug squishing. Not gross kid with spider powers and mommy issues in the wilderness,' thought Shuten. Still she took in the sight of that lad's eye, whatever the case she didn't appear to be worried. She was too busy thinking about this lad and his placement and where she'd felt such a strange aura before now. Actual flames began to seep from Ibaraki, from her mouth as she clicked her tongue, but that face of hers looked smug and a bit menacing. She drew back her weapon, and it gained intense flames along the blade, she wasn't about to stand here and wait to be strung up or infected with whatever this lad had going on. Swift strikes were necessary. She jumped forward immediately aiming a spinning flaming slash at this young lad's body from his left shoulder down to his right hip with Oni levels of force, enough that it would cut a regular person in half if they'd been hit by it.

[Bloodedge]

For all his bumbling, Kou was strangely rewarded with a kiss on the cheek. Well, he supposed it had to be worth something to have such a colossal screw-up. Why did he even think he could save that sentence with more words? No matter. What was done, was done, and it seemed there wasn't much of an issue at all. "Eheh~ yeah... well, that too," he spoke while rubbing the back of his head.

"No one lives in this forest. This is the perfect place for a family to grow," the boy said with certainty. The lack of interest this blonde had in joining them was clear, but that didn't matter one bit. In time, both of these girls would be his adoring sisters. They would nurture and protect this darling little boy, just like all the others. Speaking of the others, they were quickly being reborn as his family members. White, red-dotted skin, various spider limbs, and many other arachnid features grew on the bodies of many Youkai in the forest as they hatched fully. By the time Ibaraki reached the lad she wished to harm, there was a multi-eyed Kodama Nezumi on the spiderweb between them. Ibaraki's burning blade cleaved through the mouse demon and torched it in one fell swoop, but the initial target remained unscathed. In fact, he seemed unperturbed even before one of his relatives intercepted. "See? If you would be my favorite sister, they might protect you like this too."

Next up, came a Houkou that had more recently fallen prey to the forest. Black fur, the body of a dog sans its tail, and a human face were its normal features... yet this one possessed four additional, hairy legs. It used the legs of a spider to crawl quickly along the web, encroaching upon Ibaraki from the rear in the aftermath of her attack. "Don't you love me, Onee-san? I don't like it when you hurt the others." These words were spoken head-on by the ringleader himself, while the transformed Youkai targeting Ibaraki lunged at her from behind, aiming to ensnare her in its newfound legs. With reckless abandon, the former Houkou had every intention of ensnaring the Oni in a rapidly-formed web durable enough to be used as a shield against even the flames she'd shown. It wasn't quite to the standard of this Youkai's 'brother', but... it could do well enough to please the lad.

[Apollymi]

Tamamo did indeed reward this lad with a kiss on the cheek. She found his bumbling nature a bit charming if she was being honest. It was nice to know he didn't think himself infallible and that he normally chose his words more carefully. This was in part one of many reasons she chose to say and do things around him that threw him off a bit. Strange, she really was beginning to think she was a lot like those characters from the media she took in. Doing multiple things just to get reactions out of the lad she fancied. Whatever the case, his shy face was one she could look upon with adoration. "Hai!~" she finally managed. A few more minutes would pass before the lass would finally get herself together enough to begin getting dressed more properly so they could continue on their journey.

The things taking place in that eerily quiet forest only got creepier by the moment. "This whole mountain is part of the Kitsune's territory, it should be teeming with lesser Youkai. So, does no one else live here, or did you kill and cannibalize everyone who was already here?" these were the words Shuten said aloud while watching this entire thing. Ibaraki heard her and couldn't help but voice her agreement. "That!" White and red dotted creatures fully began appearing from the falling corpses and Shuten almost wanted to throw up. Ibaraki's attack didn't meet her target, instead the rotational slice was met by a small creature who throw itself between them. That was a shame, but she doubted she could have done anything to restore it to its right mind anyways. She was in a bit of trouble though. For all intents and purposes the lad seemed to want to keep her as his sister, claiming he didn't like her hurting his siblings. "Then don't throw them in front of yourself. You're deluded if you think this is how families are supposed to work! I have no desire or intention of joining you and I barely know you I definitely don't love you!" she exclaimed. Her own brother wasn't even this level of disgusting. Even so the legs of this creature found themselves around her. "Gross!" she exclaimed. What would she do about this spider rapidly spinning new webs around her. The easier answer would be to burn it, but she soon found that she could not just burn her way out of it with the passive use of her 'heated' blood. No she'd have to resort to something much more brutal. Her arm began to grow to a massive size beneath this web and the legs of this creature, growing and growing until it was the size of one that should belong to a giant and she used sheer physical force to break free along with an open-handed swat at the creature which would align with enough force to break the neck of a creature with its size. Shapeshifting like this was one of her lesser known abilities, even so she didn't enjoy using such a skill very often, as it made her seem monstrous and affected her battle tactics too much.

All the while Shuten remained quiet. She watched the ongoing trial passively. But just the same there was some form of light moving behind those eyes. She considered several possibilities in the moment and wondered if the most recent action of Ibaraki would be the thing to snap this lad's play at having them join him. Would enough violence against his family spark his rage? Or maybe it would be Ibaraki's words which set him off instead?

[Bloodedge]

"Nobody lives here but us. Okaa-san takes care of us all here while Otou-san works outside." The words of the spider boy were, in fact, true. His 'mother' was the inhabitant of the singular house atop this mountain, and all who called this forest home were part of his... family. These two didn't understand; no one ever understood until their minds changed about being his relatives. Two examples were the Youkai who threw themselves at Ibaraki, which the Oni herself was content to comment on as if this lad had anything to do with their decisions. He actually seemed confused. "I didn't make them do anything. They're my older siblings. They protect me when they want to... like you should, Onee-san." True enough, this blonde was undoubtedly one fit to offer her 'protection' as his older sister. That massive, hulking form of hers reminded him of their father. Oh, how that would look when she leapt out in front of the next intruders... and embraced the even newer members of their happy family the way that Houkou aimed to embrace her moments prior. "Don't be mean, Onee-san. Look... I have a game we can play."

Was he enraged by her outburst? Had he had enough, and decided to slay these Oni here and now? No. He looked on with childlike wonder, albeit diluted by the sickness of corrupt blood, as his aura manifested properly at last. His energy was akin to a thick smog that threatened to infect the lungs of all who filled the forest, and its density only increased closer to his body. His very cells were used to produce webs─ webs which cut the blades of demon slayers across the land, and now formed a lattice in the area immediately surrounding Ibaraki. The threads were all inches away from her body, and all only inches apart from one another as well. They were mighty, yet malleable enough to continuously sway to the breath of the Oni so close to them. "Look. We can play this game, where we figure out how many loving sisters you can be by the end. That's better, right? Instead of two new sisters... I can have so many to comfort me."

[Apollymi]

This 'boy' had some strange ideas about his... family. He claimed that they acted like any normal nuclear family would, but both Shuten and Ibaraki knew that families were much more complicated than this. Sure older siblings might protect you, but they'd likely also piss you off or fight with you. Parents were far from perfect beings who existed in such limited spheres and no one who was a legitimate family member of anyone would allow their younger sibling to run amok the way this lad was. "You forced them into these forms, you took over a land they used to exist in freely." she stated. "And no, I don't protect people who are obviously wrong. Not even my actual idiot brother..." she said frowning intently and this was absolute fact. She'd done nothing to save her brother nor was she really concerned upon hearing he died. Even someone who was willing to die for their siblings wouldn't be blind to their shortcomings and this she knew as fact. Surely someone among his siblings were they a true family would have stopped this rampage of his. Ibaraki's large arm shrank back down in size as she opened and closed her fist planting her sword in the ground before her and exhaling a long sigh. There was really no talking to this deranged kid. Everything about him gave her the creeps and it only got worse when the true nature of his aura appeared. Ibaraki couldn't quite name it, but something about it seemed directly opposed to her existence. She could sense the threads all around her and knew that one false move could mean the loss of a limb or worse. But there was something even more sinister than this kids words afoot.

Ibaraki may not have been able to place the feeling of what was wrong with this lad's aura but Shuten could, her own resistances were high enough that she wasn't worried but what about Ibaraki? Her combined memories across her Avatars finally allowed her to classify this feeling. 'There's no way there is one of those here right? It's really problematic if he's that kind of creature. But my senses don't lie. Ibaraki might have a harder time with this than I imagined. What to do?' she gave it some more moments of thought. She could probably step in at any point and put forth enough effort to make this child disappear, but if Ibaraki didn't overcome this challenge in her own way she'd likely no feel like she properly won her place as the leader of the Oni. As such something much more delicate than simply taking over this fight had to be done. "This isn't a game, you're killing people for sport and trying to justify it!" this was a sentence spoken by Ibaraki as her arm raised before her once more. The flames of her blood reached their highest potential they were sinking her in to the ground a little with their weight, all the while she thought these wires would likely cut her, she didn't care as she raised her sword in one hand she'd aim to repeated slash at the strings while running forward. This sword had a strange property of being enforced by Oni bones, as such they would hold some resistance while she aimed a large flaming fist towards the face of this lad, should she be able to clear the threads in time, her fist would aim to make contact with his left cheek aiming to hit him hard enough that she could knock his head from his shoulders. Though her movements were a bit sluggish and her breathing more labored the closer she got to this lad, there was something going on here that she didn't quite understand.

[Bloodedge]

"They want to be like this. Family should be like family." Plain, simple, and evermore disturbing were the words of this monstrous child. He didn't force anyone to join his family. Every member of this big, happy group, wanted to be with him... even if they didn't realize how much being in a loving family meant until they were part of one. It was fine; he'd teach this pair as well. "You'll see soon... both of you."

Soon enough, Ibaraki committed to an approach. Did she not care about the danger? She must have really been excited to join him, to meet him with a tight embrace. Ah, but the desire alone wouldn't be enough. She'd have to really want it, to truly feel the strength of their familial bond. That strength, that bond, showed itself in the threads she pushed through. None were burned away, none were cut─ all were enforced with a power few things in this world could even fathom. That power... was what came from a loving family, in the lad's mind. Ibaraki may have pushed forward, but all that repeated slashing against webs that would not break would do her no favors in the end. By the time she aimed to reach him, perhaps she would come to realize that she fell a bit short. All the webs that were between them were still functioning spiderwebs, after all. Her sword would surely be covered in them, and the same could be said of her body from the trip over. Most importantly, the webs remained tethered to their start and end points, and thus threatened to halt the Oni's movements just before she reached her target with that crimson fist.

"You have to play the game, Onee-san. It's no fun if you let me win," he said while those corrupted eyes trailed over her body, viewing each thread which stuck to her during that pathetic attempt at a lunge. He could alter the consistency of his web with a simple thought. Looking at these... if he wanted to, it would be no issue to make them function as blades to shred this girl where she stood. Was she even worth becoming his sister? Adding to the family was one thing, but he had been expecting a new favorite after the last one disappointed him so. "Do you... not like my game? If you just say so, we could come up with something better. I just... really wish you would like this one. I tried really hard, you know?"

[Apollymi]

This lad truly didn't realize how disturbing his words were. Besides the fact that it was highly unlikely every creature he contaminated wanted to be part of his family, the idea that they wanted to be like him was also frightening. Didn't he realize how corrupting and corrosive his power had to be to turn people against their onw best interests to serve his delusional thoughts? The webs weren't brought down by her sword, but that didn't matter. Ibaraki had the strength to move forward and that was the most important thing. Though her body and blade were caught up she very nearly reached him, even while ignoring the frightening and disturbing words he said. Only... she fell short. Her crimson fist extended didn't quite reach the lad, she was indeed held back by these threads which were enforced by a power she didn't quite recognize and had no immunity against. "I keep saying this isn't a game. I don't want to come up with a better one. I want to end you before you further corrupt the world with your disgusting ideas about family! If I die in the process so be it!!" the lass said. She'd started this whole endeavor as a means to an end, to prove she was the type of Oni who could lead their faction. But here and now she was standing in front of something truly disturbing childish innocence corrupted. A misunderstanding of family proliferated as if it was gospel. This wasn't just bad for Oni, nor the Kitsune and creatures of Mt. Kurama. This was literally bad for the whole of Ryozanpaku and the whole of the world. She couldn't be stopped by this, she wouldn't be. She resented the idea that he thought he could hold her here. No one could! She'd have to use that....

Her current ultimate technique wasn't something she whipped out on every occasion. She'd been training to get stronger so it wouldn't be her only resort. But here and now she had to put all on the line. "Great Grudge of Rashoumon!" that heat in her body which never died. That strength of her spirit manifested in the moment. That fist barely stopped short grew larger and larger still, covered in flames she aimed to finish the maneuver she started. If she couldn't rush him physically, she'd use her magic and physical attributes together to ravage this lad aiming knock something resembling common sense into him. Seeing what was taking place here, Shuten understood. There was a certain quality missing from this lass that made it so she wouldn't have the strength to face this child. It wasn't her fault of course, she fully had the heart, but there are some qualities in this world that could only be obtained through others. And Shuten had a pretty good idea of how to do it. Save face for this lass and guarantee she would be the leader the Oni needed. and besides all of that, the girl's personality and will to fight, even when placed against impossible odds was something to be respected. Not just by Yumi, the girl behind the Avatar but by Shuten-Doji's original self, intertwined deep within her being. He saw in her a spark. The spark of someone willing to give up themselves, if it meant protecting those left behind. Something not forced but freely given from time and deliberation and force of will. The real meaning of seeing the world as 'family'. And it was something he would always respect. As such for the first time since they arrived Shuten's power swelled, and the aroma of fruit assaulted the noses of all present including Ibaraki who turned to the purple haired lass, wondering if she'd failed. She wasn't ready to give up.

[Bloodedge]

Their current game was of no interest to Ibaraki, and she didn't want to play a different one either. What was he to do? They were children in the same family; wasn't their purpose to play when their parents weren't present? Confusion spread across the face of Rui while the Oni's magic welled up in her monstrous fist. His head tilted, and his eyes widened. What did these words mean? What more could adoring siblings do, if not play the most fun games together? Flames from Ibaraki's fist struck his face and engulfed his head, and that expression remained.

And then...

Rui smiled. It was no ordinary smile, but one far larger than his face should have allowed, forming an expression more twisted than what even his earlier words could portray. He leaned forward, letting his head erupt from the fires just over the Oni's outstretched hand. Thick, pulsing veins had appeared across the entirety of his barely-charred visage, and his eyes leaked tears of darkened blood. "I understand now, Onee-san! You want to make sure I can look after myself if you're not able to protect me! It's alright, really. I'll show you... I can protect all of you if you're too weak to function. Ko-ku-shi-ro~!" The point of connection to his threads became clear, as Rui's blood was focused through his hands and sent along every web presently wrapped around Ibaraki. Those red strings around her became visible to the naked eye without effort, and with that, they gained greater power... and incredible cutting potential. He tugged back, causing every web to initially loosen around Ibaraki. Only a moment afterwards, however, those same webs formed a large net aiming to tear Ibaraki asunder as it draped over her.

[Apollymi]

Contact was finally made, and Ibaraki would have felt accomplished if this lad's expression had changed to show pain or something the like. She still couldn't quite shake the threads but she leaned away from them a bit giving her a tiny bit more clearance. "This is so weird. I'm not done by the way... I don't think I've failed yet..." she said to Shuten. The purple haired lass only giggled as she used her power over bones to call the lass' weapon towards herself. Once it was in Shuten's hands she produced a single coin like bone and a bottle of her own sake produced from her very being. As she held these items together they began to resonate, combining in the form of bones and flames of a very different variety. "This kid is a Demon. Not Oni Kind or spider Youkai, something that can only be cleansed by a higher power. You simply don't have it. It isn't your fault. But I believe you can hold it..." said Shuten but before she could finish talking the spider child's expression changed completely. The grin on his face was outright sickening and though his face was charred and burning he grinned way too wide for his face. Ibaraki quickly went from disappointed at knowing she couldn't compete to frightened.

A single step backward was taken by Ibaraki as this lad's words hit her ears with clauses which caused her great alarm. He was going to get worse, she couldn't beat him as she was. And now, Shuten had her sword. What was she actually going to do against all these threads she could now see. The heat of her soul wasn't enough to stop it. And this power was now acutely overwhelming. "Fufufu~~~ As I was saying have this back. You're about the only one I've seen worthy of the name Doji. Now, prove it!" She flung the sword back towards the girl and it sailed through the spider webs with Shuten's power behind it. Surprisingly, Ibaraki had faith and decided to grip it out of the air. Upon catching it while these thread aimed to close in on her she felt it. A power so much greater than her own coursed through her. It aimed to burn even her from the inside out. If one happened to look on the layout of the Nexus, her name now read as Ibaraki-doji, a name passed on from Shuten to her in so casual a manner by enhancing her sword with bones of her brother and Shuten's own soul essence. What would this do for the lass. Well two things, it would give her fires the quality necessary to combat Demon Kin and it would elevate her status to a lower level Divinity. All the while Shuten didn't save this lass, she simply presented her the means to save herself. Whatever she chose to do with it now, was up to her. She also didn't interfere directly in this fight... so no harm done. Shuten's words had a strange effect on Ibaraki, encouraging the lass in a way no others ever had. The fires this girl felt would burn her up, exploded from within her person, radiating around her, even as these blood covered wires threatened to rend her limb from limb. But unlike before they should have begun to sizzle, and scorch with literal flames falling from the Oni's mouth as she exhaled. Looking even more crazed than this child did but for entirely different reasons.

[Bloodedge]

Soon, very soon, Rui's family would be more complete. He could have yet another chance to acquire siblings that met his expectations... siblings that satisfied him when others failed so miserably. They already seemed to be helping one another out so marvelously, he felt there would be great benefit to them joining the family and turning their attention his way. But lo, what was this? When the purple-haired sister returned the blade of Ibaraki, there was a very different quality to it... and to her. He could see it clearly; they shared a name. This must have been what he was missing all along. How could he have been so foolish? His family was so extensive now, but it could hardly be called a family at all, when they didn't share a name the way these two did.

... But on the other hand, they were clearly providing the ability for him to become one with them through this name: Doji.

This name also came with a power, one potent enough to compete against his webs and allow Ibaraki some freedom. Her flames now loosened the wires and set them ablaze, forcing the lad to a certain level of concentration for the sake of keeping them stable. Two grins boasting something resembling insanity were pitted against one another. This was a true familial bond in the making, right? It had to be! "Onee-san! Aishiteru!" Rui spoke, seeming elated by this new development. Blood poured through his wires until it dripped from them, restoring their integrity with demonic power the likes of which this world had not yet seen. All the webs that had been in use thus far gathered around the boy, gradually accumulating between his hands as they swirled around wildly. At this point, he was almost working with just blood. "Kokushi Rinten! Onee-san! You want to play now, right?!"

[Apollymi]

Whatever this lad thought he was going to get out of these two young women, it definitely wasn't going to happen. Both of them already had older brothers of their own, and despite their potential problems with them, both understood truly what family bonds meant. It wasn't about overshadowing or overtaking. Nor was it about forcing someone to see your perspective or be like you. Family was about acceptance with no strings attached and this lad quite literally had no idea what that meant. Ibaraki for her part in this, reveled in her current level of freedom, while staring down at the now impossible more ornate blade wondering just what happened. "I gave you the spark of Mt. Ooe," Shuten clarified, though this knowledge didn't exactly belong to the girl who was currently speaking. "Not everyone can hold it, nor is everyone worthy of it... but you're something like me," she explained clearly. "Don't take that to heart though, do what you need to, make it yours." she finished up. Some people took the whole, big brother big sister thing in the wrong ways. A lot of people didn't understand that family didn't require likeness or forced molding but was instead about expansion and elevation. Ibaraki was given a spark so she could grow not so the flames could engulf her and turn her into the next Shuten. Whatever the lass chose to do with this new power, was on her. But, Shuten had faith that they could be made proud.

While a legitimately touching moment would have played out in front of him, this Demonic child was busy being overly excited by Ibaraki's new developments. It seemed he wished to face her more now, so much so that even more blood seemed to permeate his aura. It swirled around him along with his threads in a manner most dangerous. "I've said before. I am not here to play... and you're done now too," said the blonde haired lass. Her horns danced with shadows caused by the flames flickering from her mouth. Even so, she was meant to take the words Shuten said, and the faith placed within her and conquer this lad. He was something she would have found insurmountable if not for the purple haired lass. Some people really were necessary to keep things moving. If she truly was some relic from the past, then perhaps this was a lesson in acknowledging the past to shape the fragile future. She couldn't perform the subtle and precise removal of bones that one like Shuten-Doji was known for, that didn't suit her tastes. She had to make it more like her, brash, brutish and straight to the point. Whatever the case, she could at least pay homage to that past. Respect it, in her own way, though she wasn't really the same sort of Oni as Shuten-doji. Neither the girl standing before her, nor the great man she'd heard stories about. As she watched this lad pool his strings between his hands, her own fires became concentrated. They moved along the blade from her hand becoming engulfed in the most concentrated form of the heat she'd yet produced. There was so much power in this blade now, she barely understood how she lifted it. It was almost like it carried the full weight of expectations along with the abilities it now had. Still, she could meet this. She tensed her muscles and drew back, this time withholding no power. She aimed numerous consecutive slashes at this young boy. Each aiming to maim him. Starting with his hands, then his shoulders, then his knees and ankles, his torso and finally his head. Each strike was made of the most terrible sort of flame, one which would burn well past its point of contact. If she succeeded each time she slashed the boy's body would burn to cinders leaving only charred bones in their wake. Only after such a thing was done, only if it succeeded would its name be spoken.

[Bloodedge]

What would come from this Oni, now that she wielded a new power? Rui wondered if she was now truly ready for playtime, and he would soon be finding out. Ah, what a wonderful way to have her join the family! Alas, she was keen on rejecting his offer again and again. She'd learn; they all had to. Perhaps one day, he would discover a new sibling who offered themselves freely... but not today. Ibaraki's flames were channeled through the blade of her sword, and that burning aura appeared to be something respectable for once. In fact, it was easily notable that the flame-coated blade could properly deal a fatal blow if it struck true. If she intended to attack him with that, something would have to be done. He had so many plans to further their game, and such intent to experience these two Oni as his sisters, this playtime couldn't end on a sour note.

There was still the matter of his... adjustment to the webs he'd been spinning. That small wheel was nearly done with its formation as blood spewed from it in all directions, though Ibaraki was encroaching upon the lad with her sword at the ready. Perhaps a few glares could be seen here and there during this approach, or perhaps not. What would those glares have been, though? Well, Rui did have webs to spare. During the creation of the technique he'd chosen, he let loose a few additional webs without blood or excess energy making them easily visible. Feinting an attempted assault using the web ring in his hands, he kept a keen eye on the movements made by Ibaraki's blade, and moved these additional webs out ahead of its path. He couldn't allow himself to be severed by an anti-demon blade of any sort, but if he dismembered himself, coming together again was a walk in the park. And so, that was precisely what the boy did. His arms and legs separated into various segments, and even his head flew from his body to allow the passage of Ibaraki's blade. Immediately afterwards, however, blood webs connected the segments while leaving them at a distance from one another. "You aren't playing nice. You should be nice to family, because... Okaa-san said. Kokushi Rinten." Once his hands were separated, there was hardly a thing keeping his ring in place. That condensed spiral of cutting webs burst outward, hellbent on filleting any and everything in a ten meter radius from its center with blood-infused wires that reeked of malice. Beyond having an otherworldly ability to cut, however, there was another attribute to them. The blood accumulated on each thread was, of course, Rui's own blood, which aimed to infect its victims with his... 'familial genes' as it were.

[Apollymi]

Ibaraki was watching this lad, she definitely would have felt if her blade had made contact during his manuever. And though she didn't actually witness this lad sever his own body parts, she knew she wasn't the direct cause of it. All the while she had to prepare, stay vigilant. This creature wasn't going down without a fight, and that was... exhilarating. She'd never fought a battle so tough, nor been so unsure of her victory. Yes, she'd been talking as if she intended to win, but that was simply her way. Their way. The way of the Oni. She didn't see defeat as an option, but yet it so clearly was that her breath came out in panting motion. Heat spewed from her person as she thought of a way to properly deal with this child before her who seemed so intent on making her become part of his twisted family. "I don't care about your mother, or you. We are not the same, and I told you before, I'm not playing... one of us is dying here today... and it won't be me!" she shouted triumphantly! How many had he killed in such way? How many would he have continued to haunt? How many were connected directly to him? It was her aim to find out and eliminate them all!

As this battle seemed to approach its climax with deafening tone, Shuten watched her eyes never wavering from the scene before her. She taken in all there was to see here, and she knew exactly what this lad had going on. She'd even come up with a couple of different methods in the last few moments of making sure he stayed dead after seeing the trick he pulled with his body. Even so, she wasn't a Genokiller by nature, thinking up all of this took a great deal of her extra brainpower. 'Ugh, Nee-san, if you are gonna set us up, the least you could do is be here to help me figure out how to make sure this victory is hers and hers alone!' she frowned deeply. Her whole point in coming here was to see if this lass was a worthy successor and she thought that this was the case, still it wouldn't do for her to end up killed or infected by that gross spider DNA for whatever reason. "Oi oi, don't let the shape confine you... do what you do best, or risk this shit taking you over..." she said to Ibaraki, while her own weapon appeared within her grasp. Holding it and filling it with her own divinity and poison which Oni were immune to, she'd aim to keep such infections from properly spreading both to herself and Ibaraki. Surely a little support when her own life was endanger wouldn't count against the blonde lass?

But then came the question? How would the blonde lass take this new information? With a smile, of course. She was cut into ribbons as this descended upon her, but the heat of her flames remained true. Did she become infected? No... and because of this the burning intensity of her flames increased tenfold, without shape from each piece of her severed body as something queer occurred. Her body began to restore though it was admittedly painful, with the exception of the hand which had held her weapon. That flaming fist holding a weapon of imminent power, flew around the battlefield. Increased in size by a massive amount and no longer connected, it could freely pursue every piece of the lad, irrespective of his strings and her own body placement. She used her newfound Anti-Demon weapon and her extra flames, along with her ability to 'Restore' and reset the battle for herself to try and accomplish something more decisive. That giant Oni transformed fist, aimed to send flames straight up and through the lad's own disconnected hands down his strings to every aspect of his body as they made contact. Not just these pieces either, there could potentially be very far reaching consequences, much like the flaming spear she'd thrown back to Tomoe, these flames aimed to spread to every offshoot which belonged to this lad, likely his entire 'family' would be engulfed in these divinely reinforced flames to be burnt to cinders and left as bone piles upon his own death.

[Bloodedge]

She didn't care. Not about him, not about 'their' mother, and not about the games they could have played. One of them would die, she said, and she clearly had no intention of being the one to fall. Madness. If she was so keen on leaving him without his new sibling, she would have to be the only one to die. Rui would not go without completing his family, even if he had to kill her to make her see the light. It wouldn't be the first time, and it likely wouldn't be the last. Acceptance would find him at last, or he would force others to understand until it worked.

Oh, how wonderfully she could fit into the family. A simple showing of his proper offense left her dismembered numerous times over, but she managed to piece herself back together without much fuss at all. Moreover, she wasn't at all affected by his blood like the others had been. She was very much herself... and so was the other one. That wasn't right; the venom of this spider was one which converted many who did so little as breathe it in. Direct contact should have been more than enough for anyone else, yet here the Oni was, staging another onslaught against him. Where was it coming from? Her hand was moving about of its own accord while Rui watched her other parts reconnect, and in that hand was her sword. Soon enough, the lad felt something... quite strange. There was a heat that he felt beyond the physical sense, as if his soul were alight while he beheld the resolve of Ibaraki. None had ever been so capable of resisting the change for so long, and he had every hope that the time itself would have made one lean toward his ideals. Why, then, did she seem more intent on resisting than ever? Was joining his family really such an undesirable thing? How... sad.

Mulling over rejection was hardly a thing Rui was allowed to do. That warn feeling inside him was, in fact, the Divinity-infused flames of Ibaraki spreading from his detached hand through his core. The spider lad was burning from within, in the most literal sense possible. In spite of this, he showed no signs of pain─ only a hint of longing and dejection by fault of the blonde Oni before him. "Onee-san... All I want is to play," he said as that pale, veiny flesh of his appeared to be smoldering as seconds passed.

[Apollymi]

There was a burning sense of justice in this young Oni. Though she wasn't without the vision to see this lad being quite strange in response to the damage he had to be taking, there was little she could do. Until of course, she heard his small voice being a bit dejected. "Ah, sou ka..." she said thinking about it generally. She thought this child was just as psychopath but as he burned from her power here and now she understood that it wasn't merely that he was crazed and terrible, it was that he was a child with a simple desire which had gone too far out of control. "Baka! You really should pay more attention this isn't playing... it's hurting people. Playing should be fun for everyone and a mutual experience. It's something to be shared not forced!" she said as she came a bit closer to the lad. "You earn respect and friendship! You don't convert them to be more like you, you accept them and try to make sure they don't walk the wrong path!" she exclaimed in her typical excited fashion. Her blood still burned, she wouldn't take back what she was doing here, but he needed such a burning, there was something dangerous within him, something which was opposed to her new form of being and she intended to rid him of it. He was a child led astray by his own desires and whatever was part of him that wasn't originally, he needed to learn what way was the right way to go about life, and technically speaking, if Ibaraki wanted to be a leader she couldn't call herself one if she left such a kid behind.

All the while Shuten watched and understood how this was similar to another fight she'd witnessed. 'Sou ka, he really is similar to that other one,' she said thinking of the older fights she'd been part of. Now this was this child a puppet like the man in Eonis or was he a full demon like that other one when they were in the Valley of Plenty? These were the questions which needed answering, and ones which she'd likely leave to her brother to properly answer.

[Bloodedge]

He wasn't playing with others, but rather, hurting them? That had to be nonsense, right? All the others had such an amazing time as life left their eyes, only to be replaced with the light of his familial bond. All those faces which were now fading away, seemed so be suffering due only to the fact that they were no longer able to be with him. Yes, that surely had to be it... but those faces were so similar to the ones he remembered, from when they lost their original selves. Perhaps there was some accuracy to the Oni's speech. Oh well; it didn't matter at present regardless. "This isn't the time... to lecture me," he said in a voice that faded as quickly as segments of his body. He was dying, and there was no point trying to convert him now. Only moments of life remained in the boy, and for the duration of those few moments, even h is flesh floated away and disintegrated the same way his innards had been doing for a minute or so prior. The final piece that would remain of him for some time, would be his left eye─ the very same eye bearing a special marking in characters from another world. . .

Meanwhile, the center of Ryozanpaku was being encroached upon from multiple angles at once. Three total groups made their approach, some earlier than others, but... they would not be the only ones here. A large, withered tree filled an otherwise open space in these lands, and in it sat a peculiar Youkai with a very human appearance. Well, at least he seemed human outside of ridiculous hair, black aside from a dirty blonde top, all of which protruded off the back of his head. Who was this you man of a Youkai? He seemed to be awaiting a few arrivals, as he had been for quite some time.

[Apollymi]

The death of this Spider Youkai lad seemed to be quite set in stone. Even so, Ibaraki scoffed at the idea that she was in some way wrong for her lecture. "Baka! That's a lesson you should carry with you, into the next life!" she exclaimed. Whether she meant this in the traditional sense or knew something more wasn't really up for debate. She watched as all but that lad's singular eye disappeared into dust on the wind, and then that eye followed. "Eeh, I didn't understand that weird writing, what a strange kid. I hope he does better next time..." she said. Finally after his body disappeared her hand returned to her body and reattached though with an even stranger pattern than it had before. No matter, they'd done what they'd needed to. Shuten for her part in this tilted her head back and sighed. "Yare yare, I didn't drink enough for this. Come on Raki-chan, time to meet Nii-san and Nee-san and let them know the jobs all done," she said happily. "You did good!" exclaimed the purple haired lass as she walked up and gently sat her hand atop the other lass' head. It was a gesture which didn't quite fit her current frame but was definitely one which would have been completed by the original of her Origin had he been capable. Of course, this caused Ibaraki's face to turn an intense shade of red, and she simply followed along after backing away quickly. "Ha...HAI!" she managed after a second or two. This reaction caused a chuckle from Shuten, "Fufufu, I guess that brother of yours wasn't too big on praise. Maybe I'd let you borrow mine if I didn't have plans for him already!~" she joked as they began moving towards that same tree.

At the tree, there was already a single lad present. But who of the existing group would make it there first? A certain Tengu approached from the west, and a certain duo of Celestial and Kitsune approached from the east, though they were taking the 'scenic route'. Though the Kitsune's eyes did indeed catch sight of the top of that withered tree in the distance. From the north a Yuki-onna carrying a slime was also making their way. The first speech to be heard would be that of the Tengu. "Sou ka, there is an unknown factor present..." she mumbled. She wondered if the others knew of this one. His hair was quite strange. She wondered if he was the one missing from the board before? She supposed they'd have to wait for the appearance of the Kitsune to let them know. "Do you have information on this one?" she asked assuming a certain snake related lad was nearby.

[Bloodedge]

Many bodies approached, and a single question was asked of one who could not yet be counted among this group's roster. The masked lad with a snake wrapped around his person had his attention brought to the strange male in that tree, and did indeed recognize him. Alas. there was one thing he dreaded to admit. In all of Ryozanpaku, none had acquired more information than him about anyone/anything... except perhaps the Orochi. This singular male, however, was an exception to the information he had. "No. He just sits there, like he's waiting for something," the lad spoke. In fact, many Youkai knew of this one's existence and location; there were simply none who saw fit to approach him, or this tree.

The Slime being carried along had also seen the one in the tree, but was overall less concerned with the whos, whats, whys and hows of it all. He was squished under a pair of twin mountains with a softness to rival that of his own body; there were no concerns at all to be had by the odd Slime. Of course, this didn't stop the 'Great' Rimuru from a bit of commentary along the way. "There they are! I see my loyal followers coming from each direction!"

[Apollymi]

"Oh? That is strange..." finding out that the lad in the middle of this place simply sat in place was an interesting new fact. It was simply crazy to her that this boy in the tree had been sitting there without much movement. What was he waiting for? What were his motives? The questions created by this lad's existence would likely be questioned by the leaders of their group. Beyond that, given how those two people were choosing to deal with the problems presented, they would likely help that lad as well, as long as his motivations properly aligned with theirs.

In the meantime, a certain large chested lass was carrying a slime squished underneath her massive bosom. He still seemed to be saying quite a lot about his group, but he had already admitted to having no idea what the plan was. It was obvious by a long shot that he wasn't in charge, but he at least recognized the faces approaching the same tree they were. "Hm, you're still talking pretty big for a guy who has no idea what is going on..." she mentioned. Still there was the real problem of this tree so imagine her face when she noted that same boy still atop it, where he had been since her arrival to this place. "Eh?! That guy is still here but there is still a problem!?" she managed to be confused. She thought that the boy in the tree understood whatever was wrong there, yet another reason she'd never really bothered. This area was far too massive to take control over, there was only a small area she could even be bothered with.

There was a pink haired fox approaching rather casually close to a certain white haired male. "Hm, seems like we aren't even late... so much for the scenic route~" she teased gently. They'd been walking in this moment hand in hand while she leaned her head against this man's right shoulder. Strangely she'd perk up the closer and closer she got to the tree, standing straighter and taking in the sight of the young lad in the tree. "He's the one... the one who is aligned to that extra piece from the gameboard," she said those golden eyes of hers shining. "I wonder if he's been here the whole time?" she questioned. This was quite an interesting newfound bit of information. And only once she'd straightened up, would the pair be properly witnessed by Shuten and Ibaraki.

[Bloodedge]

"It is. I consider it the strangest thing in Ryozanpaku, even with Orochi around," spoke the snake-themed male accompanying Kuroka. He had never encountered this person directly, but he had been watching for quite some time. This individual arrived, reached this very tree, and had not moved once since that day. The reason behind this was as much a mystery as where this strange male came from, but now that they were getting closer... he could tell what sort of person they would soon be dealing with.

Rimuru had no idea the overarching plan, true. He did, however, have an idea where he stood in the hierarchy of this group... at least in his mind. If he wanted to, he could devour the group as a whole at any given moment. If he did something like that, their collective powers and abilities would be his to command. He wouldn't bother with something like that, though; that would require too much work being done by himself! Now then, what was this speech of his new minion he acquired? "What do you mean still here? There's been a guy who could fix these problems around the whole time?!"

The 'scenic route' seemed like it could have been made a bit more scenic, considering how quickly everyone else happened to be arriving at the tree. Kou sighed during his approach alongside Tamamo, thinking he could have relaxed for a few more minutes. Alas, they were here now, and there was also another face at the center of their would-be meeting. That extra figure on Tamamo's earlier display was this random Youkai; Kou had figured as much. What purpose would they serve, though? If they were waiting this long, then what they were waiting for had to be. . .

"Smells like the start of another questline. Mendokuse."

[Apollymi]

"Hm..." the fact that the snake child thought the man in the tree was truly odd, was something that Kuroka hadn't anticipated. In fact, it was well and truly something which made the child in the tree that much more of an oddity. If a person who knew everything about anyone in an area didn't know something, then there was something truly extraordinary taking place around that person.

The excited utterance of the slime beneath her bosom made the Yuki-onna blush. She couldn't help but squish him a little more to try and quiet him. "Shush, I don't know about all that. But I know he's been in that tree since I arrived. I figured knowing that the tree was the main problem that he was taking care of it," she muttered. Perhaps she'd put a little too much faith in other people as players doing the right things, that being said, it was still very unreasonable that she'd been in this place as long as she had, and it was still in this sort of condition. But by the time she'd realized something was properly amiss, she was locked into the storyline she was already working on, with no way of shifting or changing it.

As Kou and Tamamo made their approach, her words seemed to give the lad a bit of thought. He claimed that this lad being here seemed like the start of a questline and Tamamo could do nothing but agree. "Ara ara, you don't seem like you're too happy about the potential extra quest, Mikon~" she teased lightly. If she as being honest, she'd admit that though she'd accounted for something like this happening, she still didn't like how many intertwined moments this sort of thing created. The only real positives were potentials for them to steal more moments together. "Though I agree, this could get bothersome. Shall we find out what everyone has come up with so far?" she asked of him seeming to be in a reasonable mood even with the assumed task which was coming to them. "Oi oi! Nee-san!" Tamamo heard and her brows rose at the approach of Ibaraki and Shuten. "When you said Spider problem you didn't mention, Youkai Child Demon thingy, minus TEN points!" she said pointing an accusatory finger at the pink haired Kitsune. "I lost points? How many did I have to start with? Is this one of those moments were I protest, because the job obviously got done in a relatively short amount of time, with nothing but growth and progress to show for it?" Tamamo questioned unsure of what to make of the accusation. She'd been informed of a Spider Youkai not anything related to Demons, but given how advanced into the plot this stage was, she wasn't really surprised. Though she admittedly was expecting something different for this portion of the story.

[Bloodedge]

"You're a Player, and you were gonna trust somebody else to get the job done by themselves? Well, that makes sense when I remember how you thought just dealing with one problem would be enough to fix everything." The Slime's senses were open, as always, and perceiving all that happened in each part of their overall group while they moved toward each other. The only entity that didn't suffer a single shift at all, was the Youkai in the tree. Strange as this was, he figured the importance of this fact would soon make itself known.

Kou, on the other hand, was mulling over the fact that they would be dragged into another quest very soon. Tamamo agreed, but also thought to tease regarding how he felt about the matter. "I don't exactly mind it, but I hope this doesn't become one of those tropes. If every quest we end up having thrown at us is 'do this, then this, then go back this way and do this,' then this world is going to end up being more WoW than the AoE I like. That could happen just as a byproduct of chance," he explained. "I'm thinking everyone's done with their ends, except... Kuroka. That guy with her must be the one behind that Artifact, which means... he needs us to do something for him."

And lo, Shuten joined the fray. She naturally wouldn't do so without presenting a complaint or two, which Kou wanted to shrug off, though the end result was... as normal with this pair of siblings. "Urusai, boke! You can't just go drafting people into the points system! What about our thing? Fifty point loss, and another twenty for complaining about a job that wasn't even yours!"

[Apollymi]

"What, I figured it'd be like a group project. Everyone do their own parts and then it comes together at the end..." she said, obviously though she was a girl of school age, she wasn't used to being the sort of person who actually organized things like group work. If she'd ever done it, she would have known that some level of coordination was necessary to make sure everyone was on the same page. Ah, but that was something she'd learn over the next few moments.

In their conversation, Kou and Tamamo were discussing the nature of these additive quests and he expressed his misgivings about the potential situation. She understood this well, her own happiness in the AoE game was that she didn't have to take every single quest that came her way and the world would evolve and keep moving around her in that case. The only problem she saw in this particular point now, was wherever there were players their bad decisions had huge effects and it was like turning a PvE game into full co-op without everyone being ready or capable of communicating. And obviously not everyone was ready, willing and able to make the best decisions for the world at large, but that was an entirely different issue. "Hai hai, there is no doubt he'll require something more. I also understand fully, I have noticed though that things only seem to go so wrong around other players and their bad decisions. Maybe eventually we'll find the ones who got it right and we'll get to just relax when we arrive..." she said. Perhaps this was wishful thinking, perhaps this future was a bit closer than she realized. Whatever the case, the return of Shuten had brought a strange bit of comic relief back to their outing which wasn't at all a negative in the Kitsune's case. She had a gentle chuckle behind her overly large sleeved hand while these two bickered about the nature of this points system. From what Tamamo was able to gather, this was some sibling based system in which points were awarded and taken away at random. That made sense. "So, like House Points at Hogwarts... do you win a prize?" she couldn't help but wonder aloud.

In the meantime, Shuten managed an overly dramatic sigh at her brother's reaction. Didn't he see this lass could easily fit in with their nerd things? Was he trying to keep himself from properly bonding? Was he trying to make her pull out all the baby sister stops to get this lass on her side. He was underestimating her. Aiba Yumi was excellent at getting people to like her, besides that she had years of being the youngest child and little sister on her side. She'd use these wiles in this world of magic, to guarantee her future sister, even if her brother wouldn't. Her eyes burned with momentary fury. This moment was so familiar to her, and then just as suddenly that fury was replaced by devious light, she was silent to her loss of points and her brother's rhetoric. "Nee-san!!! You don't mind being drafted right? Even if Nii-san doesn't want to share this with you I do!" she said, giving the lass the biggest puppy dog eyes in that startling purple color while giving her the most unexpected hug of her life. She'd just lost 70 points but she was about to win a war. Battle tactics! Tamamo's heart thumped in her chest as she took in this sight, it was already well known that she had trouble resisting cute things, besides that being included was a huge point for her, she couldn't really turn down this girl if she wanted to, she felt moved beyond words. "Of course not, include me wherever you wish!~" she chimed hugging the other lass back, while Shuten looked at her brother and stuck her tongue out at him that same devious light in her eyes.

A gentle cough would come from none other than Kuroka who made her way to this group without much fuss. She'd been standing here long enough to know the sort of sibling manipulation taking place before her. "There is more, unfortunately, but it seems things went well on your ends."

[Bloodedge]

"It's something like a group project, yeah," Rimuru agreed, albeit with a disagreement to accompany it. "A project is only gonna be as good as the people involved, though. If a team is good enough, there's not really a need for too much planning. Everybody gets their role, and everybody accepts that everyone else is capable of doing theirs. That's the setup we have going here, I think." The more he spoke, the more Rimuru realized he couldn't actually be 100% positive. He put his faith in these newcomers without giving much consideration at all, as if he knew they were trustworthy without much proof at all. Well... it would probably work out in the end; it had been working thus far.

Tamamo was right; things were only ever so bad. If he gave it proper consideration, this way was probably best. They would be bored out of their minds if every other player to enter this world had made the best choices at every turn, considering how quickly so many people would have created a virtual utopia. As such, it would always be worthwhile to accept these quests... even as annoying as they were when piled up in such a way. Speaking of annoyances, it seemed even the Avatar Shuten-Doji maintained the abuse of power employed by one Aiba Yumi. Kou's brow twitched alongside his lip as he observed this display of manipulation. Surely Tamamo wouldn't fall for that, right? Wrong. She was hooked like a fish, just as all the others had been in their original world. "Kisama. Listen here, you little─"

Ah, an interruption! This one came, oddly, in the form of Kuroka. The unfortunate addition of 'more' in whatever context, was just about what Kou had been expecting. He looked in the direction of Kuroka's current companion, who thought to introduce the issue at hand. He would have done just that, if Kou hadn't opened his mouth before there was even a chance. "You work directly under the last faction's leader, and they're responsible for the disparity between the four corners of Ryozanpaku. Either you can't take them down, or they can't be taken down at all, so you want us to step up with the only thing that works," Kou said, much to the serpent's surprise. He couldn't even say a thing; all he managed was to stand there, dumbfounded while setting his sights on Kuroka. Surely she could explain why their group already knew what was going on here. Did they have elite information gatherers as well?

[Apollymi]

"You think? But you're not sure either... hm," these were the words of Mizore shared. She found it strange that this lad was also so trusting, obviously simply trusting wasn't enough. It was quite strange to consider that the whole team needed to be the same level of good for it to work out. Perhaps this was why this area overall wasn't taken care of. Did others not know what to do? Were there players missing from the area, was there an action which needed to take place? She didn't know, but perhaps she'd find out in place of her leader.

Did Tamamo or rather Kimiko know she was being manipulated? Absolutely! But that didn't make much of a difference to her. She knew to stay out of sibling situations, but still she couldn't quite help herself in this case. Ah, but the sibling fight was coming, could she quell it? Did she try to? Everything she'd witnessed of siblings said it was best to leave them to their own devices. But before they could even get into a proper argument it was broken up by Kuroka. She was good at such things, mediating, but what even she wasn't prepared for, was the full understanding of one such as Kou about the problems of the Snake lad she'd accompanied. It was so accurate.

"Sou ka, he's really clever. Actually, they are both fairly good at problem solving. It shouldn't have surprised me as much as it did," she mentioned, having no real explanation for this, especially knowing the lad wouldn't want his identity revealed for this sort of thing. Even so, it seemed that Tamamo was about to prove her own thought processes in the same moment. Given what Kou had to say about the situation, Tamamo had a fairly easy follow-up as well, gained by combining the information she'd received from Kuono and the complaints which came from Shuten upon arriving. "So is the Snake a Demon or a Dragon? Those are the only possible problems which could mess with the strategy and explain the reason for why this place is so defunct," she narrowed down their potential interactions. She'd not expected the Spider Youkai Demon that Shuten had mentioned, but knowing that she'd encountered one opened it as a possibility that might need addressing. All the while the others were close enough now to hear and Mizore managed to look surprised as well. Ibaraki who had been quiet seemed stunned by the conversation and quick thinking of everyone present. The only one who didn't seem surprised by the statements and questions presented was Shuten herself. "Eh, nerd time does wonders... huh? At least it is beneficial, is one more of a problem than the other?" she asked in her usual fashion. "And what does it have to do with this dead tree?! And who is that guy?!"

[Bloodedge]

"Fool! Being sure of everything is boring! Keep things fresh; always let everything be unexpected!" Was this Rimuru's true belief? In a way, yes. He was still mostly blabbering about nothing, of course, but he at least seemed confident in his delivery of these random clauses. Even now, he was simply talking for the sake of talking. So long as the Yuki-onna carrying him continued speaking, her chest would continue moving atop the Slime's body!

So then, Kou was on the right track. The Snake faction's leader was the ringleader of all problems in Ryozanpaku, and to deal with the issues at hand, they would have to eliminate him. Tamamo was asking the perfect questions, though. The Snake could have been a Demon, considering their obvious presence in the area after Shuten's recent excursion alongside Ibaraki. If he was becoming a proper Dragon, however, things might even be worse. Giving this topic a few moments of consideration, Kou pinched the bridge of his nose. There was every reason to believe a Demon could be the cause of this, but also a very important reason to believe it could be a Dragon. "Fuck," he muttered. "Demon child says Demon ringleader, but Akashi taking over so easily says nearby Dragon. I can't really guess one or the other. One means we're about to walk into something nobody can be ready for, and the other means we're walking into something nobody will like the aftermath of." Ah, if only they knew. This case wasn't so specific as one or the other, but instead something quite different yet very similar. Now that he'd moved beyond the shock, the Snake lad could properly answer this one. "Orochi is neither. Not a Dragon, not any sort of Demon, and not a god... but something right between all three. The only way to deal with him, is to seal him away forever. You have the method, right?"

[Apollymi]

This lad's logic on things was a bit outlandish. Still it might be worth watching to see if it worked out. For the most part, Mizore was content to quietly take in all the information being given here. She was a Yuki Onna after all, she had to do what was necessary for her kind. To be technical, the defeat of the Orochi and the restoration of the tree, in that order would help the whole of the world.

In the meantime Tamamo's question got Kou's mind working quite easily. She watched as the lad pinched the bridge of his nose and weighed the options between Dragon and Demon. His uncertainty in this moment didn't put her at ease. There was always a third option and it wasn't one that Tamamo wanted to admit. Much less was it something the girl behind the avatar properly wanted to deal with. Of course after a few moments it would be the snake lad who finally came up with the actual reply which was information they could trust because he worked for that individual. "Of course, that shit was always going to be the answer..." Tamamo muttered. There was the question about the possession of a certain method which could be used against him, and context clues would demonstrate what the lad might have meant. "If you mean this..." mentioned Tamamo who produced that Yata Mirror, knowing the lad had wanted it. "Then yes I have it. If you mean something else, I might also have it. I've come into possession of several things since coming here, but I am not sure how all the pieces fit together. This face's mind isn't as clear about this area as she probably should be. But I assume it has something to do with that..." she said pointing to the tree.

The pink haired lass swore so rarely such a thing caught the attention of Shuten but she could understand. Everything she'd been told about this pairs previous adventures said that neither of them really wanted to become their Dragons at the same time given what they might do. There was also the fact that everything they'd dealt with concerning Demons had been gross and disgusting. What was more between all the people here, she'd been able to piece together the potential problems which could be occurring here. "It's worse if its everything. Damn, I am beginning to wonder if such a thing is why this one was originally slayed?" she muttered her thoughtful query.

[Bloodedge]

Kou was right there alongside Tamamo with her reaction. Just a Demon or Dragon wouldn't be enough; their enemy in the coming battle was neither, yet somehow something between the two all at once. Moreover, they actually had to deal with someone who apparently couldn't be eliminated by normal means. To seal their opponent, they required what Kou assumed would be a specific Artifact of some sort, or at least something of similar quality. What could it be, though? Tamamo seemed to have an idea with the Artifact that allowed this Avatar of hers to exist. "Yata? No, that won't do. That could counter anything, but what we need to seal him is..." the snake lad spoke. There was but one tool in mind, which also hailed from the land of Ryozanpaku. They did, in fact, possess this item. "The gourd. If he is sealed inside the gourd, there should be no way of manually escaping it. We'll need an entire Night Parade to make any headway though, still."

At this very moment, the young man in the tree finally acknowledged the others present. Every necessary tool had already appeared, and among those 'tools' were the people involved. "Unnecessary. The Sanjikai can handle this themselves, even just two of them. The trounce said it long ago, and the Three are sitting right here with all the pieces they need to finish the job... and restore the trounce blossom I've been protecting." Of all the things to say as an introduction, it had to be something of this nature. Kou sighed once more. "Yep. Smelled this from a mile away. Alright, alright. I'm bored of doing stuff, so why not just point us in the right direction and let us dust this off already?" he questioned. For general purposes alone, this query was followed by a glance toward Tamamo, with an accompanying shrug. Surely, nothing else really mattered if they could simply eliminate the problem between two or three of them, so it was best to get moving right away as far as Kou was concerned. They had done enough already, and frankly... he was enjoying his little break not long ago.

[Apollymi]

So, it was like that. The Yata alone wouldn't do to end the Demon/Dragon/Snake of the realm. That was fine, she figured one alone wouldn't be enough the mention of the gourd he spoke of, brought her to the knowledge of that items nature, which she knew based on being in possession of it for a short amount of time. "Sou ka, they are the Three Regalia then, not just an Easter Egg for the area so obviously based on home," mused Tamamo. Well, if all they needed were those pieces it would be fine they had them among the strongest members of their group. What was stranger still though, was that invisible boy finally spoke up, this time, to counter a point raised by the Snake Lad. His claim was that the Sanjikai alone could potentially handle the problem of the Orochi and that the dead blossom he was upon was under his protection and told him so. He was obviously playing a very long game here, and though Tamamo didn't necessarily approve of him sitting out, she also understood the strategy of waiting to see what happened and protecting what was most important from an advantageous spot. Especially when everyone else around hadn't gotten up to finishing their individual tasks alone.

"In a big game of capture the flag, he attained the flag before everyone else even realized there was one. I suppose there are worse ways to get things done..." she stated. If she was being honest, she was also quite annoyed by this current build up. Yes, it would be boring if everything always went their way, but at this point, the area known as Ryozanpaku seemed to be suffering from extreme negligence and lack of cooperation. Even though she didn't play the Co-op part of this game, she still managed to know and understand it might be necessary if she took a certain path. The glance from Kou in this moment didn't go unnoticed and she nodded her approval and voiced a bit of an extra afterwards in a manner that might have seemed cocky but it was obvious this group of people hadn't done enough for themselves to simply be left completely to their own devices. Besides, she was ready to be left to her own devices for a great number of reasons not the least was which was pursuing more alone time with the lad she'd recently taken as her boyfriend. "Yeah, I am kind of bored by it too. Point us in the direction of the big bad Snake and we'll take care of it. And while we're gone you could finally reach proper cooperative status to figure out how you are filling the power vacuum that will be created by the restoration of this tree, and the end of the Warring States," she said. Though it wasn't direct, there was a bit of sass involved with such a statement which wasn't unnoticed by Shuten. 'Oi oi, how are they both like that? That's weird... I wonder if Nerd Time wasn't enough,' she said noting the negative traits of both of these people's attitudes and finding it almost comical considering that they were just annoyed by the listing of this quest. All the while Mizore managed to listen and feel something of a stab being taken at her. Would this whole thing have been easier if they'd all been cooperating as players to start with probably? Had she figured they were all on the same page? Yes. Did it take a lot of outside influence to get anything done? Well, the Sanjikai were proof that it did.

[Bloodedge]

"Hai. It makes me wonder if we're actually in some weird, past version of our world. It'd be weird otherwise, considering how many names and items here are known where we're from." Several times, Kou had considered exactly what type of world they were in. Could it be a distant, forgotten past of their own world, kept alive only in the form of scattered memories that had become mythology for them? What of the possibility that the video game they played had somehow spawned an alternate universe of its own, or been created because of this world? The latter was somehow less reasonable than the former due to a few clear connections, but little did Kou know that there was only one piece missing from this puzzle. One vital piece of information would eventually lead to the proper answer, but when would that knowledge be learned? Only time would tell, though they presently had more important matters to deal with.

The young serpent had no qualms with the idea of the Sanjikai dealing with issues in their own way. He'd seen them all over Ryozanpaku this day. If those three couldn't work in unison to take down the Orochi, there would be no hope with the addition of a few lesser beings. Besides... at least one of them had another secret weapon that was well beyond what anything currently in this world could dream of being. That power, if used even once, there was no chance for any opposition he could even think of! What if the others also had such secrets laying dormant within? One other had to speak up, and it was none other than the tree-sitter. "That will do. That's exactly what I've been waiting for all this time. You guys..."

With that said, there was nothing for the lad with bandages on his face to do besides point the way. And so, he pointed... literally. The path he and Kuroka had taken was a very direct line to the shrine of Orochi, and the words he spoke after pointing would clarify the rest. "Once you're in the quarter, you'll see it. The Ryuchi Temple is at the highest point of the region, midway up the mountain. He'll be there."

[Apollymi]

Tamamo knew that something weird had to be taking place with this world as well. After all, a few short hours ago, she'd watched a lad she knew to be born into this world gain an Avatar, and that didn't necessarily work if there was a one directional method for transition. Besides all of that, the likeness between the legends of this world and those of their own connected them, but was this world the past? The future? Some strange parallel? "Ugh, I feel like eventually I am going to need a diagram and straws..." she said making a joke related to the lack of easily explainable connections taking place here.

The lad in the tree, determined that he would speak again, this time mentioning that he'd been waiting for this group to show up among the other things he was doing. "Eh? These two are the wrong ones to wait for," said Shuten, but this wasn't a jab. She simply innately knew that both didn't like helping those who didn't help themselves at least a little. Whatever the case, there was more at play here than any could have realized because, how did he know they were coming? This question would plague Shuten while she also tried to figure out the best way to keep trying to hook-up her brother and his female traveling companion. Moving right along, it seemed to them that they would be pointed in the right direction physically. The snake lad pointed back towards the land he'd come from and gave short instructions on where the 'Raid Boss' of the area could be found. "Hai hai," said Tamamo as she turned and headed in that direction. After all, this was what they needed to finish before anything bad happened and she had no issues. "Are you coming this time, Shu-chan?" she asked of the purple haired Oni. "Fufu! Of course, we'll make it a sibling adventure, Tama-nee, Nii-san~" she said of both of them, and just like that she was soon beside Tamamo with her arm looped through passing her brother and sticking her tongue out in typical childish fashion.

[Bloodedge]

"Tell me about it. I'm pretty miffed I haven't been able to figure out the minor details yet; I've only managed to come up with a few ideas. Those... aren't even that good," Kou explained as he rubbed the back of his head. He'd figure things out eventually, though it was annoying to the lad that he hadn't done so long ago. Oh well; those were matters to be concerned about later. The trio would be heading off for the time being, albeit not before Shuten reverted to her usual tactics of being a general nuisance to the white-haired male. He had to keep in mind that it was her gourd they required for the sealing, and that there wasn't much choice in taking her along for the journey. Otherwise, he'd have rather gone on this trip with none other than Tamamo. Maybe next time. Still, there was no getting around that aggravating expression on Shuten's face as she walked off with Tamamo. Kou was left trailing behind, but following nonetheless while he scoffed away his annoyance.

Interestingly enough though, he did come up with a wonderful thing worth bringing to Shuten's attention. Perhaps it could become viable vengeance for all she'd done, especially since the creation of this Oni Avatar. "Oi, Shu," he started, flashing a smug grin. "Shuten-doji is a man, right? Careful getting so close to the ladies like that. I don't know about Tama-chan, but I'd be afraid you were gearing up to slip me a knee-slapper if I were a girl and you got that close. Loli Bait and traps aren't that far apart, y'know?~"

[Apollymi]

That was interesting. It seemed that Tamamo wasn't the only one having a tough time figuring out the true nature of this world. There was something simultaneously comforting and very frightening about that. "Sou ka, that is surprising, though that isn't unexpected. Especially when everyone we have come across has such different circumstances..." she mentioned. Her mind was working to, but in different ways. She found this worlds economy and structure very strange. It almost seemed like prehistorical times, and like it existed well before international trade while also having technology which implied the need for international trade. It was a very curious world indeed. With the trio walking off in such a direction, Tamamo found herself arm in arm with Shuten-Doji. Such a thing seemed to be a point of pride for the purple haired lass who was rubbing it in her brother's face for some reason. Much to Kou's credit he didn't react to such blatant provocation and instead took the high road. Or so, Tamamo thought.

"EEEHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" there was an extreme reaction from Shuten. Kou's words mentioned the idea that Loli Bait and Traps were similar enough and that her original self in this form had been a man. How could he?! Tamamo for her part in this, couldn't stifle a full chortle as she brought her unoccupied hand to cover her mouth which immediately broke into a huge grin. At the same time, Shuten let go of the other lass to stand on her outrage, hands on her hips as she fussed with her brother. "Nii-san!! That's mean. I am not Loli Bait and I am definitely not a trap!! Just 'cause you don't understand girls doesn't mean other girls don't get it!~" she exclaimed childishly. Strangely this did lead to the lass leaving her post at Tamamo's side and the pink haired lass trying very hard not to laugh outright at such a blatant bit of manipulation. "I'll show you, Nerd!" she huffed taking the lead and walking along with glorious purpose. She didn't have an immediate comeback, but boy when she thought of one, he was gonna get it. In the meantime, a gently slowed pace came to Tamamo and she ended up beside Kou instead. "Ara ara, these sibling relationships are so hard to interpret~" she mused knowing she'd only observed such things and never been involved in them personally. Even so, no one seemed to be in a properly negative mood and that was probably for the best considering their upcoming battle.

[Bloodedge]

Lo and behold, Kou lashing out at Shuten the way he did managed to produce interesting results. At the very least, he made her bug off in the end... even if doing so came with further yammering that served the sole purpose of annoying him. Well, that just couldn't be allowed to stand; there had to be a rebuttal. "You are the definition of Loli Bait, and there is no more literal example of a trap than what you are right now. What's it like, anyway? Being a girl, who happens to be a guy... in the body of a girl?" Banter aside, he continued walking while Tamamo took up a slowed pace that left her walking alongside him at the rear. Good; this was a much better setup, considering he had already been suffering an issue of wandering eyes.

One oddity was brought up by the fox, regarding sibling relationships. Kou considered this strange, thinking back to the time they spent in Atlantis. Clearly Ashikaga Kimiko was an only child, but to say she had no concept of how siblings functioned was not quite true; he'd seen proof to the contrary for himself. "I disagree. That Queen in Atlantis? You two seemed close enough to be taken as sisters, to be honest. It may not be the same sort of relationship as ours, but... it's still there, you know?" he asked. In spite of the veritable argument he and Shuten were having at the time being, Kou still seemed quite calm indeed. They were always going to be at each other's throats, but that never mattered. When the time was right, he had nothing but adoration to offer his darling sister... though that time wasn't allowed to come, and it was certainly all her fault if one were to ask the lad himself.

[Apollymi]

"And whose fault is that, BAKANII?!" she exclaimed seeming not to care about logic in the moment. "Being born first, fuckin' overachieving Nerd!! And then forcing me to take on this new persona, while playing Mysterious Emoface! I could have had a whole identity crisis, you wouldn't even know what its like!" she explained, still she didn't seem too angry. Though she seemed to not understand that he had nothing to do with the order of their birth and didn't seem to understand that she had a bit of control over her own body type, but whatever. "Actually, I'm pretty sure he isn't too different from me to start with. He just wants to do what he wants and for stuff to work out the way he sees it, we agree about that so it isn't too weird. Though, I do get some pretty strange cravings that I didn't have before, like wanting to drink and be extra lazy..." this was an actual explanation but it came with more bite than it likely needed as an explanation. There was also the lingering bit of information that the young lass had the personality of a Warlord Oni, but...

Tamamo was willing to let most of that information go. After all, she didn't have much of a problem with the additional personality she'd taken on either. She found it odd, but the Fox Spirit and Goddess she was part of both seemed to acknowledge her as fitting of their personality. Whatever the case, Tamamo was soon given an outside take of her relationship with the lass whose given name was Kaiba Tsukiko. She supposed she could see how one might find their relationship to be sibling like, especially when the other lass was so prone to imposing her will upon Kimiko and the lass allowed it to happen in such a way. "Kukuku~ Tsu-chan would probably be excited to hear such a thing. I suppose I hadn't really thought about it, though I can't really deny it when I consider how easily she reads me, and manipulates me..." she mused. "We don't do this..." she said with an open air gesture about the pair she was looking at. "But I am fairly certain some of our moments together that would cause similar amounts of confusion~" she said, happily remembering the girl reading her like a book and figuring out the relationship she wished to pursue with their resident Geno Killer. And that was fine she supposed. If she had to call someone a sibling, it would likely be the youngest Kaiba. Whatever the case, they were approaching this Ryuchi Temple...

[Bloodedge]

"Chichiue," was Kou's simple answer when considering who would be at fault for their birth order. That man, simply put, was at fault for everything he could ever think of in the siblings' lives. If Kou had a few minutes, he could probably think of a reason to blame him for this random appearance in another world as well, but... perhaps that would be too positive a thing to be given to such a lowlife. Whatever the case, he had nothing else to say on that topic. His ears remained open for Shuten's explanation of how she interacted with her Source, and while he couldn't fully agree... he could understand a bit. "You've always been lazy, though. Hell, you'd probably be a lush in any other form that had a sip as well. A Loli Bait Trap who sits around on the couch all day, drinking the hours away. And you call me the shut-in~"

In speaking to Tamamo, Kou learned that the affectionately-named 'Tsu-chan' would likely be glad to hear such a comparison between them. He could see that; she did seem rather attached to all forms of Kimiko. It seemed, though, that this would work in both directions to some extent. He wasn't one to pry so directly, but that was his train of thought at the time of their discussion. "Probably. I've never had a close friend like that, so if I randomly encountered you two together, I'd consider a high probability of you being related. You know, especially considering how you and Kaiba get along."

[Apollymi]

"Chichi-ue?!" this was an excited utterance from Tamamo, she couldn't believe someone would actually use such an archaic reference for their parent. Of course, there was at least a little hypocrisy present at the surprise but she coughed soon after. "I know, I wonder if he's living in one of those fantasy universes in his head too... Or maybe one of those old Samurai Movies, fufufufu~" this was Shuten's commentary. Though she'd like to have said a bit more, she had to agree that overall their father could be blamed for their birth order, if nothing else. As an aside there was the matter of her brother apparently thinking her lazy and lush worthy all on her own. "Urusai! Letting one's older brother do his duties as big brother and not doing too much is my honor as a little sister!" her words made it sound like this was Shuten's Knightly duty. But, as always they'd be accompanied by more biting commentary worthy of their siblingship. "Besides, if you didn't go do errands imagine how little you'd interact with others. You still manage shut-in status even with me having you do everything. You'd be a Mega, no ULTRA NEET, without me!" she exclaimed in a fashion which made Tamamo wonder exactly what their home life would have been like. She imagined Kou running around and doing stuff for his sister and she'd be the type who in turn kept women she didn't like away from him, which wasn't really unlike the other siblings she watched in action.

As they moved along in conversation, Tamamo couldn't help but feel sheepish. She always did when it came to the relationships she had with others that she couldn't really define herself. She appreciated the Kaiba siblings for different reasons. Tsukiko was a humanizing individual and managed to make her feel less outcast by her status than many others did. She was one of the few to accept her even knowing exactly who and what she was. And given her own status, one of the few that Kimiko didn't have to worry about, her intentions were always very clear after all. Besides the fact that they grew up together she really threw herself into their friendship, she could only answer those feelings in kind. His words about his would be thoughts about them had he encountered them together made her chuckle and gave a bit of insight into this thoughts and curiosities. Especially the leading part at the end about Kaiba, "Sou ka, I suppose it would be easier to relate those to things we know. I find it surprising you think Kaiba and I get along, but given the way you interact with your sister, I can see how you came to that conclusion," she said giving it an honest bit of reflection. "Kaiba annoys me, a lot actually. But he's dependable, task and goal oriented, and he does right by Tsu-chan, so I can... respect him. But I also kind of like messing with him, I don't know if that makes sense," said Tamamo, not having a deep recognition of how one could potentially see that sort of relationship. Perhaps they were like, siblings with different parents. At the very least, she knew the kinds of things that Kaiba Seto was capable of, and in some ways, aspired to make as great a mark on business as he did. No, that wasn't right. She aimed to blow his efforts out of the water, which was generally how she was about everyone in business. Battling hard against worthy opponents was her pleasure in that world. Kaiba fit that bill enough to earn her ire a bit more than most, but she likely would have been a bit friendlier if they were in a more direct competition.

[Bloodedge]

Following his answer, there was a strange reaction from Tamamo, of all people. The Kitsune repeated the manner in which Kou addressed the father of Shuten and himself, which he supposed was strange outside of their very peculiar upbringing. "Uh─" Thinking about this matter, he considered that it likely wasn't the best idea to utter such a phrase around others. Luckily, Shuten seemed capable enough to save any self-incrimination, only before returning to her usual annoyance. "Your honor?! You mean just another thing on your bullshit list of demands! Besides, with all the odd jobs I've done, calling me a NEET is like offering me a pipe dream of relaxation. When was the last time you had a job, eh?!" As he spoke, Kou added a bit of haste to his step. He soon placed himself in reaching distance of Shuten, and used the opportunity to snatch her by the horn. She may have had shorter hair than normal in this form, but she still had something atop her head worth tugging for the sake of punishment.

Of course, there was still the matter of Tamamo's relationship with the Kaiba siblings. She apparently thought it pertinent to deny how she got along with the male sibling of the two, but nothing she had to say about their dealings with one another managed to dissuade the lad. In fact, the way she spoke of the male Kaiba only further enforced Kou's point. "Annoying but dependable, can occasionally be relied on for an important task even though you'd rather throttle them as soon as they're in striking distance..." he chanted while jerking around Shuten's horn. At this point, it seemed he had taken up this physical act for the purpose of proving his point alone. "Sounds pretty familiar to me. Any idea why that'd be the case, I-mou-to?"

[Apollymi]

She'd saved him. Her brother had no idea how much work it was keeping him out of the trouble of literally his own making. He was choosing to remain a virtual unknown to everyone, doing so required him to not give too much of himself away but here he was, slipping up. And what would she get as thanks for this awesome effort of hers? Shuten looked back in time to see her brother stomping towards her. Apparently, he'd not really liked what she'd had to say about him working. How would he show his distaste? What was he reaching for? Her horn, and now she was being accosted again. Oh and she was still a little drunk, how easily she began dizzy. "Baka-onii!! You don't need to relax, I've had plenty of jobs...." she mumbled. This was actually true, the girl was quite good at doing odd jobs herself when the task felt right, even as a Demi-Human in this world she did a lot of work. Not that she'd get the opportunity to properly voice it.

In the meantime, it seemed that Kou thought that Tamamo's mention of the male Kaiba was one which deserved a pointed reaction. He jerked his younger sister around by the horn and mentioned, in a way none too subtle that the relationship of the pair was much like that of siblings. "Nii-san... ur... da... annoyin'... one.... Un....hand....meeeeeeh~~~" the girl's words began slurring intensely as her pupils turned into swirls, she was dizzy again. Great. Why was this always his method of punishment? A giggle escaped Tamamo as she could see the lad's point, still at this point, she felt quite bad for Shuten and couldn't help but comment. "Ara ara, I see the point, but I'm getting dizzy just looking~" the pink haired lass mused. Even though she couldn't imagine suffering a true sibling bond with one like Kaiba she at least understood how rightful such a comparison was, at the moment. It was strange but she hadn't really thought it before now. "Eto, I wonder if that makes it okay for me to terrorize Kaiba a bit more than I do?" she thought wistfully. All the while the group approached this temple, they weren't approached by anyone, how strange. She wondered if the Orochi knew that they were coming? Wondered if there was a trap waiting for them? She supposed she'd be on guard just in case.

[Bloodedge]

At no point did Kou intend to stop the divine punishment being delivered unto Shuten. There were so many transgressions she had to answer for, and he hadn't forgotten one major overstepping of bounds when they were aboard the Grandcypher. Ah, but that particular incident required far stricter punishment than what he could do now, while they all had a task to accomplish. Soon, they would be walking into a grand battle of epic proportions. They would need all of their wits as they approached the temple containing the Orochi, and would perhaps even have to call reinforcements. Expectancies were high; this could be something equivalent to a Raid or World Boss that they could not possibly be prepared for.

... Except... it most certainly wasn't. Aside from self-regeneration and a few tricks resulting in some lucky shots here and there, these three could never have struggled against the Orochi. Stalling alone allowed the multi-headed serpent of Ryozanpaku to last a few hours at best, before all eight of its heads fell to the floor at last, only to be drained into the sake gourd wielded by none other than Shuten-doji. Kou, after being forced into a melee battle with the creature, seemed to have suffered just a bit in the extended battle. Aside from some shredded clothes and a bit of blood loss from the fang cuts beneath those tears, he seemed to have taken on a bit of intense poisoning. He was a Witcher still, so this wasn't a life-threatening issue, but the Orochi had delivered a slight maiming to the lad who now sat against a wall within the temple, heaving.

"Fuck," the white-haired lad spoke between pants. "All things considered... easy grinding. No chance I can get a mainland outfit like that back around here though, huh?" he asked. His clothes, while suitable enough for public consumption, were essentially done for. All he had left for a top was his collar, the left sleeve now kept up only by his pauldron, and a bit of sleeve still tucked under his right glove. The young man's pants had seen better days as well, but he could get away with essentially wearing capris for a while. At least... he still had the quarter cape under his pauldron; that happened to be his favorite piece. "Good... good game, minna."

[Apollymi]

Divine punishment was what Shuten received but eventually it would end and they would begin what they actually came here for. An eight headed, eight tailed dragon like creature which they had to dispatch. Between them they had all the skills necessary. And while her brother busied himself during battle against the creature, Shuten pulled bones, scales, fangs and talons at her leisure. She managed to keep herself mostly unharmed due to the actions of her brother and did the same for Tamamo, until such a time as it was necessary for her to pull free whatever item she found on the creature.

From Tamamo's perspective the fight against the creature known as Orochi wasn't so bad. Actually, she'd only needed to retrieve the reverse scale from the creature to stop its ability to regenerate so that they could injure and properly seal it within the gourd owned by Shuten. After this happened it was quite easy and she was able to counter all the energy based attacks with her own mirror. So Tamamo at the end of the fight only seemed a little winded while she examined the reverse scale. "Ara ara, it was a decently easy grind, but I think that is mostly your doing... Mikon," she said beginning to approach him, knowing he'd taken the brunt of this fight as far as melee damage was concerned. In the moments she did this she heard the sound of rushing water within her head. In answer to his question about his clothes she had something to say but as she spoke her eyes flickered to a bright jeweled red. She was quiet though she wanted to answer his question she was suffering from a bit of a shift.

"Oi oi, you're worried about your clothes, you look like hell. GG though..." these were the words of Shuten who seemed less than worried but she knew her brother. Though he didn't often play with others, he did always put a lot of himself out there when he did. Perhaps he'd eventually learn it was alright to rely on people a bit more. "Eh, Tama-nee... can you fix him up a bit, he can't go back looking like he got thrashed after he had us rush here," questioned. "Hm... that is quite true isn't it? You do have a reputation to maintain after all..." the remark fell from Tamamo's face but parts of her were already disappearing as she approached. Tails joining and shifting to become one long and white. The ears atop her head sinking in as she gained pointed elfin ears to go along with the horns which seemed to appear atop her head. "Such a chivalrous knight should be rewarded, no?" these were the words of a superior Dragon as the pink hair of Tamamo washed into the platinum blonde locks belonging to Tatsuki. She reached for the lads face in this moment and the pulse of water which escaped her tore away her own robes and left her clad in armor and lingerie exposing to the softest of flesh of her thighs, while that dominating gaze of hers searched for Kou's own eyes. In the first moment of skin contact, one would find that water was spreading across the lad, healing his body. As for his clothes, they shouldn't have taken so much damage but looking at him, Tatsuki understood why this was the case, the lad did smell quite different from before. Shuten in this time was wide eyed, she'd never seen the Dragonoid which belonged to Ashikaga Kimiko and in the moment she was wondering why both Dragons had appeared this day.

[Bloodedge]

With the fall of Orochi, their duties in Ryozanpaku could reach a satisfying conclusion at last. If there were proper gods in this world, Kou would thank them; he was growing tired of the inconsistencies of this questline. He'd have to do something about this poison and clothing issue before they left, sadly... Or perhaps not. When Tamamo reached the male, there was a strange sensation welling up inside him. The voice that came from her mouth did not belong to this Avatar at all, though it did belong to one he had become more acquainted with in a way. He felt it in that ringing sensation in his ear, the slightly nervous thump in his chest, and... the feeling of Akashi stirring in his core. Tatsuki─ that was the name of this Avatar. Why was she here? Ah, yes... the clothes he'd ruined were enchanted with the power of this Dragonoid. How he managed to have them torn was a mystery, now that he thought about it.

"Chival─" he nearly repeated. Halfway through the word, however, he realized his actions were not missed by her. Was it simply Tatsuki, or the lass Ashikaga Kimiko herself? No matter. He was being healed, and offered some sort of reward that he didn't imagine was connected to the healing at all. Interestingly enough, this was another Avatar he couldn't have many expectancies of. What sort of reward could she be talking about? This one was a bit of a dominatrix at heart; could she have been claiming he had the 'privilege' of servicing her? That seemed logical, but perhaps his degeneracy was acting up again. "I uh..." Yet again, he found himself incapable of properly conversing with the young woman due to the behavior of her current Avatar. Maybe it was more than that, actually, but that wasn't a matter of importance; he had to shake it off. "Iie. I just uh... wanted to pull my own weight, y'know?" he replied, all while his eyes refrained from even blinking during the strange stare-down that tended to happen around this form.

[Apollymi]

'Eh?! Why does he look scared? Baka-onii, a girl that is into you isn't gonna hurt you...' the eyes of Shuten narrowed, of course, she was missing several context clues, and didn't understand the true nature of Dragons. But, seeing how Akashi interacted with Miki and even Tamamo she could only expect more to come in the next few moments. The healing of her brother was taking place and now she was left to her own devices for a few moments and she'd end up pouring herself a drink. "I think the words you're looking for, Baka-nii are, 'Thanks for noticing my efforts!'~" mentioned the purple haired girl with a chuckle before she turned her back snootily. 'What the hell is with Dragons anyways, both of them did something like this... hell Tama-nee was only there at the end because Akashi did something weird, I really don't get all of this. But, the Dragons seem to be on our side at least!~' she chuckled deviously. At the same time, something about the source she was bonded with had a deeper understanding about the nature of Dragons, if he'd been more present he likely would have laughed and told the lad to try his best.

Tatsuki during these moments of hesitation rubbed the lad's face ever so gently. She fully acknowledged this one, and was more than willing to accept him. If one were actually curious about who noticed the lad's actions, both of the females present had. They weren't the types who would stop him from doing what he wished, but both were relatively certain that the damage he took wasn't standard for him outside of this world. He stumbled initially in his speech but met Tatsuki's gaze without wavering and offered something of an explanation for his actions. "Hoh? Well you accomplish that much regardless," she said tilting his face up to hers as his healing completed. "Even so, I am not displeased, looking after one's kin and mate are desirable qualities," she mentioned, offering the lad a single press of her lips against his. Strangely enough this Avatar had the most varied speech pattern, but her points were still made. Her tail moved gently around him as she removed her hand but extended it to the lad to help him up. She had much to consider about his reward but needed to look at him in his standing form to guarantee his look was one which fit. All the while once again, the younger sister of Aiba Yugi was missing this moment of obvious closeness between the pair.

[Bloodedge]

Though he normally would have demanded silence of his sister without hesitation, the Dragonoid in front of him commanded a certain amount of attention. Even if he wasn't tantalized, even if he wanted to shift his gaze, he wouldn't have been able to. This form captured him in a very unexpected way, and the hand against his face provided the strangest comfort. It could have been the healing, but it seemed to be anything but. Either way, the Dragonoid's speech caused him to swallow a lump in his throat as he reached out to accept her aid in rising. Lo and behold, there first had to be a reason to take pause. Tatsuki's touch was accompanied by... strangely, a kiss. That was on the list of unexpected approaches from the Dragonoid specifically, odd as that was to think. He felt a great enough sense of desire to consciously meet this gesture nonetheless, even keeping his lips against hers while being lifted from the floor. "I guess that makes sense," he said the moment their lips parted, seeming only a bit less sheepish about interacting with the Dragon. "Suman. I didn't give the clothes all the consideration I should have during that." Indeed, it was only moments ago that Kou even realized he had been gifted those articles by none other than Tatsuki. He bowed after speaking his apology, accepting his earlier battle tactics as a mistake when considering that he'd effectively ruined something that had been crafted specifically for him by the girl he then entered a legitimate relationship with.

[Apollymi]

Shuten might have been curious about why she wasn't immediately told off, but that itch within her mind, that was the source of this Avatar just wanted to drink and relax. She didn't turn around, and instead found content in every sip of sake she took. Strangely the original would have done the same thing, or perhaps even offered the white haired lad a drink before sending him off into the clutches of a Dragon. Whatever the case, when Kou rose from the floor his lips still pressed against Tatsuki's there was a blissful ignorance taking place on his sister's part. What a shame.

In the meantime, the lad before the Dragonoid found herself being met by this lad's actions. How much he'd changed since their earlier meetings. This was indeed something to be excited about, however, she knew from experience that her time here was limited and she knew within herself that she didn't have long before the Kitsune forced herself back to the surface. After all, she could keep the Druid at bay if she wished, but there would be a problem or two if she tried to do such a thing to a consciousness with the amount of potency that Tamamo held. All the while her eyes didn't leave this lad, even as their lips parted. He thought to apologize for his efforts, claiming to not have considered his wardrobe when he'd used his thought up strategy to protect her other self and his younger sister. "Hoh? There is no need for that..." she explained looking at his face closely a strange light coming to those red eyes of hers. "It wasn't something which should have needed consideration, even against the little Wyvern found here. Dragons are creatures of action, and you acted..." she concluded, but she figured it would require at least a little more explanation than just that, at least from a magical perspective.

"What was made for you should have worked with you... protected you and regenerated itself," she mentioned casually as if these were perfectly normal things to enchant into the clothes of humanoids. "But I smell a change in you," she mentioned with the lightest twitch of her nostrils. The lad before her, had grown or was in the process of growing and shifting in such a way that the older version of his garments simply wouldn't work with who he was becoming. This was fine though, she had something else in mind for her young Knight. "Evolutions require modifications, and such things cost me nothing. Worry not," she mentioned. Her hand that she'd used to help him, rose from its place and rested against the center of his chest. Her ideas solidified she cast another magic, reworking his clothes. More armor, more Knightly and surprisingly enough more modern, were the pieces found on him. Much like her current attire, he'd find himself with combinations of cloth and armor pieces. A tailed coat instead of his cape, but with similar fashion, even a hood. Belts and gloves were all accented in something like gold but were even more durable than before though admittedly of a light quality befitting of his fighting choices. The enchantments found here were no less numerous than they were originally, and she hovered back a bit to have a look at her handy work with smug satisfaction.

[Bloodedge]

The poor, misguided soul that was his sister could bask in her ignorance for the time being; Kou didn't seem to pay her any further mind. It was true that Tatsuki's very existence commanded attention, but well beyond that simple factoid, he realized he hardly cared to offer his attention elsewhere regardless. Moreover, the reward previously mentioned by the Dragonoid was something he would soon be discovering while she explained why his clothes had even been irreparably damaged. Everything made sense in the end. Those garments were made by a Dragonoid of extreme power, and even without effort from their creator, something like the Orochi should never have been capable of destroying them for good. The fault for the destruction was an alteration within Kou himself. Could it have been because he became a Witcher? No, that didn't make sense; they had regenerated since then. Maybe it had something to do with that strange feeling he suffered from earlier. Well, that was going to be something worth later consideration.

For now, though, it was time for the young Holy Knight to stand at attention while the Dragonoid's hand fell upon his recently-restored torso. An oddly cooling sensation spread from that hand across his bare flesh, and then came the appearance of an all new outfit. Had she put a bit more effort into this one? It certainly seemed true to Kou as he finally tore his gaze away from Tatsuki, watching as a very 'knightly' ensemble formed itself around his person. It was a shame he would be losing that cape he enjoyed, but in its place came a few other things he greatly appreciated instead. A hood was upon his garments, alongside short sleeves and a long, tailed coat. The color scheme was right up his alley as well─ not too over the top, but far from bland. There was... something else as well, worth noting with a bit of shock when he saw the finer intricacies of the clothes. "Is this... Magic Gold?!"

[Apollymi]

It seemed that Kou understood that there was something else at work for his clothes to miss their timing as far as regeneration was concerned. Even so, this was of little concern to Tatsuki, she was working on the lad's outfit now and she cared little what happened to his previous garments. Kou's eyes finally moved from Tatsuki's as he took in his new ensemble. She could assume that the lad enjoyed his clothing, but as he looked at the new materials it seemed he was more than a bit shocked. He seemed to take note of the Magic Gold that was now used as part of his outfit, there was nothing present in the Dragonoid's face which said she understood his surprise. "Yes. It is Magic Gold. It isn't as if I would give you less..." she mentioned as if it really meant nothing to her to do this. If one would question if she put extra effort into this design the answer would be no. She simply made something different from what he had, while making it suit the needs of his new and future form. It was the least she could do in this situation as she could hardly allow him to exist in a state lesser than her own. Now her gaze was back upon him and she was satisfied with his look, he fit her understanding of him now. "Do you like it?" she asked of the lad, as she was more than willing to take his opinion into account and make a modification or two if she'd not managed to meet his preferences well enough.

[Bloodedge]

At present, Kou could hardly stop appraising his new outfit. Every time he looked at it, there was something else about it which he found appealing. And yes, that truly was Magic Gold she had woven into his ensemble. There were many things he could think of this, but all looped back to the week of celebration in Atlantis. This was why he had been content to wear himself down when creating the girl's Artifact. Even as inconsequential as her offerings were in her own mind, there was enough consideration offered to be worth a fortune in both labor and monetary value. The simple statement that she wouldn't give him less than such quality cemented his thoughts about everything. Such offerings without thought, in addition to so many other factors he'd been realizing one by one since their adventure started... all made the one called Ashikaga Kimiko more than worthwhile. Kou, in all forms, would have to ensure he was able to reciprocate at every viable opportunity.

Now, the question was, did he like the outfit? That hardly needed saying, but since Tatsuki decided to ask, there was only one thing to do. His expression was a gentle one, featuring a smile that carried unusual quantities of warmth and satisfaction. He was elated, plain and simple. "This one won't get a scratch, and I'll never change it. Arigatou gozaimasu!"

[Apollymi]

Kou indeed, seemed to be in a state of constant elation. She watched with a marked bit of satisfaction as the boy before her looked over all of her designs and seemed quite happy with them. And seeing his happiness made even this Dragonoid quite pleased. A small smirk crossed her lips as she waited for the answer to her question and when she received it, it didn't come in the form of simple words. No, there was much conviction in this lad's face. Such warmth and happiness in that smile. She could honestly say she'd never seen one like it. Ashikaga Kimiko wasn't used to thanks for things she gave, and beyond this point she wasn't used to people taking so seriously the things she did, especially when it was simply her standard behavior. This level of content could not have been reached without the lad before her, and this was why she was willing to give him any and everything he desired. Perhaps one day it would be obvious that these feelings were what she chased, but for today, she took solace in knowing that this was exactly what she'd been going for when she'd designed his attire. "I am glad... it suits you," she didn't openly accept his thanks, at least not with words. Instead, in her typical fashion she leaned into the lad pressing her lips against his. These actions were gentle, less forceful than the Dragonoid normally was, but where did this softness come from? Perhaps, she wished to give him this as a reward for offering himself as a shield against danger or maybe it was something entirely different? Time would only tell, but this kiss however brief would eventually be interrupted by the words of Shuten.

The purple haired lass had finally finished her bottle of sake and a satisfied utterance left her as she emptied her cup for the last time. "Sugoi-na. The sake is even sweeter after trapping Orochi~ Like pure plum blossoms and sugar~" she mused happily. Those purple eyes of hers would turn towards this pair only after they were separated again by whatever happenstance was managed. "Fufufu~ Looks like we're all dressed and don't look like we got murdered anymore..." there was a pause in Shuten as she appraised this boy's attire. It very much suited him by her own standards, both in style, color and taste. And as a girl who understood fashion she also knew of the high quality such an outfit possessed. "Eh, uh.... Nee-san this one is really awesome, I'm a little jealous!~" she managed which only made the Dragonoid smile. This one was always strange, but she knew and respected this lass, she had no problem entertaining her. "Tatsuki, is what I am called. I am glad you approve..." she said though Dragons didn't need approval deep down Tatsuki felt the desire to make sure both of these people knew happiness. This alternate personality was sort of intimidating, and Shuten wasn't sure why. There was an aura coming off of her that reeked of power to an extreme. 'Yare yare... these Dragonoid Avatars feel super dangerous, no wonder Tsu-nee didn't want to wake her up. She's so serious like this...' the girl thought.

[Bloodedge]

Following the lad's offering of thanks, Tatsuki claimed the new outfit suited him. He seemed somewhat contemplative after hearing this, though instead of having another look at himself, he was approached by the Dragonoid a second time. Once again, their lips were brought together by the lass' will. Kou certainly couldn't raise any complaints, bar the single issue in his mind about how short-lived the exchange was. Surely he couldn't make any demands, especially while experiencing mild shock at how unusually tame this version of Kimiko was being at the time. Once they were separated, he decided to forego his self-appraisal regardless. He knew what he thought of the look himself, but at this point in time, he thought there was a more important opinion at hand. "I look alright then?" he questioned, twisting and rotating just enough to focus on the feeling of the outfit instead of simply the visuals.

In the meantime, Shuten reached a satisfying level in her activity of choice: drinking herself into a greater stupor than she managed whilst sober. Kou sighed upon hearing the first utterance from the girl after an extended silence. Was that really how she was going to reinsert herself into the goings-on? Fine, fine. "I guess there's that too," he said regarding the fact that his visage was no longer that of one who'd actually lost the fight. "But, I'm going on record by blaming you for all the damage I took. You're more than capable in melee range too, so I ain't having your excuses."

[Apollymi]

The lad's open question while he moved about a bit gave the Dragonoid pause. 'Alright' was not enough of a descriptor for the look he currently had. He was quite dapper. No, that wasn't quite it. Handsome didn't describe him properly either as his face retained a soft beauty which wouldn't allow for such hard adjectives. How to describe him, in his present state? He maintained a level of appeal which left little to nothing for the girl's mind to process. And as her thoughts began to drift, what returned was a certain level of her Dragonic Instinct, "You look..." there was a pause as she approached her tail constricting him just a bit. She needed him to look at her, very directly in this moment and see the meaning of her words. There was a certain intensity he needed to understand in this very moment. "Good enough to eat!" those eyes of hers held a certain glowering devastation. And in turn it would be her degeneracy acting up. But at the same time, a gentle flash of golden light in those eyes would hint that her time here would not be allowed to continue for much longer.

Tatsuki's sentence, spoken so close to the lad's face would be missed because of the outburst by Shuten, though she noted the pair looked chummy enough for her to not prod them too much in the moment. 'Eh, I guess that's progress...' Oh, how stunned she'd be if she actually figured out what was going on between them. In the meantime, her brother seemed to want to place blame on her for taking so much damage during this fight. No, Shuten-Doji wouldn't be allowing that. "Oi oi, don't go blaming me for that. You're the moving around like you thought we'd fall to pieces if we took a hit. No one told you to play meat shield," she quipped, while Tatsuki stared on. Her body didn't lower, but her tail loosened as the ends of her hair gained a pink hue. "Besides, it's your honor to play protector don't make it seem like you aren't proud of yourself... Baka-nii!" the lass went on a proverbial tirade as the Dragonoid was being overtaken by one of her other Avatars.

[Bloodedge]

One question lingered in Kou's mind, and only Tatsuki and other versions of Kimiko had the answer. Was this visage acceptable to the lass? As he considered it, he supposed there was a single opinion that counted more than all others. He had to be appealing, right? Dealing with Tatsuki, he found himself uncertain as to what sort of answer would be given. What she gave was... menacing, in a way. It was the sort of answer he would have expected of Tamamo, albeit with a certain fierceness in place of the usual flirtatious vibes. Kou felt a single extreme pounding of his heartbeat, almost as if he feared being literally eaten. Did he, though? Not at all. His reaction was, simply put, one of anxiousness. He wondered what would come of this forward speech, if anything at all, but alas... it seemed Tatsuki's time was coming to an end. What a shame; he was actually warming up to the Dragonoid. "Arigatou. I won't forget hearing that, or that you were the one saying it. Ja ne," he said to bid the Dragon form of Kimiko farewell, welcoming the return of Tamamo.

Of course, a private discussion was never an option. Shuten had more to say yet. Though her words were true about the pride he felt in successfully performing as a 'tank' of sorts, she remained a thorn in his side for speaking them. "Sure, I'm pretty satisfied with what I was doing, but I'd hardly call it an honor. You could have taken a few clean hits without suffering much from it. If that happened, I'd have called this a perfect victory. Maybe next time~" he quipped, choosing once again to address his sister in such a way for the sake of... well, merely venting frustration he hardly even realized he had at the time.

[Apollymi]

Tatsuki was an interesting creature indeed. On the one hand she could practically smell the anxiousness oozing from this lad's pores at her statement, and on the other, he seemed genuinely pleased by what she had said. It truly was a shame that her time here was limited, if not, she might have found a proper outlet for her feelings. But alas, she'd been given a bit of leeway to rise here and now for only a couple of reasons, the first of which was to bestow this lad with garments which suited him and the other, well... She took a moment of pause and reached up to the side of the lad's face, which she'd hold and caress gently. His words moved her quite a bit, causing her eyes to flicker back to red once more. If only so she could speak fully for herself, holding off the shift back into Tamamo. "It's good that you won't forget... I won't always be bound by my own agreements, and then I'll prove it," she stated, with a strange quality in her eyes. "There is something undead and a wyrm beneath us, caught by paradox. They're trying to get our attention..." she murmured, while sniffing the air to confirm her statements. At the same time in absolute silence a gentle clanging and splashing could be heard along with a small muffled voice. And after giving this information everything continued and the hard visage of the Dragonoid fell away in a splash of water, leaving Tamamo standing there looking a little dazed. "Ara ara, I didn't expect so much from her... though," she gave a bit of pause. Much like her other selves she didn't have free access to the Dragonoid's memories. She remembered turning over control but not much else. Except the sound the Kitsune's ears were now picking up.

Kou's commentary would go unanswered by Shuten. Instead she exhaled that deeply intoxicating breath of hers to begin following the mist towards the sound. "Urusai! No one is trying to take any hits! Flawless victories are what we are here for! And obviously we aren't done yet, because what the hell is that noise!?" she mentioned having not really heard the words shared by the Dragonoid for some reason or another. That likely wouldn't be getting an explanation anytime soon. But what of the noise the wyrm and the undead? Below the Ryuchi Temple in a stagnant pool there was a small child in the middle of the tiny island. The water around her was clear but she couldn't touch it, it was holy. Instead she sat there frowning, unable to cross the water, unable to free her pet. Her golden eyes glowing even in the legitimate darkness. She had on a strange little helmet and a pair of aviator goggles and the smallest possible dress. The rattling chains, those belonged to a large wyrm, who had a collar around her neck, her size, stuck at that of a massive beast and unable to free itself. This pair was stuck. And required a bit of assistance.

[Bloodedge]

And so, there was an agreement to be made. Tatsuki spoke of her proof when the time came that she had no restraints, and if he were being honest, Kou strangely looked forward to that day. There was something else, though... something itching in the back of his mind, yet something he could not consciously access. Perhaps it would strike him soon. Whatever the case with his inner musings, Tatsuki brought his attention to a paradox trapping a special pair of beings somewhere beneath the temple. Some attempts were being made to acquire freedom by an undead, as well as a wyrm? How strange. Though, one could draw a few assumptions regarding why a wyrm of any sort would have been sealed beneath the Orochi's place of residence.

"Hmm. An undead, huh─" he thought aloud as Tamamo no Mae fully regained control of Kimiko's form. It would remain strange to see a Dragonoid parting so quickly after its appearance, but the quality of Tamamo's own existence spoke for itself when rationalizing that. "Weird. I couldn't even hear anything before," Kou said about the resonating sound of chains beneath the floor. Now that he could hear it, he could also make an effort to open his senses and get a feel for the culprit(s). There was no mistaking the wyrm after knowing what Dragons felt like, but there was something oddly familiar about that undead. Kou was eventually able to place a finger on the similarity he felt; it struck his senses in a similar way to Karna. No matter; it was probably worthwhile to do something about these trapped individuals. "Constraints is what the noise is. I do feel two very different sources under us, so... what do you two think? Worth checking them out while we're still here?"

[Apollymi]

When asked if the situation was worth checking out Tamamo gave it a little bit of consideration. Though it would be technically even more of a hassle than this already ardrous adventure was, it was also very likely to become more of a problem if they left it alone. "Proactivity is necessary in these moments, Mikon. Besides if what is down there is undead and problematic the other me can take care of it..." Tamamo mentioned. For some strange reason, Tamamo seemed to be a great facilitator within this particular place, and had no issue being the focal point of the switch of her other selves. She considered many possible scenarios and one of them said that Orochi was keeping a wyrm simply to avoid having another Dragonic creature roaming its land. Whatever this undead was, it was likely kept for similar reasons. "Eh? I can't tell if you two are talking about killing someone or picking up another pet!" these were the words of Shuten, but if she was being considered here as well she had little to say. "Either way, it sounds like it's decided. Adventure Extension!~" mumbled the purple haired lass and with that they were all in agreement about investigating the potential problem below them.

All the while the thrashing of the snake like wyrm continued. The glowing eyed blonde child in the middle of that lake of holy water murmured to calm her friend. "Shush, Sekris. It's alright. I am pretty sure they heard us... I hope we can convince them to let us out," the girl mentioned softly. Of course, the snake creature replied with a light tone and stopped splashing around so much. "In truth, the first bit was fear... The Dragon above was frightening enough that I wanted to move away," the words spoken came with a slight lisp but her point was made. How unusual, Sekris was a creature who wasn't afraid of Dragons even as a snake. The Orochi hadn't scared her, so what was this creature above that she was fearful of?

[Bloodedge]

"Fair," Kou said with a sigh. In all honesty, he knew it was best to at least investigate the situation below. He simply didn't want to do another thing here this day, but... surely one more task couldn't hurt, and he was fine with anything so long as the others were interested. Tamamo raised an excellent point as well; the Avatar Miki could easily deal with any problematic undead. If the wyrm happened to be a problem as well, there was nothing to fear. They had, after all, just defeated the thing which kept these creatures captive for whatever unknown amount of time.

And so, a consensus was reached. The trio would be inspecting the disturbance below the temple, to whatever end, so Kou decided to take the initiative. He stepped forward, skipping the middle and choosing to unsheathe his blade, funnel his mana through it, and carve a large enough hole in the floor for the entire trio to hop through. Of course, he then checked said hole for depth. It was dark; he couldn't see the bottom. All he could see, was something glowing and golden in the distance. Magic Gold? No, it couldn't have been that; there was even a slight movement to it that said otherwise. From what he understood, he could only assume this was the gaze of the undead... a vampire, specifically.

Now then, they still had to descend. After sheathing his sword, Kou extended his left arm to conjure a gust of wind via magic. This maneuver created something of a corridor to allow a gradual descent into the darkness, and an orb of light was created to hover near Kou and illuminate the nearby space while they moved. Kou, without further hesitation, hopped into the wind corridor. "Down the hatch, right? Whether we're eliminating or collecting, I guess we'll find out in just a minute~" the lad spoke to both girls in his company, all while making an accidentally, unnecessarily majestic descent toward their two targets.

[Apollymi]

It seemed they were all in agreement about at least checking out the situation below. And so Kou took the initiative to open up a way down for them, once it was open a wind tunnel was created into a deep and piercing darkness. The only thing visible a pair of shining golden eyes. The whole into that place was looked up to as Kou began his descent with the other two in tow. An orb of light and the descent of a lad with an angelic face, an Oni with flesh horns and a Kitsune. The brightness of those golden eyes flickered as they looked up and this particular creature blinked. As they came closer and closer they would find that those large eyes belonged to a small body. Smaller even than the body of Shuten-doji. Long blonde hair would be found ruffled at the ends below a cap held tight by a pair of aviator goggles. The majestic descent made the lass bow her head slightly though they couldn't look away. "Sugoi, he looks like a real hero... and they don't look bad either. Maybe..." there was a pause from the small girl she wasn't sure how this was going to work out. She was already small and unintimidating.

Shuten for her part in this looked surprised as this girl came into view on the small island in the middle of a lake of holy water. The wrym chained up to the left shook against the wall. "Eh? Tama-nee are you sure this kid is undead. She looks younger than I do!" she managed seeming surprised. Tamamo for her part in this never touched the ground and had taken the path offered her. But all the while she stared into the darkness at that small child with discontent. "I am very certain. It is obvious enough. Though there is something more pressing at hand. Mikon, did you see..." she asked of the lad. She'd scanned this girl under her Nexus vision and found a couple of problems with what she saw. The first of which, was that this small girl was a player with the username 'Serene_Aviator'. That name itself wasn't one that was recognized but that much didn't really matter. There was one other thing she could tell by looking at this child and that was the ominous feeling around her which was cemented in red by Nexus vision. 1:0 was in red by her name, making that her Kill to Death Ratio. This lass had killed at least one person, one player by this worlds established mechanics. And she was imprisoned, she saw the glint in the eyes of the young pink haired woman. "Wait! I can explain. It really isn't what you think... I just don't want to be down here anymore. I won't hurt anyone, I promise." she mentioned. She darted her own eyes away so they wouldn't think she was being aggressive. The snake chose to speak now. "Please give her a chance to explain. My Mistress isn't bad." What neither of these two could know, was that the people here at least the two young women were withholding judgement in the moment.

[Bloodedge]

Down they went, along a path which made clear their target(s) over time. They drew closer not only to a wyrm, but primarily to... a small, blonde girl? One should almost consider it ridiculous that she managed to be smaller than Kou's 'Loli Bait' sister in her current form, but there was indeed something interesting about this undead girl. Was she truly undead? There was hardly room to question such a thing in Kou's mind; she even smelled different when compared to the normal humanoids of any sort. More pressing though, was a thing that went beyond the race and type of this... Avatar. 'H'oh? Player Killer?' Kou thought as he, too, inspected the girl more thoroughly. "Sou ka."

How laughable. She wanted to explain herself for her kill/death ratio? Clearly then, it wasn't something that simply carried over to this world from her video game experience. Now that Kou thought about it, his own would have been ridiculous if that were possible. Regardless, even the wyrm in this girl's company desired an opportunity for her situation to be explained. Kou seemed just slightly bothered as his boots finally made contact with the floor of this little island, and his sword was unsheathed once more. His expression was deadpan while viewing the little vampire. Silence fell, and silence lingered. That brief look of confusion became one of contemplation, leading to one grand conclusion on the behalf of Kou, and for the sake of all present. "Don't care," he said, and with a single swing of his sword, he... unleashed a crescent of mana upon the chain keeping the wyrm hostage. Frankly, he wondered if such a thing would even be capable of breaking it. If it wasn't, he would simply try something else, but everyone presently beneath the temple had obviously been here far too long; Kou was clearly no exception to this.

No more.

[Apollymi]

Tamamo watched the look over Kou's face shift as he thought over what was being said. It was enough for her that they wished to explain, it wasn't likely that either had a terrible reason for the killing of another player. As far as Tamamo was concerned she didn't actually know if she had such a rating to other players given the fact that one of her Avatars slayed the player Rook. Shuten thought about it as well, and figured that a girl this small had a good reason to kill someone. She'd spent her 'childhood' in this world and knew it wasn't always a kind place, and respected anyone who had the firmness to kill another player.

All the while the small girl looked a bit scared. There was so much silence, and she couldn't really tell what anyone here was thinking. She fidgeted her fingers dancing over the bottom of her dress as she tried to find the right words to express herself. That anxious movement only became more so as the sound of the lad unsheathing his weapon was heard. Her head dropped in the moment. 'He doesn't care.' she frowned deeply, bloody tears welling up in her eyes. She hadn't fed in a long time. She didn't have the strength to fight, nor the strength to cross the holy water. She wouldn't play the game of their captors. There was nothing she could do. She resigned herself to the idea someone might come kill them eventually, but she had hoped... "Sou ka... I understand... I am a monster after all," she mumbled closing her eyes tight, waiting for the coming blow. Nothing happened though. What she heard in the moment was the chains rattling as the lad tried to cut them with a crescent of energy. She was surprised he'd tried, but it still didn't work. "Na-ni?" she questioned softly surprised by what was going on. "Baka-nii, for a guy with a younger sister, you're terrible at reading the room. You could have explained better!~" mentioned Shuten. "What he meant was, he doesn't really care if you killed a player or not. I'm pretty sure none of us do, but we're tired of being here and Nii-san is annoyed so he's just trying to leave, but we won't leave you down here or anything..." she said softly, while looking back at Tamamo trying to comfort the lass, which made the fox lass nod.

A soft hiss would come from the snake creature in the moment but it was much more laugh-like than one might expect. "Shshshshshshshsh~ That's pretty funny. They are good people after all, Mistress. Your powers haven't failed you yet!" mentioned the snake. The small girl looked up with so much hope in her eyes and nodded. "Sekris..." the happiness of the snake put the lass at ease, just a little. "The Orochi put us here, because he couldn't trust us. We failed his test for us. I wouldn't kill her and she wouldn't kill me and he wouldn't accept us both. I said both of us or neither and he placed us here and said he'd give us an out in case we changed our minds..." she explained the situation. "I have to walk off this island, but I can't cross holy water, nor over it, it burns my skin. The only way I can walk off this island is if the water is defiled, and the only way to defile it is to..." she deeply frowned. it would be Tamamo who filled in this information with knowledge she stole from her other self. "Eh, you'd have to sacrifice your wyrm here. The death of an innocent could taint Holy water enough for it to be crossed, right?" she said which made the small girl nod her head. "Mistress didn't like that option and I won't act on the other either. These chains can't be broken and I am locked in my current size so I can't slip out... they can only be unlocked by the blood of one who has killed another..." said the snake. Shuten looked at this pair and sighed, her brother was going to have a fit. She knew what he'd think of this situation, but what could they do about it?

[Bloodedge]

The girl said something about being a monster after Kou's claim of not caring for the situation. What was this? Well, leave it to Shuten to point out her brother's lack of delicacy. He was simply tired of the long quest series they had let themselves be dragged into, and would rather move to a more lax venue before any amount of discussion happened. Alas, this would not be allowed. Kou's slash did nothing to sever the wyrm's binding chain, and it seemed no simple maneuver would be able to do the trick in general. "Urusai, Loli Bait. I read the room just fine, but I'd rather act now and talk later."

Sadly, talking later was not an option either. This entire chamber was a trap designed to pit the undead and wyrm against one another, allowing only one of them to leave by the Orochi's design. Either one killed the other to remove their own constraints, or both would be bound for a virtual eternity; it was a repulsive notion. Kou couldn't see the Holy Water being much of an issue at all, but the wyrm's shackles were a different problem entirely. It was locked by a blood seal? That could have been fine, if not for the specific requirement on said seal. Worse yet, the blonde girl seemed so utterly defeated in moments prior... there was no way she had the strength, whether physical or mental, to even draw the blood of another at this point. "Fuck. Of course there's something dumb like that going on here. I should have just stayed as Giyu at this rate," he commented. Apparently, his answer to everything was simply to seethe. Outrage removed itself as an option before this information was even revealed; there was nothing more the Orochi could do here.

The specifications on the lock were still just a bit too vague. By the blood of one who killed another, did it require one's life blood? Surely the Orochi couldn't have come up with something that sought the blood of a Player Killer while being of this world himself, so only the single curiosity remained. Ah, but what an important curiosity it was. Time and time again while Kou thought this over, he glanced in the blonde's direction. "The blood of a killer, huh? That's a little... convenient. Anyone else think so?" the lad questioned, fixing his gaze fully on the blonde thereafter. "You were given an easy out ages ago. If you wanted your friend here freed, you could have offered your own blood to the chains. Did he make sure you were too starved to even damage yourself before putting you here?"

[Apollymi]

"Urusai, Nii-san I'm not a Loli!" the purple haired girl whined. What strange people these were but obviously good. Apparently she'd simply misunderstood, he didn't intend to kill her. What was more everyone in the room seemed to be quite capable of thinking through the entire situation. There was an utterance from the lad about how he should have stayed as a certain other face, if he was going to be this annoyed. This gained a bit of a chuckle from the pink haired lass who seemed to be in deep thought about something. She didn't have a problem with any face this lad chose to present, even so, this current face had the most people skills. Not that it mattered, so far one of two things needed to happen, either the snake's seal needed to be broken by someone with the blood of a killer or holy water needed to be tainted.

Kou seemed to be thinking rather well about the situation, and what he said was indeed true, the paradox was a bit convenient to be such a hassle. "Hai hai, that applies to her she could have freed the wyrm and the wyrm could free her in return," Tamamo mentioned. "Yeah, I mean no going up through the ceiling but they could have figured out a way to get by the Holy Water at least..." said Shuten thinking about it logically. The blonde lass looked up with those golden eyes of hers and thought about how best to answer his inquiry. She wasn't starved specifically by Orochi, that was something which had happened incidentally. "I... felt guilty about the last time... so I hadn't eaten since I wound up here..." the lass said still managing to look fidgety. "I... also don't want to bite anyone who doesn't taste good so..." the girl's face had a light flush upon it. She was probably the same of a lot of vampires given her pickiness and her inability to feed. She didn't have much to show for being a vampire at all, and she'd been captured in such a rudimentary trap she could hardly argue with anyone. She was still in quite a bad way mentally and her childish body was proof of this. This lead to a strange conclusion or two in the mind of Tamamo, who made the assumption the lass had last fed upon whomever it was she killed.

[Bloodedge]

"A lying loli who baits the masses," Kou retorted without so much as a second of hesitation. He was never going to stop referring to his sister as the loli she was, especially since doing so clearly got under her skin. Banter and insults aside, there was so much to consider here and now. The vampire and wyrm had to be freed before they moved on, and Kou's mind was procedurally thinning the list of options down to only those he could consider viable. In the end, there were very few that didn't involve too great a sacrifice.

Luckily, there was a single beacon of hope. The blonde claimed she had not fed as a vampire for quite some time, even before the Orochi trapped her here. After fighting the Orochi, he had a good measure for its intelligence. A vampire that was significantly weakened could normally only gather enough strength for a feeding via frenzy. If that clause remained true here, there was a very simple solution to everything. All he had to do was...

"Sou ka," he said while tugging on his left glove, removing it during an approach made to the vampire. Once the glove was off, Kou rubbed his forefinger against the edge of his blade to create a small cut. Out went his hand thereafter, with Kou offering the scent of his blood to this vampire girl. For the time being, he only wondered if she would find his blood appealing enough to try. If she did desire the blood of a half-Celestial Witcher, he knew exactly which plan to enact right away. "What do you think, then? Good enough to pass for an entrée?"

[Apollymi]

"Says the NEET! Baka-nii!!" was the immediate retort of Shuten. Aside from their sibling spat, it seemed to her the best possible answer would be to feed the small vampire and let the rest take care of itself. Of course, this would mean someone had to offer up a bit of blood, and it was most likely going to be her brother. A sigh left the lass as she knew of this move even before the white haired lad removed his glove and cut his finger. 'Oi oi, you can't just offer yourself as food to a random stranger in front of the girl you like...' though the lass, she was practically palming her face. If Tamamo took that whole thing the wrong way, there could be dire consequences. And by dire, the purple haired lass thought about her brother losing standing with the young woman as the worst possible outcome.

In the meantime Tamamo was sorting through her inventory, looking for potential methods of tainting the Holy Water in case the lass turned down the feeding. And preparing to offer herself as well. She'd already thought through the idea of having to feed the little vampire and committed it to mind. She supposed it would have also be possible technically to offer her own blood to the chains as she'd killed another player under her name as well. Only she didn't remember whether or not she actually showed having a kill streak or not. 'I don't remember getting any odd looks upon meeting players. I guess I should assume I don't have one. Or maybe it doesn't count because there is no penalty for killing monstrous races? Or it could be different because Rook hacked the game and was considered at the time as an NPC and that doesn't seem to count for us either...' there were plenty of possibilities and none of them seemed particularly farfetched. She'd confirm that shortly as well.

And then there was the vampire child who tilted her head gently to the side as if confused by this lad's approach. And it would remain that way until the slice of his finger which was held in front of her face. In that moment a blood red tint filled her eyes and her stomach growled audibly. She was quite surprised by the reaction as she hadn't had such a thing in quite a while and turned abruptly to hide her embarrassed face. That being said her fangs had already extended and she was practically salivating. This man's blood smelled beyond good... she could only imagine how good he would taste. Still, she wasn't a rude person by her nature and she was still quite shy so she tried to play it a bit cooler than that. When she turned back around she was looking down her fingers slipping around each other multiple times in rapid succession. It took her a moment and a slight lisp was created because of the extension of the fangs within her mouth. "It ssseems like you would make a pretty good meal. But I ah... wouldn't want to impose or anything..." she said. There was another audible growl of her stomach, the poor thing truly was starving but trying hard not to be too strange about it. She was also avoiding attacking anyone standing almost frozen in place. "Ara ara, that's a lot of self-control..." she mentioned, knowing that if this child was this hungry and not in a frenzy then, she was of no real threat to the masses either.

[Bloodedge]

Indeed, the small vampire's restraint while fresh blood hung in front of her face was a sign of how easily she could be trusted. For her to claim his blood would be satisfactory without losing herself to instinct, Kou could confidently make a proper offering. On the other hand, his plan had a great potential for requiring two stages. Without donning his glove again just yet, the young male lowered his sword and took a knee before the vampire. Before releasing his weapon, however, the hand which held it produced a glowing dust which lingered on the handle. Only when that was in place, did he look to the blonde again while tugging his shirt's collar away.

"Don't think about it too much. My blood should be pretty potent by now. Take what you need, and..." He paused, looking toward the chained wyrm and considering the rest of his plan. There was more to be said, but the remainder of his words were spoken as a whisper. "If it takes all you've got to free your friend, take more without thinking about it. I'll be fine," he added with a cheeky wink. With all that said and done, Kou leaned forward and offered his nape. Judging by the extension of this girl's fangs, she would have no problem breaking his flesh even while she resisted the frenzy. Additionally, if she happened to go a bit too far after she began drinking... Well, it seemed he wasn't worried at all about the outcome. "Go on; drink your fill."

[Apollymi]

It seemed that Kou was preparing something and planted his sword in the ground while having a hushed conversation with the little vampire. He went on to undo his collar and offer the lass a drink directly from the nape of his neck. The blonde lass took in his words and her eyes widened just a bit. He knew she might take too much and was still offering anyways? He knew it was possible she might need more afterwards and didn't tell her to fend for herself but said she could take it from him. The young lass' eyes sparkled at their normal golden color and for the first time in a long time, her empathy kicked in fully. She knew and understood this lad in the moment and they were on the same wavelength. She'd accept his gift then and help her friend. "H-hai. Itadakimasu!~" said the child vampire as she cuddled into the lad's neck and after finding the right spot pierced the flesh with her fangs. In so doing she opened the tap for herself and began to drink. Her body gaining color and her eyes gaining more power. This lad was indeed the best meal she'd had in quite a while, better than even her first meal in this world. It was sweet, and powerful and a bit aromatic like it was spiced. And she was content to drink her fill in the moment.

All the while Shuten scoffed having a minor heart-attack multiple times over for several different reasons. 'Oi oi, I know she's a kid, but did you have to let her drink directly from your neck?! That's hella intimate Baka-nii. Nee-san's gonna abandon us! I'm going back to being stuck with you and only you... just out here giving away the goods to strange children. Lolicon. Baka. NEET!!!' there was a breakdown in the mind of Shuten that she couldn't even begin to process properly. How much damage control was going to be necessary? She was going to need to host another meeting, make sure this little vampire knew she wasn't to try and put the moves on her brother. 'Ugh, what if she's a lolihag? We've been making the assumption she's a kid, but she could be 1600 or something and trying to use my brother for his idiot blood!' she thought unfavorably of the lad's potential outcomes. All the while, the opinion of Tamamo on this wasn't unfavorable. She saw this act as one of chivalry and beyond that nothing that she wouldn't have done herself if confronted with a similar child. Beyond this she saw such thinking and offerings as strictly apart of who the lad was by his nature, and as such wasn't upset about this at all. Beyond all of that, the lass known as Ashikaga Kimiko was insecure about many things, but that didn't include her dealings with this lad. And she wasn't insecure at all in thinking about how she stacked up to other girls so even his free offering of his blood to this child wasn't something which concerned her a great deal.

Though it might have seemed like it lasted quite a long time, the blonde lass eventually pulled back and a gentle flick of the bite sealed it well enough. She'd managed at the last interval a calming effect to keep it from being too much of a wound for the lad. And now with all the power back in her body and a bit more than that she felt pretty good. Well, that wasn't exactly true, this lad's blood was exceedingly potent. She felt stronger than she had in quite a while and she hadn't really had more to drink than she normally took from victims even in her starved state. The lad probably would barely notice the blood loss, though her little belly extended like she'd eaten a full course meal. "Gochisosamadeshita!" she exclaimed before walking towards her chained snake. Now she could manipulate her body, she could easily offer blood to the locking mechanism to free her. And of course, she would. She ran her hand over her wrist cutting it length wise so that the blood would freely run down her palm and onto the chains. As it did, the blood filled the chains groves causing them to begin lighting up link by link as they filled. Given the length of the chain it would take most of the blood in the girl's body to get them all alight, but it didn't matter to her. She was going to free her friend. The wyrm for her part in this, seemed a little confused about the entire ordeal but if they were to be free and no one had to die, she was accepting of this outcome.

[Bloodedge]

A subtle nod came from Kou when it became apparent that his offering would be taken. The contingencies were in place, and all he needed to do now was wait until the plan's next segment. Before that, though, he would be given confirmation of something else. During Shuten's mental tirade, Kou received a bite... and with it, came a revelation. A wince naturally occurred during the piercing of his flesh, but it was immediately followed by a curious glance at the blonde through the corner of his eye. He almost seemed to be in disbelief, albeit not quite. 'Huh─' he thought. Moving on, it seemed the draining would not continue beyond an acceptable time frame. Blood stopped leaving Kou's body at such a time as to leave him feeling the drainage, though not quite more than a bit woozy. He took a seat on the ground after the bite mark was sealed by the vampire's tongue. It was not yet time to reach for that sword; he felt as if he might need it momentarily.

And so, the young Witcher observed the ritual meant to unseal the blonde's wyrm companion. The way she chose to offer her blood was also something worth a curious glance, but Kou had nothing to say aloud. No, he was content to view the wyrm's freedom in progress. From what he saw already, it looked as if he would indeed be offering dessert to this... little vampire.

[Apollymi]

Kou wasn't the only one taking in information. Even after the supposed feeding, Tamamo was watching and the thing she found most curious was the method this lass chose to bleed herself. Children would do something a bit less... drastic than a full slitting of the wrist. Even younger teens might not realize the proper way to do it initially, which was the main reason most suicide attempts never saw fruition. Given the act this lass committed against herself, she was obviously a lot older than her current appearance let on. 'Hm, I wonder if she likes being a kid or if it was a side effect of ending up here? I guess it could also have something to do with her KD...' the kitsune wondered. All the while the same information was being processed by Shuten in a very different way. 'She's a HAG!!! Definitely have to lay down the ground rules. Can't have this super creeper loli getting in the way of true love...' though Shuten. 'Baka-nii had the nerve to call me a trap. That's a trap!!' the purple haired lass though with a bit of obvious anxiety.

Moving right along, the blonde haired girl was watching as the links in the chain continued to glow in sequence. With the amount and potency of the blood now flowing through her veins her powers were all accessible to her again. She could feel the emotions of those around her due to her vampire empathy. And while no one was hostile or hateful they were all curious or plotting. There wasn't anything negative about any of it. The purple haired girl was authorative and anxious while the pink haired kitsune seemed to just be curious. The white haired man was also curious but more than that... his mind was working quickly he felt a bit witty. She'd likely have to explain herself to keep anyone from having the wrong idea about her. And beyond all of that she could feel the excitement of the serpent as the last of the chain links was reached and the glow hit a fervor which finally allowed them to shatter. "Sekris!" she uttered excitedly as the snake slithered around her shrinking in size down to one tolerable by her small body as her blood slowed and the wound on her arm began to close with the last of her extra energy. "I am here, Mistress! Though you look weak. Will you be alright?" asked the snake as the lass rubbed under her chin with one finger. "Hai..." she said as she walked over to the lad once more and peeked over his seated shoulder with those large eyes of hers. "Gomen, it was more than I thought it would be..." she mentioned before rather swiftly sinking her fangs into a spot a little ways away from her original bite. She'd feed a bit more, enough to not feel like she'd kill over if she took too many steps.

'WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAA!' the mind of Shuten almost broke as this childish blonde walked up to her brother and immediately took another bite of him like he was a fast food meal. The intensity of her thought and the feeling behind it made the vampire child look at her with her brows furrowing slightly, she didn't understand the surprise.

[Bloodedge]

Drip by drip, the seal was filled until the chains shattered. It was done; the wyrm had been freed of its confines, and without much fuss at all. Between the wyrm and this vampire, there seemed to be a decent amount of satisfaction radiating outward. Ah, but Kou was right. The blonde girl returned to him after a quick exchange with the wyrm, announcing that it had taken a bit more than she anticipated to break the seal. Luckily for Kou, this was well within his expectations. He didn't even flinch as teeth sank into his neck a second time. Of course, he did check to make sure his sword was still in reaching distance during the vampire's second feeding today.

He'd be fine. Kou's plan was a surefire one, even as his vision began to darken over time. Whatever amount of blood was needed, that was what he would offer. If this vampire happened to drain him fully to death before stopping, perhaps that would be a hindrance to the plan... but she had already earned the lad's trust; that wouldn't happen. In fact, he had enough faith in her already that he whispered one more clause while in such close proximity. "Don't worry about it. Drink until you're at the top of your game; got me?"

[Apollymi]

Her second feeding was already beginning but not without a few more words from the lad she was taking this meal from. Apparently, he was fine with the idea of her feeding herself as much as she needed to. She could feel from him that he was being honest about this and there was an underlying feeling of trust there. This was quite strange. Most people were naturally fearful of monstrous races. More so than that, the fact that she knew he was being honest about it was a bit comforting. This group had already helped her quite a bit, they'd slayed the Orochi above, helped her free her friend and now the additional offer to feed her more than just what she needed? That was heartwarming. Even with the purple haired lass staring daggers at her, she assumed given the way they spoke to each other, she was just worried about him. She wouldn't hurt them or anything, so she'd explain afterwards. This feeding was equal in length to the first one, though she tried to maintain a certain level of gentleness so as not to invoke panic or leave the lad unconsious while she fed.

All the while Tamamo was simply thinking about a great many things. The first of which was the age of this girl which given what she was seeing was more within the normal range for the type of game they'd been playing. Beyond that, there were the extra circumstances that led them here? She wondered if this lass would need a ride, she'd mentioned only landing here perhaps there was somewhere else she wanted to go? Ah, that was something to be talked about when her meal was finished. All the while, Shuten was scathing. The longer all this went on the more she thought about the amount of extra work it would be to keep this pair from freaking out. 'I know what I'll do, I'll set up one of those incidental moments to leave them alone together again. Yeah... and then I'll talk to the Lolihag and make sure she knows he's off limits!' the plan was cemented in the mind of the purple haired lass. But she'd find out eventually it wasn't necessary. While she fed she fine tuned her empathy, and felt between this group strange bonds. The white haired male and purple haired lass shared a bond of siblingship. But the pink haired kitsune and the white haired male, they shared a completely different kind of emotional bond. That one was a nice warm feeling she hadn't felt herself in quite a while. She wondered if they knew what it was? How rare and special it was... how envious others would be? Maybe she'd watch a bit and see. A few moments later she pulled away, having eaten her fill and nudged a drop of blood from the counter to her mouth into it with her index finger. "Arigatou na!~" she said happily with that same distended belly from before.

She then had the grace to look a bit embarrassed. "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Alezia, and this is Sekris! Thanks for saving us!" she said giving an incline of her head to the group as a whole.

[Bloodedge]

More blood left him, but Kou received an interesting little gift in the meantime. He expected the vampire girl to refrain from going too far wit this feeding, but it seemed she took extra care to leave his consciousness intact. Good; she proved her trustworthiness even more with a choice like that. When she finally finished, Kou felt as if he'd donated just a few more times than one would be allowed at a blood drive, but that was alright. After all, this girl was in a worse state when they arrived. He couldn't even imagine being in a state like this, while also feeling an incredible hunger. Whatever the case, the ashen-haired male reached for his sword. The moment he touched its hilt, the glowing dust enshrouded his arm and extended along his body. Of the group here, it would be Shuten who could potentially recognize this as the Fairy Dust he made use of during their last adventure together. The dust rejuvenated his body over time, and took only seconds to make him capable of standing since there were no proper injuries to be healed.

Ah, and once he did rise to his feet... it was time to set another plan in motion. Kou's gloveless hand landed atop the newly-introduced vampire's head gently, and he offered a genuine smile. All things here had been done in good faith, yes, but there were always more important things on the horizon. "Yoroshiku, Alezia. Don't think about it too much, remember?" he asked. Before any additional words left his mouth, Kou averted his gaze. What would he view now? The one called Sekris was a wyrm─ a creature that was very closely related to Dragons. How interesting it was that these two were so close, and how nicely it related to other things Kou noticed during this encounter. "My name is Kou. This is Tamamo no Mae, and Shuten-doji. You two don't have a goal on your journey, do you?"

[Apollymi]

"Oi, if you have the sense to prep Fairy Dust, think a little harder Baka-nii!!" mentioned Shuten who was still outraged and feeling a bit spiteful as a result. Such a strange family that pair of siblings were, still introductions were being made. Her head had been bowed a bit, but she was more than a bit surprised when the lad's gentle hand came to rest atop her head. How strange was it that he was being this nice? That he was truly this nice? He told her not to think about it too much so she didn't. She simply smiled sheepishly afterwards, this situation was getting more and more weird by the moment. He introduced the young women by names this land recognized but gave himself the name of Kou. He looked towards Sekris, and the serpent now a more appropriate size nodded its head.

When asked if the pair had a goal for their journey Alezia looked about once again. "Iie, I only came down here because I heard Sekris. She was in a pool on top of one of the mountains. She understood how I felt so we were living in the woods for a while. But then that creepy spider moved in so we descended a bit further and were captured by Orochi who thought we were spies or something. I want to travel more and show Sekris what the world is like. But I wasn't sure yet where I wanted to go," mentioned Alezia, who also just didn't want to deal with her past at all and would rather be far away from it. Clear as day, Tamamo saw where this was going and walked up beside Kou looking at the blonde lass with soft golden eyes. "Ara ara, so you had one of Dragonkin speak to you and she accepted you? That's a pretty rare occurance. Nice work," she mentioned as a compliment to the lass, who managed to look a bit bashful, because she knew the compliment came from a genuine place. "I'm classed as a Rider so I make friends with lots of animals pretty easily. Sekris is the first creature I befriended out in the world. I didn't now she was Dragonkin until Orochi got suspicious..." she mentioned. That was a strange class for a vampire to take, but the face beneath Tamamo enjoyed ingenuity. Shuten watched this whole thing playing out and scoffed. "Fufu~ you two sound like you're about to pick up another stray... " she said though her tone was less bitter than it had initially been. After all, if this girl was close by she could just run diversions to keep her away from her brother, so there was less to be upset about.

[Bloodedge]

"Oi, nobody asked you shit! What are you even talking about?!" he asked. As much of a genius prodigy as he was, it seemed there was one thing he would always miss. Whatever was on Shuten's mind, he didn't seem to know. More importantly, there would soon be an offering. Tamamo managed to be onboard enough to take his side, literally. Kou offered her a glance and a grin, knowing that she had reached the same conclusion he had. When they first encountered this pair, the wyrm Sekris referred to Alezia as mistress. For any member of Dragonkin to do such a thing, there was a level of subservience not commonly found even in the Rider Class. Upon receiving confirmation that these two had no set goal, and in fact wished to travel, Kou's mind was made up. Of course, Shuten realized what was happening here as well. Kou had an inkling that this would be an accepted matter all-around, but there was one member of their group he could never refrain from checking with. 'So, what do you think?' he asked within the mind of Tamamo, just after meeting her gaze. 'All things considered, I don't think it's worth questioning whether she's trustworthy or not. Someone accepted by Dragonkin could probably make our ship a little friendlier while we do pretty much the same thing they were planning on doing.'

[Apollymi]

Her brother's response to her prodding let Shuten know two things. The first of which was she'd managed to irritate him, which was always a goal. And the second and most important thing... that he hadn't even considered what his actions could have potentially looked like to his love interest. The girl openly palmed her own face, she really couldn't believe this lad's lack of tact when it came to his budding relationship. She'd though to stay out of it for the most part, but it seemed she would always end up running interference when it came to others girls. Though the lass known to the other world as Ashikaga Kimiko didn't at all seem phased by this particular instance, it might be possible she wasn't going to make much of a fuss. She'd been warned by the lass' best friend that the woman would occasionally just withdraw instead of dealing with confrontation she didn't see as worthwhile. Definitely had to make sure to set up that alone time, for them and make sure that this girl was properly indoctrinated once she was adopted.

After Tamamo stepped up beside him Kou smiled. Alezia looked at the lad with those large eyes of hers and the light in them, aged her quite a bit. There was more than childlike curiosity behind those eyes, there was knowledge and understanding of what was emotionally within this pair. Ah, and that spark of warmth she felt between them was indeed something they understood and reciprocated. They even managed to feel as if they were respecting each other. This wasn't simply some strange entanglement or love affair, there was a genuine and mutual respect between these two individuals. As this pair looked at each other and had a conversation none present could hear the child sized lass looked at the pair with raised brow. She'd never seen two people look at each other this way before.

As for the actual question being asked, Tamamo almost laughed aloud. 'That isn't worth asking. Though I do appreciate you thinking of me, Mikon...' Even in their quiet mental chat the lass was still flirty, still she'd give her opinion in as concise a manner as possible. 'She's definitely seeming like she'd make a reasonable helmsman for the ship. And if it will keep us from any more untimely crash landings I am all for it,' she said her gaze softened just slightly as her eyes shifted left. 'Besides she looks like she's had a rough time since coming here... no reason she can't start off better now~' she concluded. Tamamo would literally only take a few seconds to come up with a precise deal and offerings for pay for the lass. As well as being willing to part with most things that would help make her transition smooth if she was willing to travel with them, taking the position of the helmsman on their ship.

[Bloodedge]

'There's no reason I wouldn't ask. I figured you were onboard, but there's no point in a partnership without communication, right?' he asked, though seemingly in rhetoric. True enough though, there were many positives that could be taken from taking in the vampire and her companion. Kou was quite certain she would primarily be a boon when it came to reaching new destinations without the ship making its own rash decisions, and he even considered that the ship may have been generally a bit picky about its helmsman anyway. Maybe they were indeed guided here for the sake of meeting this girl who conversed with Dragonkin so easily.

Now then, if they had an agreement, there was no reason not to let the vampire herself be privy to the plan. Kou sheathed his sword, having recovered enough to have no worries. Afterwards, he began slipping his hand back into his glove, deciding to deliver the news to Alezia. "Well, we travel a lot. We were actually on our way to new lands when our airship uh... changed its mind and led us here. Why don't we help each other out? Our ship has the soul of a Dragon, and I get the feeling you'd really like to steer it. You could take the helm, and all of us could share some great adventures! Sounds like a sweet deal, yeah?"

[Apollymi]

A cheeky smirk crossed Tamamo's lips at this lad's reply to her statements. Of course, he would say that, and even though it was all in rhetoric she still really appreciated that he respected her opinions enough to clear such things with her. She showed him an equal amount of respect in all things as well. Given this the balance of their relationship was easily maintained. Still there was a matter of delivering potentially good news to the lass so they could continue to talk from this point outside of their space. Alezia for her part in this watched the pair of them stare at each other quite intensely. And then they rather suddenly stopped, and Kou began putting on his gloves. He began speaking to the blonde lass and she looked at him in confusion. "You have a ship with a Dragon Soul?!" there was a sudden amount of childlike excitement in this lass. Wait, there was more than that... he was offering to let her pilot this ship?! She could pilot this ship he was talking about and travel with them. A hushed whisper would ensue as the pair of Alezia and Sekris talked. "See, I told you Mistress... you can trust your instincts!" the snake said. "I mean sure... but it feels like its a lot right? Like they'd really just let me travel with them... " she murmured to the wyrm. "Oi oi, let me save you a bit of trouble. Nii-san and Nee-san are quite serious. They really will let you pilot the ship. Hell, Nee-san would probably pay you a salary and get you anything you want. Besides all that, they have a problem leaving people behind that prove themselves to be reasonable people. And they are at least entertaining to mess with..." she said to clear up anything else. She looked back at the snake on her side who nodded her approval of this plan and as such the pair looked back at Kou and Tamamo. She could feel the honesty of this pair and she'd really like to do this. She held her hands together in front of her and twisted her fingers together.

"Um... I think we'd really like that if you guys are sure it won't be a problem. I'd really like to see the ship and travel with you guys... if you're really okay with it," she mentioned softly. She thought they might not really want a vampire in such closed in spaces with them. "But you know what I am... are you really okay with that?"

[Bloodedge]

"We do. It's a pretty big airship, lots of rooms... It's basically a mansion in the sky, like Grimoire Hearts' base or someth─" Kou paused in the middle of his explanation, realizing he'd spoken a reference that may or may not be understood. The longest he'd spoken with anyone before this, or realistically at any point since reaching this world, had been with an Avatar belonging to Kimiko. It seemed he had gotten a bit too comfortable, and started simply saying things without considering the likelihood of his conversation partner being clueless. "Er... yeah, big flying mansion thing."

Reprehensive was the vampire girl, having questions as to whether the group would accept her or not. Kou hadn't been so confused since arriving here at Ryozanpaku; had she really not realized yet? The male sighed, having heard enough of this already. Their group consisted of numerous types with plentiful oddities, even including a bard Kou himself chose to take as his Apprentice Holy Knight. A vampire girl with some restraint wasn't going to put a damper on their group dynamic at all. "You just drank out of my neck twice, and that's what you're worried about? Ikuze," he said while walking past the blonde, making use of his magic to strengthen the very same wind corridor he conjured earlier. At its current output, they could all simply jump into it and rise through the hole above. "Vampire, Dragon, Ghoul, Ogre... nobody cares what you decide to be. You're trustworthy, so we'll take you in."

[Apollymi]

"Grimoire...Hearts?" there was curiosity in the lass. She was a bit of a nerd by most accounts but she didn't in general move outside of her own realm of media. Hers of choice being movies... Alezia was a big movie buff. At the same time as the curiosity was expressed Tamamo started thinking aloud just a tad having her own sort of nerd moment. "Hm, it is a lot like Grimoire Heart's... I wonder if Kaiba has something to tell us. Tsu-chan is quite obsessed with that series and its tragic love story~" she said with a teasing quality in her voice which shifted to sound more like the other lass at the mention of tragedy. She'd make sure to poke that at Kaiba the next time he decided to burst into a room she was in unannounced. There was a bit of a comment from the lad after he thought about what he said, apparently it was a big flying mansion which seemed fine to her over all. She felt a strange amount of acceptance from all of these people. Even the purple haired girl who she was quite sure didn't like her at all a few minutes prior to this.

She looked at this lad as he made his claims and walked past her towards that air corridor. It was true, he'd allowed her to feed herself twice, but that could have just been to free her. Perhaps others had their own ideas about who should and shouldn't be allowed to live with them. Perhaps it was only shallow? They'd only just met. But... Looking at him and the others interact she felt very deeply that it wasn't an act. She wasn't going to wake up later and have them change their minds. She padded along after them, and Tamamo fell in line beside her a starry portal opening out of which came strangely an umbrella, the sort carried by ladies of the Japanese courts to keep the sun off their skin. "Here. It's still light out wouldn't want you to get burned or anything," she mentioned knowing that most vampires had a weakness to sunlight. Given the amount of time the girl had spent without food, she figured she might be alright for the now setting sun, but one could never be too careful. Alezia looked at this gift with raised brows. "I don't burn in the sun, but it does irritate me still. Arigatou gozaimasu. I'll return it when we get there..." she offered which made Tamamo look at her strangely. "No need. Keep it, it isn't like this is the only time you'll go outside~" Tamamo teased gently. Alezia felt no ill-intent. This lass would really just give away any random item if she thought it would be helpful and she didn't expect it to be returned. What a weird group of people. "Oi, we need wings. I'm tired of jumping and walking and well everything!" were the words of Shuten, who complained as they aimed to depart. Her idea was a fairly sound one perhaps someone could do something about it later.

[Bloodedge]

"..." Kou fell silent when discovering that the female Kaiba was an enjoyer of the series Fairy Tail, which Miki clearly knew as well, unlike their new vampire comrade. If Kaiba Seto had made any connection between such a series, and the ship they possessed, he'd be set up for a solid laugh later. "I will die if a guy like Kaiba is into Fairy Tail. Also, tragic? Don't tell me she's shipping those two? Well... I guess that's refreshing either way. Most people can't even appreciate the series past the 'maybe incest' thing those Dragon twins have going." A bit of a tangent was almost guaranteed when such topics came up, and apparently Kou was content to have this one. He wouldn't dawdle long, though. They could move on now, at long last, and get themselves situated before departure... though not before Shuten found something to complain about.

"Lazy! I put up an entire, badass wind tunnel, and you want wings? Give a guy some credit, and take what you get, Loli Bum!" he exclaimed. With that, Kou was the first to test the wind corridor's strength by jumping into it. His excitement to be done with this place was growing... but they were not done quite yet.

Roughly three days passed after the vampire and wyrm were freed, and the Orochi slain. In that time, Ryozanpaku's great tree underwent an incredible change. It had now become a large sakura tree, and there was a manor being built around it. The same lad who previously sat in the tree, a player possessing an Avatar by the name Rikuo, had taken charge of the entire city while its faction rulers took their individual segments. One might wonder why the adventuring group remained for this, and the answer was simply... for the sake of festivities. Efforts had been acknowledged, and residents of Ryozanpaku decided to bring back a very old custom that had been ignored for a very long time. Of course, they had to honor their saviors in doing so. What was that custom again? According to a local Itachi running through the streets at present, it was...

"The Lantern Rites! Starting the Lantern Rites!"

[Apollymi]

It seemed a minor nerd moment would be happening and Tamamo was all for it. A chuckle ensued as she shook her head from left to right. "I would probably also die. And yes, she has a thing for the SaNe. I could see how they might have had something going in the past, but I'm pretty sure bar some huge revelation nothing can really happen with that..." mentioned Tamamo. In this very moment, Shuten managed to look pleased. 'Good good, let the nerd flow through you. And keep you from being upset that Nii-san fed the lolihag...' the girl thought though it was all still good natured. "I know I know. The forums are so full of people who were upset about that. It's like no one even knows about their amendments and earlier works. Unmitigated hate..." mentioned the lass. Ah but all good conversations like this had to be reserved. They couldn't just have a full blown nerd based conversation in front of others. At least they hadn't gotten too far into it this time. They'd have plenty of time to chat soon enough anyways, and she really and truly couldn't wait for that.

Some three days and immeasurable amounts of work later... a festival was starting up. The whole of the streets seemed to be decorated in soft light paper lanterns and an Itachi was announcing the start of the Lantern Rights. Along with the many festivities a certain Kitsune known as Kuono had helped to organize this event and as such she'd offered her tea house to the entire female population of their crew to get ready so they could meet up with the boy's at the start. Walking up to the tree was Tamamo, clad in not her normal robes but instead a Yukata in deep blue with open lotus flowers as their main design motif. They were joined by a light weight obi around her waist tied in a bow. She'd piled up all that hair of hers and clipped it into place with golden bells and long sticks giving her a rather festive appearance. "Ara ara, they pulled this off pretty nicely~" she said aloud. It would be one Shuten-doji dressed in a short Yukata meant more for those with the child sized body to speak next. "Hai hai, it's pretty good too. I hadn't been much involved with the before parts of one of these the first time. I understand why you guys were so happy to just relax," she mentioned. "Um-hm... still is this really nice compared to how it was before..." mentioned their newest edition a blonde lass sporting a white child sized Yukata as well with a deep blue obi tied around it. Sticking out over her shoulder the most shrunken form of the white wyrm Sekris which made it look almost ornamental and helped Alezia feel more at ease.

[Bloodedge]

Ah, festivities. No further quests would be done here, and the additional time they spent would be for the sake of relaxing... and nothing else. Kou, on the other hand, had been making use of the few days it took for this festival's setup to end. The Avatar called Giyu, as well as the previously-created Avatar named Licht, did not seem to suit his preferences. He spared the Source of the latter, but the former was broken down entirely over the days it took to do so. Half of Licht was useful for what he had planned, and so was a criteria he seemed to meet by battling in such a sacrificial manner against Orochi.

Medium-length black hair with teal undertones, pale skin, and amber eyes. A white, sleeveless shirt with a black collar, dark purple pants and boots, black and dark turquoise gloves with gold decals. A white and gold sleeve on his left arm, and his right arm left bare to reveal green markings akin to a tattoo sleeve. These features all came together throughout the time of meditation taken to create Aiba Yugi's newest Avatar, a culmination of Giyu, Licht, and an homage to Kou's lost attire. Reserved, logical, and with a general visage that reeked of determination, this new form sat atop an adjacent building to observe the center point of the festivities. How interesting─ they were using the foundation of this unfinished manor as a walk-on podium of sorts around the sakura tree. It seemed most lanterns were also being released from the very same area.

Seeing the residents below, he figured he was quite underprepared for the festival itself. His attire fit the normal setup of a place like this, just as Kou's former ensemble did, but... there were so many traditional garbs being donned by so many creatures, humanoid and otherwise. Oh well; he'd never been one to dress up for these sorts of things anyway. It was surprising enough that this Avatar had hair that came out looking somewhat presentable.

[Apollymi]

As a certain half of the dynamic duo of saviors hung out on the roof tops, his female counterpart held in her hands a lantern. "Hm, I wonder where the boys are?" she mentioned. The small blonde girl and the purple haired Oni looked at each other. Both of them realized that the Kitsune likely didn't care for the placement of any or most of the young men from their dwelling. No, she was likely looking for one i particular after releasing her lantern into the air. "Tama-nee~ I'm sure Nii-san will show up whenever. No need to worry~" the lass jabbed which made the Kitsune's golden eyes widen. She was pretty sure she hadn't asked about him specifically so why was this assumption made? Embarrassment welled up in the girl's soul which was felt by the vampire in her presence who nodded in a secret signal to the purple haired lass. "Fufu~ I knew it~ You guys are too easy!~" exclaimed Shuten as if she won some sort of prize by being right about her questioning.

In a traditional short Yukata looking a bit like a child was a certain male from their ship. A legendary lute in his hands he played the tunes of the area with gentle motions collecting coins from those who tipped as he walked along. "Waaah~ Minna! This festival is great!~" he chimed, in that melodious voice. Though Tamamo or rather Ashikaga Kimiko always found bards annoying in games, she'd grown to like this one just a little. "Ara ara, asking for one of the boys caused one to appear~" she mused with happiness.

[Bloodedge]

While the bard enjoyed himself by playing for the masses, another new addition to the group was walking nearby. The young man who shared his space with serpents, apparently a player utilizing an Avatar named Iguro Obanai, had jumped aboard after everything was said and done. He sported a grey yukata and white haori, and of course the white snake typically found in his presence, as he joined the one called Jaskier. "It's good you're having fun, but must you take money from people at a time like this? This is the first Lantern Rites festival in Ryozanpaku since... generations ago," he commented, having no true idea how long it had been since this festival was last held. Even the length of the recently-ended war was a mystery to himself, and so many others before him.

"That shouldn't be an issue. There will be a lot of changes here soon, so everyone is happy to part with old possessions in favor of a new beginning. That's part of what this festival is for, after all," said none other than Rikuo, the new lord of these lands. Jaskier may have been collecting 'tips' from various youkai, but none of that mattered. Rikuo himself had been here for quite some time now, and never had he seen so many smiling faces pass by this tree. As he looked around now, it seemed people were even appreciating the tree itself. Good; it was always a thing to be admired, even though so very few knew the reason it existed. One day, knowledge would spread... Knowledge of how this tree represented the birth of Ryozanpaku itself.

[Apollymi]

"What other time is there? If they give we take... the world keeps spinning~" mentioned the young bard. He had a very pragmatic view of his earnings. And yes the land had been war torn not too long ago, even so, that was more of a reason to accept the generosity of those who thought to give. Jaskier's words made Tamamo chuckle. Perhaps at some point, Iguro would need a lesson on the sustaining and growing economies. Spending money was always a good time, and the better paid the lowest members of society were, the more society prospered. Alas, Tamamo wouldn't be the one giving this lesson the newest leader of the area and the one all the others would submit to Rikuo said essentially the same thing the Kitsune would have said with a bit more cheer than she would have managed.

"Oh? Rikuo seems to understand. It's no wonder she's latched on to you... that's a great attitude~" mentioned the Kitsune who gave a cheeky chuckle before continuing to wander about. "Ah, Taishou~~ you don't have to talk about me like I'm not here! I am only doing my jobs," mentioned the lass known as Tomoe, an Oni with two red horns and pale hair. She was dressed as the rest of the young women were, seemingly walking around with the young Rikuo to make sure he didn't wander off too far. "Hai hai, though it's nothing you can't handle~" mentioned Tamamo, as she allowed her eyes to wander searching of course for the one person she wished to see.

Another young lass with dark colored hair that pinked at the tips came closer as well, settling in near Iguro though she was petite she wasn't as young as the vampire in their company. Once seen with a piece of bamboo in her mouth at all times, she now simply hid her lower face being her sleeves feeling a bit exposed. "I am pretty sure if they didn't want to pay him he wouldn't be paid. Now... Iguro-sa go make your wishes!~" she murmured those pink eyes of hers intense though her outward appearance didn't show that she was an Oni as well. "Fufu~ what an interesting spot, it's nice to see the place so happy. And it's been about a 1000 years and the bards weren't half this good back then~ Now who's drinking with me?" asked Shuten as she obviously planned to find a comfortable place to hold up and drink for the duration of the festivities once she released her lantern and wishes.

[Bloodedge]

"Yare yare," said Iguro. The economical matters were one thing, but his morals were just a bit different from the others. One could say Iguro, actually, was a tad too kind. He simply didn't want to take from those who had little, even if they offered. Naturally, there was a chance that they were simply caught up in the festivities as well, or perhaps even being too nice themselves. No matter; the young Oni in his company had the right idea in mind. He had a wish to make, and a lantern already prepared to join others in the sky. "Hai hai. Bring your lantern, we can wish together," he said while reaching out to claim the small Oni's hand, content to take his leave of the others.

Meanwhile, Rikuo latched on to a very intriguing offer by none other than the Shuten-doji of legend... in a new form. "Hoho─" he muttered, his attention grabbed without fail as the drunkard Oni offered a question to the masses. If there was one thing the Nurarihyon appreciated during all the time he spent in that tree, it was a bit of sake. When presented with the opportunity to drink with another, and an Oni at that, there was no way he would even think of refusing. "If you'll have me, I'll share a drink with you. Do go easy on me~"

Lanterns sent off by two people at once had multiple purposes, as the male Tamamo presently sought had heard when talks of the festival first began. Sometimes, it was an innocent act amongst friends who would share vibes and hope their companions' wishes came true as well─ such was the case with Iguro and the Oni, Nezuko. Alas, there were many other potentials... and among them was an old tradition observed by lovers whose wishes would come together, or not at all. The current Avatar of Yugi had been made with all the memories possessed by Giyu, as well as a few others taken from Artifacts around the city. The latter form of shared wishes was a strange ritual─ one with the potential of sacrifice.

Over a thousand years ago, the tradition began with a journeyman whose return was never certain, and whose bride-to-be had always enjoyed their annual lantern release. That man decided to gamble before his departure one year, when the couple would both wish for his safe return. Instead, he prepared a different wish while remaining separate from others and the festivities. While the woman awaited his arrival to the ceremony with the intended wish of safe return, he remained on the outskirts of the city. Would she give up hoping for his arrival, and abandon her wish as a result? This was the question in that man's mind all those years ago, and the answer he received was... no. Instead of giving up, the woman searched all of Ryozanpaku until she found him at the edge of the mountain, his identity concealed from all but she who knew him best. Only she could have found him, and only she could have recognized him the way he was. Once they were together by the time of the setting sun, which eventually became the ideal time to release the lanterns, they made their wishes together... in solitude.

All that time, the man knew one truth. If their bond was strong enough, there was no need for two to make the same wish. His absence during the festivities tested that bond, and allowed him to believe two separate, yet related wishes, would be far more powerful for them. The woman wished for his safe return as intended, and he ─ believing from the bottom of his heart that her wish would come true ─ wished instead for their wedding night to be the start of something new that they could both cherish for eternity.

This Avatar knew the identity of that couple. In his Source, he knew just what had become of them in the end, and as he sat upon that roof... he gambled, just as that man did 1,000 years ago. . .

[Apollymi]

Iguro was indeed too kind, but Nezuko had been around these people a bit more than she'd alike to admit. Knowing this... she knew no one here would actually take advantage of anyone and because of her connection to Tomoe, she'd seen the Kitsune and elder Oni working hard to help mold the new economy, these pennies being tossed to the bard wouldn't be missed by anyone in the new open markets of Ryozanpaku. Iguro in the moment reached for her hand and Nezuko held his with a small blush appearing on her face. "Hai good vibes!" she said as they walked along planning to release their lanterns together.

In the meantime, Shuten's open invitation to drink was taken by Rikuo who claimed he wanted the purple haired oni to take it easy on him. "Fufu, I don't take it easy on anyone Ku-chan~ We'll drink until you pass out~" she mentioned with a hearty laugh. All the while her deep purple eyes narrowed as she noted Tamamo still socializing and her brother nowhere to be found. Of course he was like this... she hoped the lass could forgive his constant lack of punctuality. Whatever the case she simply chuckled pausing before the pink haired lass and offering her a gift. "Oi oi, Nee-san doesn't look like you'll be joining us this time. Take this then... have your own party. That's some of my best stuff though, so don't go drinking it alone~" she said in a ploy to nudge the lass towards finding her brother. 'Baka-nii, always keeping a girl waiting~' she thought as she wandered off to take Rikuo for drinks. Tomoe went with them knowing lots of drinks would be poured and even Alezia was enjoying snacks and chatting with Jaskier. "Ara ara, Shu-chan when you say it like it. It seems pretty pushy... Arigatou na~ Drink a few for me!~" And just like that the girl looked over the fresh sakezuki set, made from the bones of the Orochi and opened a portal for it. Once it was put away she held her prepped lantern in one hand and moved among the crowd searching for the face of the man she actually wished to see. 'Yare yare, this isn't like last time though... I'll find him myself this time~' she mused keeping her eyes peeled and her senses open.

[Bloodedge]

One should never have to imagine that the simple act of waiting could be a frightening thing. There was nothing but time, yet that time would eventually run out. He had the time until sunset, for more reasons than he even realized in this form. There was always the chance that Tamamo didn't even consider seeking him, but that was all part of the gamble. High risk, high reward─ that would be the way this game was played.

While he waited, his senses remained open as well. The wind itself told the tale of many movements, made by many who currently inhabited Ryozanpaku. Among those movements, was Tamamo. He could smell her on the wind, even feel her divine presence caressing his skin through the gentle breeze. Only a small amount of focus was required for him to ignore everyone else he sensed. She was moving, but was she moving for the sake of locating him? If so, he would find out soon enough. Perhaps this lonely rooftop would be occupied by another in due time, or perhaps... a wish would not be made this festival.

[Apollymi]

This new face of Yugi's wondered if Tamamo was looking for him... and the answer to that was simply, yes. Even as she walked among the crowd and moved between the throngs of people she found herself searching every instance for a face that she recognized. How odd... she was fairly certain they intended to make these wishes together. And given the amount of time she had left she knew it was necessary to find him. Still, she didn't manage to look distraught at all. She'd waited much longer and much more passively for him before, actively searching for him was much less stressful. 'Hm, I know I don't like waiting... I am not sure if I prefer chasing though~' the lass spoke to herself words of encouragement. She had all the faith that she would see this lad but where would someone like him hide during something like this? As she crossed the path of several playing Youkai, children running hand in hand with lanterns and smiles she couldn't help but chuckle.

Well, if she couldn't see him to pick him out of the crowd, perhaps she'd just remove the crowd from her senses instead? Every time her eyes shifted she marked away the signature of the person she saw. The buzzing of her senses alight within this realm of Youkai was eventually whittled down to one. She moved towards this sensation, so familiar and yet so different. And she'd eventually as the the sun neared its setting point find herself near the outer edges surrounded by buildings. Outside of the full movement of the bodies of people... she could feel the breeze again. 'Yare yare, even though these are meant for bathhouses it gets hot inside of these,' she thought enjoying the coolness against her skin she looked up and she saw someone new. A lad with black hair with teal undertones, dressed in traditional garbs sitting on top of a roof. In that same moment a gentle smile came to her face and she rather casually jumped floating up to the same level to stand before this lad. "Ara ara, if we're playing hide and seek, you should probably warn me that I'm it~" she teased ever so gently happy to have found him.

[Bloodedge]

The young man's senses gave him reason to believe Tamamo was on her way toward his location after some time passed. He wondered, though, if this meant she was searching for him after all. That Avatar, as well as her Dragonoid self, seemed the most likely of Kimiko's personas to do so. Still, he waited. Movement toward him continued, eventually without a single hiccup. Indeed... he soon understood that she was on a straight path toward his location, and moments later...

There she was. He could see that smiling face kept beneath a mass of hair that had been collected atop her head. The first words from her mouth gave away the fact that she had, indeed, been searching for him specifically. With his right arm resting over his elevated knee, the lad extended that same hand with its palm toward the sky. It seemed he had nothing but interest in sharing this space with Tamamo, or even any of her other forms. This Avatar shared most of the former Giyu's stoic nature, yet there was an oddly deep satisfaction within him since the moment Tamamo appeared. As for their little game of hide and seek, his retort was a bit... indirect. "I've heard a lot of things leading into this festival. Have you heard the Wayward Lanterns story?"

[Apollymi]

Standing in front of this young man, Tamamo took in the look of his new Avatar. As much as Kou had mentioned that he was a lad of variable tastes, it could be stated as being true that Kimiko was also a lass of variable tastes. As similar as they were in most respects, it would come as no surprise that the lass enjoyed the many faces this young man had come up with. She'd quite enjoyed Giyu as a more normal looking potential partner. She also enjoyed the more out of this world celestial look of Kou. This young man with his teal undertones was one she appreciated visually. That stoic nature became a bit softer though as his hand extended palm up and he asked her about the Wayward Lanterns. "I think, I've heard part of it... I left a little early to take care of somethings so I didn't hear what Kuono said about the end~" she mused. Taking his extended palm as an invitation she took a seat in the space left open in his lap. Having settled in this way she was content and her body relaxed a great deal. She'd lean over and peck his cheek as she took to watching the lanterns towards the middle fly up as people released their wishes out into the world. "So, you can tell me the end..." she mentioned. They had quite a bit of time left until sunset and she was content to spend the rest of her time with this lad. Of course, the base of this Avatar understood the story but, she only tapped into information as it was needed. In this case, it was something she'd rather hear from him.

[Bloodedge]

Surprise, surprise. Tamamo accepted his extended hand, using it as leverage to seat herself against his person. The lad's legs spread almost instinctively to grant space for the Kitsune, and his free left arm wrapped itself around her midsection. That brief impact of lips against his cheek garnered little physical response other than a glance in Tamamo's direction, but he had clearly achieved a certain amount of comfort. Apparently, Tamamo had only heard the beginning of the tale he mentioned. The remainder of the story was left in his hands, and he was keen to tell it. "In the end, two lanterns were seen by every attendant of the Lantern Rites. While every other lantern floated as part of a group, those two went off separately. When morning came, the journeyman set out. Stories say their wishes together became so powerful, incredible luck came to the man on his journey. They were poor... but he gained wealth after helping out a Lord. They could have become the richest people in all of Ryozanpaku, but they were true to their wishes. Most of the money was spent on their wedding, and the rest went into a place where they could live in seclusion... away from the other Youkai. They even set up a farm to make just enough money that they could live happily in the future. A child was born between them, and Ryozanpaku uplifted the child as a beacon of hope for the city... and for the future itself. His name was Alatus."

[Apollymi]

There was an immense amount of comfort to be found once taking her seat. This new face even wrapped his arm around her midsection, helping her settle into the feeling of their closeness. From this exact position she was able to focus completely on the words spoken by the lad and take that information and match it up with the rest of the story she'd already heard. She was exceedingly attentive in the moment and found something about the story truly heartwarming. In fact a single beat of her heart thumped a bit more accutely than the others, and she could feel the heat of a blush creeping up her face. "Ara ara, a story like that is almost too sweet to comprehend!~" she mused finding the ending to be precisely telling. A happy couple living in seclusion... being true to their wishes while others watched on. Bringing forth a beacon of hope at a later time with such an interesting name to boot. What a direct bit of lore to go with the already established information they'd gotten here. And what was more, they were pretty easily set up to relive such a situation themselves, given their own propensity for ending up split from their group while participating in such activities. "It seems like it's almost time then, are we wishing Mikon?" she asked with that same light happiness. Though many wouldn't understand how this pair operated, it was clear that their interest in each other was mutual. And for one such as Ashikaga Kimiko who'd already made such a sound decision, investing in their future happiness with wishes here was a simple step to take in the right direction. They as a pair traveled a very different path from normal individuals a story such as this showed that staying true to those sorts of ideals would only lead to ones further happiness and contentment.

[Bloodedge]

A story was told, and with it, came a reaction from the Kitsune he was pressed against. With his chest against her back, the male could almost feel that oddly-specific heartbeat that occurred during his tale, and his own seemed willing to match the gesture during the following beat. Many tales surrounding Youkai of all sorts had endings that were not quite pleasurable for those involved, but this one in particular was one he could hold within while sharing the Youkai people's hope for a brighter tomorrow. In his case, he could relate to the male of the story, knowing the man's wish. However, the design of this Avatar had been very closely based on the child of that old couple. "I thought so too," he said as his chin rested against the fox's shoulder. "The child, Alatus, became a legendary Yaksha after inheriting a thousand year-old name from his own ancestor. This form... I borrowed from him, taking the name Xiao."

And so, the tale reached its official end. Xiao kept close proximity, taking in even the scent of Tamamo while his nose was so close to the flesh of her neck. She asked if they were wishing, and his eyes looked toward the sky. The blue skies were tinted orange near the horizon, but Xiao's vision was filled with pink from Tamamo's hair. He didn't mind that at all, clearly. "Do you have a wish ready?" he wondered aloud, also curious as to whether said wish would be revealed or not.

[Apollymi]

The story reached its completion with the new face of the one she called Mikon, revealing his name as Xiao. That was a nice name, taken from the lore along with his current form which was connected to the Yaksha. She felt the warm of this lad against her person, the intermitted thump of his heart and even the gentle brushing of his nose near her neck and his chin fully resting against her shoulder. Was it bad that her mind moved a bit far away from this moment? Something about being held this way was simultaneously comforting but also quite a bit of a turn-on which she couldn't have explained if she wanted to. "Xiao's a nice name. I like it..." she mused happily, fidgeting just a tad as she waited for her face to lose a bit of its extra color.

But of course this wouldn't be allowed to occur so easily. When asked if she was prepared her wish already she simply nodded looking off into the sky as well. Doing so a small portal opened pulling from within the lantern she'd spent the afternoon preparing. "Hai, I asked around to figure out what people were wishing for and I decided to walk a different sort of path with mine," she mentioned. Many people wished for things like prosperity, wealth, etc. But Tamamo or rather Kimiko would rather wish for things she couldn't make happen alone or with her own hands. Her wish written simply in their native language was, 'Make more happy memories with Mikon.' Ashikaga Kimiko's desires were indeed very simple, she found a boy she liked and wanted to gain more experiences with him.

[Bloodedge]

Approval of his chosen name was strangely satisfying for the Yaksha. A brief exhale through his nose would certainly be either heard, or felt by Tamamo, as he just about chuckled to start his response. "Good. Your opinion matters," he said. Apparently, this Avatar was also without the reprehensions shown in other forms of the lad. He was blunt even while being reserved, but also polite while being logical and getting straight to the point─ these were the features that manifested at Xiao's creation. Any who knew the Geno Killer in life, would perhaps know the phase this personality was drawn from.

Tamamo had spoken with others about the types of wishes made in this land's festival, but decided to do something a bit different. That much could always be expected of Kimiko, based on things observed thus far. Every chance she got, she managed to obliterate conventional expectation without even giving it consideration. Perhaps this was a major reason she became a thing to desire. No... even that was shattered. Time and time again, more reasons were being added; he couldn't assign a specific amount of importance to one if he spent days thinking about it. Indeed, those days spent thinking would only make the young man realize more features he found desirable.

"That's one thing that can't surprise me... The fact that what you do is going to be a surprise," Xiao spoke. Reaching behind himself with his right hand, the lad retrieved his own lantern. His wish was decided long before this Avatar was completed, and it superseded the identity of each form he had in this world. In the lantern he soon held in front of Tamamo and himself, next to the former's item, was a wish made by Aiba Yugi at his very core. He wished not simply to be seen, but to be accepted ... to be found, even, by the one called Ashikaga Kimiko─ this was the one specification of his wish. Kou, Akashi, Xiao, and even the discarded Avatars... none of them mattered. They had come this far already, and the one thing remaining in the male's mind was that gave him more to consider, was that she didn't even know the identity of the human behind the Avatars. "Mine is ready too."

[Apollymi]

There was a breath felt across Tamamo's neck and... satisfaction? It certainly felt like satisfaction as he chuckled that her opinion mattered in this case. And something about the knowledge that he cared about her opinions was satisfactory to her as well. "Hai hai..." she said suppressing a gentle shiver but she couldn't quite keep it completely out of her body. After all, she had animal parts and those were very honest, her tails twitched gently.

Moreover it seemed he wasn't at all surprised by the fact that she'd gone a different sort of way with her wish. Apparently she was just very surprising in general. She found this to be interesting news. She didn't set out to be exciting, she just had a different set of expectations from the world in general. He reached behind himself and sat his lantern in front of himself. She read this wish with widened eyes. How strange? They couldn't leave this place, but he wished that even her original self could know and find him. That was strangely sweet and as always complimentary. His wish to be found and accepted by the person that she was at her core, and her wish to make more memories with him were both far beyond this world alone. "Sou ka... well these wishes are so like us. Let's make sure they come true~" she mentioned softly she lifted her own up into the air and waited for him to join her. At the perfect moment she'd release hers at the same time he released his as the sun set.

[Bloodedge]

True enough, the wishes before them were very them, so to speak. What Tamamo herself had written was something he considered a certainty, beyond a shadow of a doubt. His own, however, was something he wondered the probability of. His lantern was held so close to Tamamo's, the two were touching alongside their holders' hands. Gently, he released the lantern to let it float alongside Tamamo's. He wasn't sure if he believed in such things personally, but they had already been taken to a parallel world seemingly as large as their own, and these two happened to find each other there. If that wasn't enough reason to believe wishes could come true by some divine intervention, then logic itself determined that his wish being answered had a rather high chance. If nothing else, he had hope. "They'll come true. I'm pretty sure of that," he said as a certain light appeared in his eyes. Determination was high in this Avatar─ higher than it was in any other, being derived from Giyu. As if to spite the other traits of Giyu, however, Xiao left some amount of vulnerability as he sat in the Kitsune's company. "There's another funny little story. Some who observe the Wayward Lantern tradition, go the extra mile and share additional wishes... more like requests of each other."

[Apollymi]

Both of their hands extended and their lanterns floated off into the sky, carrying their wishes along with them. This moment was oddly cute, though she wasn't much for festival participation before coming to this world, with someone like this lad at her side she could see how such events could be considered fun. After the release of their wishes into the world the lass felt a great deal of content, so much in fact that she sought only a minor bit of comfort beyond slipping her fingers into those of his outstretched hand as it was brought back to resting position so that they could enjoy the visible show together for a few more moments. Apparently the lad retained the hope that their wishes would come true, and to be honest the girl held the same faith. "Hai hai, I have faith in us both~" she mentioned happily. She was always the type to work for things she wanted, but if they both knew what their wishes were, she was fairly certain given both of their attitudes they'd do enough to make sure they were both made happy by their experiences.

Moving right along the lad spoke of another potential tradition, where those who engaged in the tradition they spoke of, who happened to make secondary wishes or requests of the ones they shared bonds with. A brow raised on the kitsune's face, but never one to rest on the easiest version of anything she was always willing to take an extra step for the future. "Oh? Well, no need to stop before we get everything~ So what's your wish?" she asked genuinely curious. Of course, it went without saying that she'd do whatever possible to see him granted anything she had access to getting him. This was simply the type of person she was at base. At the same time she supposed it would be best if she thought of anything else she might want.

[Bloodedge]

While their fingers laced by the effort of Tamamo, Xiao watched the pair of lanterns float off separately from all the others released this evening. His gaze seemed unwavering, as if following the lanterns to ensure their safe arrival to the skies high above. Meanwhile, Tamamo expressed a shared belief that their wishes would come true. He figured she would be on the same page.

Regardless of the lanterns and their eventual destination, there was the secondary tradition to address. It seemed Tamamo wished to follow this tradition as well. Such was her way, he supposed; she was quite the greedy lass in a strangely endearing way. How he managed to find any form of greed attractive in a person, he may never understand himself. That thought would be left to linger, as it always would, while considering the answer to Tamamo's question. What was the wish he would ask of her specifically? The answer itself was a simple one, but... "It probably sounds stupid," he said. Aside from the wish he'd placed in the lantern, only one thing came to mind at all. Since asked, he'd speak it as his eyes found the Kitsune again. "I want to offer you something. Something... big. Bigger than everything else, but not in terms of size or anything. Just something... meaningful. Yours?"

[Apollymi]

Tamamo's eyes also traced their lanterns into the sky. She wasn't watching over them, instead she was having a good time with the idea that their separate wishes were somehow better off floating along their own beaten path. Actually the way of people like and the resident Geno Killer meant they were more likely to do such things anyway and she took great comfort from knowing that. Speaking of comfort, there was something else she found comforting and it was the feeling of their hands pressed together and their bodies so close. What a strangely intimate conversation they were having currently. With so little space between them she felt there was nothing she couldn't feel about the lad in the present moment. What was more when asked about his secondary wish, the answer he gave was different.

She didn't know what she expected after the lad claimed that his wish might sound stupid but the answer he gave was one which made her eyes widen immensely. How could he even begin to think she would find such a thing stupid? She really couldn't explain it to him without it being embarrassing for her, but the idea that he had something he so earnestly wanted to do for her was something which deserved a great deal of respect. One more of those strange heart beats ensued, as she heard out his most recent wish. "Sou ka. I don't think that's stupid at all. It's actually really sweet and thoughtful..." she mentioned as she found more comfort within his arms in this moment. "I'll accept that, whatever it is... and look forward to it," she said blindly accepting whatever this was as the thoughtfulness behind it was more than enough for her to not have qualms with it. What she couldn't have admitted was how few things she actually accepted from other people. In fairness gifts always sort of seemed like bribes to her after a while, no one ever did anything without expecting something in return. And though such things were the foundation of business... it always seemed very dishonest outside of money making settings.

Ah, but now it was her turn to reciprocate but... what did she want? That question was quite loaded. Her own wish had even been something rather simplistic when thought about in an honest light. Material things didn't interest her, she could acquire those for herself, what she usually wanted from others were things she couldn't get on her own. In this case, from the Puzzle-Loving lad she'd accepted as a partner she wanted something but it wasn't easy to describe nor tangible in any case. "Ano... what I want is a little strange," she started off softly. "I want to share myself with you..." she said softly. "Not exclusively in the physical sense, but I want to give you the parts of me I never got to share with anyone else. But I also want those same kinds of things from you," she said with a gentle nod. "It sounds a little selfish to say out loud but... that's what I want." Tamamo or rather Kimiko was a very strange girl. Her own insecurities made her question people at every turn and never trust anyone. But this lad had already earned her implicit trust so she wished to give to him many things but she wasn't so giving as to not take as well, she wished to monopolize him in this case.

[Bloodedge]

"Oh?" To hear that his wish wasn't thought of as something stupid was ridiculous; he couldn't have disagreed more. Still, there was a heartwarming aspect in such a clause being returned his way. "It's stupid from my perspective," he said. In this world, he had no reason whatsoever to have such a desire; it was solely based on a lack of things he could offer under the conditions of his truest self, Yugi. Now, however, he could do virtually anything he could think of... but he supposed the information at hand would result in that being a more reasonable wish. Either way, the pink-haired lass accepted it as viable, and spoke of looking forward to the occurrence. He'd have to make it worth the wait in due time.

Strange was apparently the descriptor of Tamamo's desire. He doubted he could hear anything weirder than what had come to his own mind, but he remained just as attentive as he always managed to be when she spoke. She wanted to share herself, but also receive the same input from the lad. Interesting. What she claimed would require the utmost dedication to themselves, as well as each other. Given the complexities he'd taken note of within Ashikaga Kimiko, the male found himself wondering if he could ever fully reciprocate... but that was just another puzzle to be solved when the time came. As he was, there was no restraint. "I said before, didn't I?" he asked as his eyes remained fixated on their distant lanterns. "If I have it, it's yours to take. I might have some hiccups down the line; I still don't much know what I'm doing. Either way, I'll give you access I've never wanted to give anyone else. If you call my name for a purpose, I'll be there to answer the call," he concluded. Unbeknownst to Xiao, this simple declaration would write itself into the text of fate. As if adding to their earlier contract, or even fueling the wishes floating into the sky, his words placed a certain foreboding into the universe. Xiao himself would remain ignorant and unaffected at present, but what of Aiba Yugi? One day, all would be made clear.

[Apollymi]

Apparently they were in the midst of a rather intense conversation. There was something to be said about the lad thinking his idea was stupid and he might have been right. It could very well be stupid from his own perspective. "Well, even if you think it is stupid, it isn't really your opinion that matters here. The value of the thing is determined by the one who holds it. And that is me~" she mused. She truly thought this way at the depths of her person. She valued things based on her own strange scaling and given this it didn't matter if he thought what he wanted was stupid because she didn't. How far would this application of her value system go? Quite far actually, literally all the way to her base all the way to her core as a being. Ah... but that was something for the future. In the here and now, right as they spoke there were her own desires to consider.

Her 'strange' request was met with a question. Apparently he'd mentioned such a thing on a similar scale. Apparently, if he had it... it was hers to take. He'd said this before truly but him saying it again in this moment without any reprehensions was very different. Tamamo's eyes shifted off the lantern and to this young man's face over her shoulder. Did he have any idea what he actually offered? Did he know that she couldn't resist taking if he consented to it. Her nature was outright covetous in a lot of ways. She wanted everything and he basically offered to give her all of him and that was quite a lot by her own approximation. "Sou ka... I'll hold you to that you know? And hiccups and not knowing everything we're doing comes with the territory. So, until we figure everything out, I won't stop calling for you. Even after, I won't stop calling for you. I don't really know when to quit~" she mused, a hint of her nature peeking through. Another statement which was very true of the kind of lass she was, admittedly complex but also very sincere. What did the world and fate have in store for them? She couldn't really know but right now she was happy, enjoying them and she'd milk that for quite a while. Only after a few seconds of staring did her eyes return to the lanterns in the distance.

[Bloodedge]

"Hm. If you put it that way, I can't argue at all. Value determined by the holder, huh..." Xiao said in a tone that implied his own contemplation. It was strange, hearing such a clause from the mouth of one with material wealth. He should have detested the clause. The rich were always a certain way, determining for themselves the value of objects while applying value to people of lesser stature in the same manner. In this case, though, it felt markedly different. There was only one question lingering in his mind as nerves hastened his heartbeat, but it was not yet time for that question to be asked.

What it was time for... was something entirely different, unrelated yet to the point just the same. A voice would leave Xiao's mouth, but the voice did not belong to this Avatar. No, the response to Tamamo's proclamation would come from the most powerful voice Aiba Yugi possessed─ one which presently answered a call from three days prior. "H'oh? Greed looks good on you, Ashikaga Kimiko," he said through a fanged grin while his features changed one by one. Crimson overtook his eyes and hair, and that mainland theme burned away in a blaze of magical fire. What replaced it, was the almost textbook visage of the Dragonoid Akashi, complete with his open coat that left his bare chest pressed against the Kitsune's back. His right hand rose until those claw-like nails of his gently traced Tamamo's jawline, ending their path as his forefinger and thumb took hold of her chin. His head rose as well, all for the sake of his following words being spoken against the side of her face as whispers.

"I think I had a question for you, but how could I bother when you've said something so bold? he asked rhetorically. Akashi now had so much to say, and he would say it all with the entitlement of a true Dragon. "When you're down, call me. When your bed is cold, call me. When you question the world or anything in it, call me. When I even come to mind... call me." Each word was shared as he drew closer and closer. By the time Akashi reached his final clause, he made use of his hold to tilt the fox's head. The pair's lips would be oh so close to brushing against one another with a movement so simple as a quiver, and that unwavering gaze that burned with the intensity of Hell itself glared deep into the golden orbs of Tamamo. "But when you call... call me properly."

[Apollymi]

Xiao seemed to be in thought about what she said. Did he have a problem with her personality in this form? She couldn't really know, she figured she could potentially be a bit too much for many people but knowing this made the acceptance something which was worth seeking. Would she get an answer to this? Yes, but not from the mouth of the person she expected.

Warmth. There was true heat spreading as the lad began to speak, and it was a sensation that the now pink haired lass was quite familiar with. The Dragonoid Akashi was indeed supposed to come to her in the allotted amount of time, some three days after they'd arranged a meeting. And here he was, speaking directly to the unanswered question in her mind. Greed looked good on her?! He couldn't possibly mean that in the same way she took it in the moment. Her heart beat jumped once more as she felt the press of bare skin against the outside of her yukata. But was it simply the closeness, the answer was... no. It was what was said in addition to that statement, her name being spoken directly from the mouth of a Dragon as his form changed right before her eyes. She blinked in the moment, he was really here and he'd really said that. She should reply right? But... not just yet. No her shocked expression would remain and turn from that to wonder as a million thoughts passed through those golden eyes.

Her face was being turned with a clawed hand. Her eyes were now meeting an unblinking crimson gaze. Closer and closer. Each movement seemed to draw something strange out of her. Her body seemed to move of its own accord, adjusting for this new position to face this Dragonoid without fail. And as they sat merely a breath apart he said words which made her pine. She developed a new craving in this very moment. The desire to possess in a way she hadn't known possible. This girl was deeply greedy in a sense that seemed to go beyond material possession and into things immaterial and emotional. Above all things, she desired to possess this lad and he practically handed her himself but with a stipulation. When she called him, he wanted to be called properly. The lass was almost parched and outright shock passed through those orbs of hers before her facial features settled. What look would she have after giving consideration to his request? What conclusion did she come to? Well, the answer was rather simple. He obviously wanted to be himself around her. That was all his different pieces of request came to. This would obviously include being called his real given name. A face beyond the one she'd met, one she didn't know beyond the pieces of it she saw in each face he wore. Ah... he was asking for something which as far as they knew as impossible for her to attain in their present state.

"Ara ara, if all I have to do is something currently impossible to have you... I guess I don't have any choice but to get to work!~" she said, fate would take those words among others. But would she take such a challenge at face value and do her best to follow his wishes in this moment? Yes! And she'd do so with the most smug look on her face as she closed the distance between them now, allowing those lips that could just gently brush against each other to reach in a manner more definite. But not without the necessary greeting, "Okaerinasai!~" she mentioned to the lad as she brought their lips together. She wouldn't back down from this Dragon, he'd practically tempted her very core with his speech, how could she not reward him? She couldn't do it with her words but... she could communicate that feeling just the same.

[Bloodedge]

Surely the fox would understand the meaning behind his words. He offered his every service to this girl without so much as a second thought. If she called upon him, he would indeed answer... but only if the one she called was truly him. The guise of an Avatar would still be devoted, but as if signing a new contract entirely, he returned the train of thought followed when his lantern was written. If she truly called upon his proper self, there was no room for doubt in his soul─ any version of it. How could she possibly do such a thing, though? Could she rise to the unspoken challenge that his other selves hadn't the gall to present? Surely she could.

Of course, Tamamo was quick to make a final decision. She called it an impossible task, yet accepted it regardless. What she couldn't know just yet... was that the existence of Ashikaga Kimiko as the one puzzle he'd yet to solve, had been periodically pushing him toward the creation of his own unique puzzle. All the pieces were already in place, even. "Is it impossible?" he retorted. "I gave you the answer a long time ago. All you have to do, is put the pieces together."

This was not a war against fate. This was just another game, in which the final boss was a question of desire. Victory did not equal a conclusion, but instead the start of an endgame that would be designed by the player... and by the creator of said game, in unison. This was also an agreement, a partnership, to be sealed the moment Tamamo's lips met Akashi's. Ah, but there was more. An arrangement had already been made between these two during their previous meeting, and Akashi would keep his end of the bargain while their mouths held contact. Fingers snapped to signal the outward pulse of the Dragonoid's power, and with that came the spawning of his own Territory. None could enter, and none could exit without a force that would fell the Dragonoid himself, but this creation was in no way offensive. He had spawned a reality around them, likened to a stone field with several connected pools of water next to where they sat. Akashi's coat burned away while his tongue slipped from his mouth simply to tease Tamamo's own organ. Only a moment later, he pulled away. "Tadaima. Your bath.~"

[Apollymi]

It seemed they were at least on the same page. She'd accepted his challenge regardless of the terms and had been addressed rather directly about the nature of that challenge. According to Akashi he'd given her the answer as pieces of a puzzle and all she had to do was put them together herself. 'I have all the pieces already? Sou ka, I guess then I'll just have to clear my head enough to think about it, huh?' she thought. While her eyes closed. They would become lip locked by her own movements, and once this occurred a change in scenery would occur. She remembered telling the lad she wished for them to share a bath as part of their contract. What she didn't expect was what he did to make that happen.

'Territory Creation?' this was question but it was obviously the answer. One she didn't really have time to consider as the lad's tongue flickered from his own mouth into hers, stunning her just a little. She fully turned into him, her body relaxing for the moment this kiss lasted. Her knees feeling slightly weak as she took in the landscape after their kiss and his response to her welcoming him back. She pouted at the separation, at a kiss which teased her after he'd managed to stir her so much with his words and actions."Uuha.... Sugoi!" she recovered and managed to be almost giddy, but in combination with the landscape the lad known as Akashi was also absolutely appetizing as well, and now shirtless. Her hand came to rest against his exposed chest and she took in his warmth in the moment. She'd prepared for the bath choosing a Yukata for both form and function and had decided upon it given the idea she'd be meeting up with the lad for a bath at some point during their meeting. "I was upset you stopped but... I like this," she stated with all the honesty her person possessed. She leaned closer again, "Arigatou gouzaimasu~" she stated softly her first kiss pressed against his neck only to pull away a second later. They had an agreement though and one she intended to keep she was responsible for presenting herself without hesitation and so she would, she moved away from the lad in a manner most teasing those tails of hers shuffling about and causing that Yukata to shift and loosen. The fabric beginning to slip down her shoulders opening in its center just a tad revealing a brief moment of cleavage and because of the extra opening a hint of thigh as she stepped away. "You're going to join me right?" Her words were also a tease, as if getting him closer to the waters edge with her was her main objective but the steps he needed to take himself. And only if he came closer would the rest of her plan be enacted.

[Bloodedge]

Though nothing was explicitly stated, Tamamo did seem to be considering the male's words. In her possession at all times, she had the formula for all things that made Aiba Yugi. If she simply recreated the puzzle for the sake of solving it, she would have more than just his identity at her disposal. For right now, it didn't matter if she knew exactly what to do or not; he trusted that she would in due time. First came the matter of utmost importance, which happened to be addressing their earlier contract.

The briefest dance of tongues came to an end while Tamamo reacted physically to the separation. Akashi could see this response clearly, and it only fueled the Dragon's arrogance that she desired additional attention. She even moved to force contact with his exposed torso using her hands, even verbally sharing her distaste for the separation of their mouths. In the very next moment though, the fox's mouth was busy elsewhere─ namely his neck. This action was just as short-lived as what he'd pulled off in prior moments, but instead of disappointment, Akashi showed a growing excitement from the approach. "Good of you to like it. I'll make sure you have the time to enjoy the experience," he commented.

Always a tease, was the Kitsune Tamamo; Akashi appreciated this more blatantly than his other selves. As Tamamo retreated and shifted until her yukata loosened, unveiling a hefty quantity of skin upon her chest and leg, the Dragonoid was ever attentive. The sights, while brief, would be burned into Akashi's mind strongly enough for his other forms to bask in the memory... and this was soon to be followed by more of such memories this evening, according to their contract. As for joining the fox, he did stand shortly after that visual 'sample' as it were. "Do you need to ask? I don't wake up without purpose," the Dragonoid claimed as he stepped closer and closer to Tamamo, his desirous and penetrating gaze traversing her form from head to toe during every step he took. "Besides... I've waited three days for uninterrupted access to you. I'm sure you're clever enough to know I don't intend to keep away any longer."

[Apollymi]

Tamamo had indeed considered a great many things concerning the puzzle that was the resident Geno Killer. Knowing that the lad behind such a title wished to be found by her, only fueled her actions and though she couldn't take immediate advantage of the knowledge she had, she could and would do so whenever the need would arise. She couldn't help her frustration and found it a bit annoying that the Dragonoid before her had something cheeky to say in response. Of course, one could say she immediately reciprocated her own frustration but the lad's mention of making sure she could enjoy did indeed entice her more than she'd like to admit. She looked up at him the ever present desire to tease obvious in her visage.

"Ara ara... sounds like you're threatening me with a good time~" she mused. And then she got to witness this lad walking towards her, taking in the view of her person as bits and pieces of her flesh were exposed in such a subtle and brief moment. Something about this stirred her loins quite a bit, she couldn't rightly explain it in the moment. Did she like being watched like this? Probably? Just another degenerate trait added to the proverbial tree. He added the idea that she hadn't needed to ask such a question, that he didn't wake without reason. The truth of this was known to both of these individuals but before she could even tease him properly about this, he had more to say. "Oh? You did wait. Very patiently, I might add~" she complimented the lad. Their agreement had been met quite perfectly and as that gaze of his traveled her person, she couldn't help but bait him a bit more, this time she took a step towards him with the ever loosening obi of her robe revealing her leg all the way up to her hip, confirming a certain bit of knowledge about those who wore yukatas. What was more the clothing on her body slipped down even more, her breasts barely covered by the fabric as she said one more thing so close to the water's edge. "The wait is over now." Her statement came as she stepped out of her clogs and into the lad's exposed chest. She was rather keen to begin enjoying that kiss again as promised and fully initiated a new one, their lips meeting once more by her own will. Rubbing against this lad with a mixture of fabric and flesh that would only contribute to her rather obvious desire.

[Bloodedge]

"Hmph. I've never made a threat," the Dragon spoke honestly. In this form, there was no such thing as a simple threat. If he spoke something into existence, he would make it so. This was the part of Geno Killer who swore his victories before any thought was given to the upcoming game or puzzle, and proceeded to claim said victories. Now, Akashi swore to himself he would see a different sort of victory that involved his claiming of Tamamo─ no, Ashikaga Kimiko. He truly didn't emerge without great purpose, and that purpose now was the pink-haired lass in front of him.

Patience. He didn't have much of that. As such, when it was claimed that he waited patiently, Akashi scoffed and shook his head. "Don't flatter me. It wasn't patience I waited with; it was necessity. As I recall, you said you needed seventy-two hours to prepare," he said as his eyes continued to wander. Naturally, he was going to take the bait offered by Tamamo, noting the fact that there was clearly nothing beneath that yukata due to how exposed her hip was underneath. How interesting; there was always a rumor that women in yukata wore nothing beneath, and though this wasn't proper confirmation of the rumor's truth, it was quite satisfyingly the case for this particular meeting. Tamamo was also rather expertly revealing her flesh while still leaving so much to the imagination, as if she intended to rouse him. Obviously, she did... and she was succeeding.

The wait was over, she said. Not quite. As far as Akashi was concerned, the wait would not be over until the ritual was complete. He was still a Dragon, after all, and Dragons sought their dance. Alas, the leading moments were not at all dissatisfying, so he eagerly met the kiss Tamamo stepped out of her clogs to initiate. The flesh of her upper torso against his own stirred him, and the fit of his pants had already become far too tight for comfort due to his growing physical response. What was he to do about this while their lips pressed against each other again? Well, he was not the same sort of teasing as Tamamo. Akashi was more the type to magically discard everything covering his body, and he would do exactly that to free himself of all discomfort while his tongue invaded the fox's mouth yet again. This time, he would not take such a fleeting approach.

[Apollymi]

"Sure, you didn't~" there she was, teasing again. The lad might not have thought his words threatening in the least but there was a certain promise behind every uttered word that came out of his mouth. It was as if he was certain and certainty was indeed threatening... even if not in a conventional manner. Still the Dragonoid Akashi didn't seem to take to her more teasing methods in the conventional method. He claimed he hadn't waited patiently he'd simply waited the amount of time she'd needed. A grin came to her face in that moment before their bodies touched. "Ara ara, flattery and teasing is half of what I do now~" she teased finding it strange to have to revert to solely different methods to get her point across. She didn't mind this however. By the time their mouths touched again she'd lost any desire she had to simply tease the lad and instead she found herself rather easily wrapped up in their kiss.

At the same time, she became very acutely aware that she'd at least done a proper job of teasing his mind enough to rouse his body as his lack of patience showed itself. He was soon stark naked before her his manhood bare and soon enough pressed against her skin as she leaned into his mouth with her own tongue thrashing against his. A gentle moan would leave her mouth and enter his as she melted into the contact. Those hands of her wandered across this expanse of flesh, her right traveling down his side and over his bare stomach towards his manhood, while her left went upwards leading to the back of his neck and finding itself engrossed within his hair. This was all very stimulating and as their kiss deepened her own body's response grew quite a bit. How far would they take this? Well... as her hand reached his manhood it would slip down the length of it slowly encompassing it with a gentle stroke from base to tip. Her own mind abuzz with possibilities as she thought of all the deviant things she wished to do.

[Bloodedge]

Flattery and teasing were indeed very 'trademark' Tamamo traits, as far as he was concerned. For her to say those things were half of what she did now, though, he was left with a question in response to the tease. First though, he would immerse himself in the taste of the fox's lips. He truly couldn't resist. Tongues thrashed, bodies rubbed against one another, and there was a sudden familiar sensation upon his recently-exposed erection. Though he was keen to fulfill the contract they had by moving to the bath, they had plenty of time to dawdle and enjoy something a bit different. For instance, the gentle stroke of his member warranted a response of sorts, so his own hand moved to return the favor in kind. Given the Kitsune's lack of undergarments, he had no issue whatsoever slipping into the lower half of her yukata, and just as acutely sliding his upward-facing middle finger against the crevice betwixt her legs. Once there, that finger rubbed to and fro against a bulbous protrusion he found within, seeming to match the pacing of Tamamo's hand.

Just briefly, their lips would part. Akashi's tongue remained protruding for a moment longer, as it rubbed against Tamamo's throughout his withdrawal. A stream of saliva that seemed hellbent on keeping some form of connection between them broke as a heated sigh left the mouth of Akashi. "And the other half?" he questioned with a hint of teasing in his own voice. Never would he give an opportunity for immediate response, though. Here in the heat of the moment, Akashi's lips were pressed against Tamamo's again without a moment of hesitation. Just the same, of course, his flailing tongue was immediately back to seeking hers while that finger slicked itself beneath her beltline.

[Apollymi]

She had a very particular slow stroke in mind, as she was driven as well to complete this contract they'd set up. Even so, this movement of her hand was soon matched by the movement of his own. A finger found itself below her waist and rubbing against her sex in a manner most meticulous. She moaned again into this lad's mouth as her thighs involuntarily clinched the slow paced movement. Strangely enough she didn't let this distract her mind. No, it was still moving at lightning pace through all of this debauchery. She was enjoying the enticing finger movement and her own hand continued its slow pacing. With them matching in this way she could somewhat control herself for at least a while longer. While this happened though there was the matter of their highly engaged lips and tongues. Each stroking movement against her came with much of a tongue thrashing until there was the briefest break. A single line of saliva held their mouths together until a sigh of Akashi's broke it. She might have pouted in protest once more but a cheeky question of Akashi's was asked in the meantime.

'The other half, huh?' she mentally questioned but by the time she opened her mouth to answer with an equally cheeky response, the lad was upon her again. His mouth crashing against hers and finding her own tongue eagerly awaiting their next dance. Something about this situation became more and more desirable as time went on. Each exchange left her more and more ravenous and that slow stroking finger was easily contributing to the start of that building pressure beneath her waist. She didn't bother separating their faces, when her tongue was not assaulted for whatever small amount of time that happened, she'd simply speak her truth directly into this lad's face with coy teasing in those golden eyes. "The other half is... you~" she replied with heated breath, before immediately assaulting his tongue again. What she couldn't express without the proper form of break was that this wasn't simply a matter of physical understanding but also of thought. This lad plagued her in the best possible ways. Her mind and body were consumed by her desire for him and she was apt to take advantage of every opportunity to possess him that was presented. This was true especially of Tamamo but it was quite a bit deeper than even her, somewhere far below the surface the original version of this persona was just as obsessed and covetous of this lad. So, this face would have her fun devouring his dragon as all versions of the girl aimed to claim him in as many ways as she could think of.

[Bloodedge]

In spite of the fact that he temporarily silenced whatever rebuttal Tamamo had, Akashi wondered exactly what she would have to say when given the chance. Soon enough, there was enough of a break in this meeting of mouths for her to speak her piece. What she had to say, was that the other half of her person was the lad himself. It was Akashi's turn to be silenced by lips, but he could figure out the rest. Perhaps he would have had some difficulty reaching a conclusion normally, but in this case, he knew the meaning simply because it was such a relatable notion. Aiba Yugi had become plagued since entering this strange world the likes of his favorite video game. Time spent around others was primarily spent in the company of this girl in various forms, and he hadn't a single complaint. Even the time he spent with their other companions, or even alone, there she was... filling his mind like some sort of addiction.

Yes, that was one way to view it. If he hadn't already become an addict, he was well on his way. His drug of choice had proven herself to be the one thing that understood him in a way no other ever had, or perhaps ever could. This thought from the core that was Aiba Yugi leaked through to Akashi's form, manifesting in the form of growing aggression. He began to assault her mouth as if he could attack by chomping her lips at any given moment, yet there was an underlying gentleness to every collision as well. Meanwhile, his finger took a longer trip forward than it previously had been. Clawed though it was, Akashi showcased an amount of dexterity that allowed him to slip his finger into the girl's womanhood without so much as a scratch, even managing to rub her interior with the same lack of additional effort. Only while doing this did he retract his tongue and lips once more, brief though it was even during the third instance. "Half's missing then, isn't it? I guess it's my job to put it back inside where it belongs.~"

[Apollymi]

Every meeting of their lips soon became more aggressive, and yet somehow more tender. After she restarted their kiss his mouth assaulted hers, small chomps applied to her lips elicited moans and squeals from her. Each movement was so precise and it wasn't just his mouth either. Her own hand hadn't stopped moving properly but there was the gentlest pause as his finger slipped within her depths. A tightening of her nether followed immediately after along with the moan that escaped as their mouths parted. This Dragonoid's fingers were a thing of magic and she would take and take until she quite literally exploded. "Mmm-haaaah~" there it was that sound which escaped as he spoke. He had even more cheeky commentary to offer this lass, based on her own statements even.

There was something akin to desire which flashed in those golden eyes of hers. There was something quite tantalizing about the idea of him giving her what she was missing. She really couldn't say no to anything like that. In fact, all she could do was enthusatically agree while she continued to slow stroke his manhood without care. That being said her words would be punctuated by the gentlest flicker of her fingers over his tip before her normal methods returned. "Hai!~ Definitely your job~" she moaned happily. "Feel free to fulfill it anytime~" she completed the phrase without question. They could move on and she'd always accept with the same happiness because it was him. Soon after that pause would be stopped and their lips and tongues would wrestle by the lass' own desires.

[Bloodedge]

According to Tamamo, it was indeed his job to return that missing half to its rightful place... inside of its host. Anytime, she said. That time would be soon, but first would be further exploration of the pink-haired lass. The sounds that escaped her were tantalizing, and essentially goaded even the Dragonoid into further action. As his left hand was free, he soon brought it to the Kitsune's face. The growing intensity of their meeting led to him escaping their lip-lock once more, for a single purpose. His tongue remained beyond the threshold of his mouth, moving its way onto the side of Tamamo's neck. Down it went, then up it came. This trail ended with a flick of his tongue against the fox's earlobe, and the hand against the side of her face became entangled in her hair, tugging just slightly during a deeper insertion of his finger into her undercarriage.

The end of his tongue's trail was not at all the end of its movements. No, Akashi retracted it into his mouth once more. He had something else to say, it seemed. They did have a contract. In said contract, there were many things yet to be done. This instance of 'filling in' a missing half was a mere bonus to their original terms and conditions, of which not even half had been fulfilled. Did he mind that? No; there was plenty of time. He did, however, keep those conditions in mind. "The contract is missing a clause," he said in reference to the fact that one thing was left out. "I can't help realizing... no one had anything to say about the length of this meeting."

[Apollymi]

Tamamo would begin experiencing various new things at the hands of this Dragonoid. In their current moment, it seemed her speech had spurred him on. To what end? Akashi made use of his other hand she found it moving along the side of her face, at the same time his tongue moved along her neck. A soft hiss escaped her, she had no arguments though. She definitely liked this and found herself panting directly as a result of newfound stimulation. An upward and downward motion of this lad's tongue was quite something to be taken in and the tightening she felt upon her pink locks was tantalizing as added stimulation below her waist helped turn a minor bit of pain into unadulterated pleasure. If she'd been thinking about it properly she would have probably realized she was already growing quite a few kinks through experience alone, but... none of that actually mattered. Instead a simple tightening of her nether around that deep stroking finger at the sensation of that tongue flickering against her earlobe. "Ummmm~" she bit her bottom lip in the moment quieting a coming moan.

Akashi apparently still had more to say, though the movements of her own hand never stopped, the occasional stroke against his tip did occur. Overall she was gaining quite a bit of experience in the nature of this lad's manhood. His words about the lack of timing in their contract made her chuckle. She found herself struggling, her knees going a bit weak as the depths of her person began pushing her towards the edge of the greatest abyss she knew. Before she could answer his query she had to say something important, "I'm close... too close even," she mentioned softly as her face fell forward and she found herself softly licking the exposed flesh on the soft side of Akashi's neck. After which she'd speak to his timing, while trying to keep her balance as she approached her great release. "Ahhh~ Well, you determine the start of leisure time not the end. What if I get done with the contract and I want more? I can't put a definite amount of time on it~" she stated. Ever the one to take as much as possible. It was quite obvious the lass had simply skipped all but the start time because she wanted to take as much as she could between the start and the end of her contract. And who wouldn't take full advantage of a situation like the one she was in.

[Bloodedge]

Perhaps Akashi had always realized a timeframe was missing from their agreement. If he did, he determined long ago that it didn't matter. Dragons were selfish creatures, and if that particular term had been omitted accidentally, then he would have left it as such for his own unlimited access. In this way, they were kindred during the contract's signing, but there was much more potential to it than that if Tamamo left out the clause with purpose as well. "Greedy, greedy," he said, pausing as his lips made contact with her neck. "If the contract ends, we make another. All you have to do is make the call."

He could have said nothing. Because he spoke further, though, something aside from the pair's mutually-evolving arousal began to take place. Akashi's finger never ceased its movements, nor did his tongue as it trailed along Tamamo's neck again. The greed between these two could not be compared in any true fashion, but they were both in possession of the trait regardless. Akashi was drawn to the fox. He was drawn to the Necromancer. He was drawn to the other Dragonoid, and all forms that had yet to be conceptualized. He was taken in a way that left him making decisions, whether selfish or selfless, that he would never have made otherwise... and it was not simply Akashi.

"Skip the contracts, even. Just call." These would be the final words spoken by Akashi in this world. Little did the pair know, their actions this day had the strangest of consequences. Their lanterns, their wishes, were accepted by an entity beyond this world, yet so strongly connected to it. The Territory produced by Akashi began to dissipate─ something that should never have been possible. The thing that caused this... happened to be the Nexus itself, which dragged this pair of teens into what seemed to be a blank dimension devoid of all life, bar the Dragonoid and Kitsune. "H'oh?" the male questioned, clearly taken aback by the sudden shift. Even so, he didn't seem keen on removing himself from Tamamo. "Nothing should break my Domain. . ."

[Apollymi]

Once again this lass' greed was pointed out. She knew she was greedy, but it wasn't as if she was the only one who'd ignored time limits when establishing their current contract. If anything Akashi was just as guilty considering he felt the need to bring it up. "Oooooh~ You're one to talk.... you did it too~" she moaned. Apparently there was no real problem with this greed though. Their bedroom banter seemed to move along nicely and though both of them were admittedly very selfish in this creation they both that their reasons to be so. And the reason was simply each other, she sighed as his lips made contact with her neck and he began speaking again words which further drove home a different thought.

Tamamo found herself overly indulgent when it came to this Dragonoid. Even beyond him Kou was also worth teasing. Giyu had been the object of her desires even when she wasn't quite sure he shared them and before this moment Xiao had become something for her to covet. Ah... but this wasn't simply a matter of Tamamo, who was the most forthright about her desires, it was a matter of the one behind it all. The girl who wanted and aimed to take all that she could because of her feelings surrounding this boy. She gave and took in ways she wouldn't have bothered with in other situations simply because he was himself. "Hai hai~ Don't forget though... you can always call on me too. Girls do like feeling needed~" she chimed offering herself in a similar fashion. Too bad, her moment of concentration would soon be broken as the Territory fell apart around them. Was this a moment where they'd get caught? No... that didn't make much sense... after all there shouldn't be anyone in the world capable of breaking into Akashi's Terrority who wasn't already inside of it. Ah... he also seemed surprised by the change but didn't stop. Nor did Tamamo make any moves to extricate herself as she continued to delicately stroke his manhood at the same pace she'd been taking her lips pressing further against the skin of his neck while she questioned this. "Ara ara, if you don't know what this is... and I don't either... this could get kind of annoying~" she mused. Little did she know, it truly was going to be annoying. She couldn't know their selfish wishes and desires would come back upon them with such swiftness. She couldn't know what the Nexus had planned and this white space while empty and jarring seemed somewhat familiar.

[Bloodedge]

He could call upon her as well, could he? That much was simple for Akashi, but the Dragonoid had little faith in his other selves to do so. Perhaps eventually, when their curiosities were answered, the rest would manage to catch up. At least the form of Xiao seemed a bit ahead of the others thus far. There was hope yet. Sadly, as they explored each other's necks and loins, the greatest interruption came in the form of 'divine' intervention. Why they were pulled into an empty dimension, Akashi could not understand.

On the positive side, it seemed Tamamo was just as willing to continue without pause as Akashi himself. Since her hand was steadily moving, the Dragonoid sighed contentedly while keeping the pace of his single finger. Alas, things getting a bit annoying was not nearly a strong enough assumption. A voice would reach out to both parties as they busied themselves with each other in spite of the situation, and it would be projected directly into their shared consciousness. "The time has come, my dear masters.~ You must return to whence you came. Soon... we shall meet again," the androgynous voice spoke. Akashi's eyes narrowed as an unfamiliar sensation moved him. He wasn't pulled away, nor was he pushed─ he was simply being slowly phased out of reality, just as Tamamo would be at the same time. During that time, though, he was not capable of remaining Akashi.

The strange shift that occurred left the male's face a blur, though his irises glowed red even through the obstruction. His hair became very long, black, kept in a messy braid of a ponytail slung over his shoulder. A golden gleam around his neck housed an ovular ruby, which glowed with the same intensity as his eyes... yet it didn't seem to fully exist. "What the fuck?" the lad spoke in a voice unlike any of his Avatars. "Wait, whence we came? Does that mean─"

[Apollymi]

The kitsune knew at least Akashi would call upon her if he wished to see her. The others of the lad's personas didn't always seem as keen but she figured there were still a few things they were working on within themselves. She would be as patient as she could as they came to the same decision she'd already reached a long time before now. Ah, but there was still another problem, an empty dimension now housed them and as it did they continued their work on each other. Mouths touched necks and hands remained busy. Her own stroking the lad's manhood while his singular finger did wonders for her inside. Her body clinched and tightened so close to the edge she could have fallen over it at any moment.

Until, of course, her consciousness was assaulted by an unfamiliar voice. And when it reached her it broke the concentration she'd been building up. Of course, this voice couldn't simply be someone catching them in the midst of their debauchery. No, it had... ominous implications. "I must do what now?!" exclaimed Tamamo as a strange sensation came to her being. She too was phased out but as she was a bit closer to what she needed to be to start with it simply felt as if she rippled under the pressure of her being. Her eyes became the jewel red known to belong to one Ashikaga Kimiko and around her neck was a red jeweled pendant. Beyond all things she seemed to have on even less clothing and those once pink locks became the raven color of her original self. Ah, but she wasn't quite there yet... she wasn't quite where she needed to be. "But... I don-" she looked up at this lad and saw this new face of his for the first time. It wasn't all there... And she wasn't either.

[Bloodedge]

"Kuso," spoke the male. He knew what was coming now; he could feel it in the depths of his being. Both of them underwent some startling changes, but... he could recognize hers. This was the face of Ashikaga Kimiko, and not simply the version shared amongst her Avatars. She was the one he'd seen in school─ the true form of the girl, though something unexplainable was very different still. Had the same change taken place in him? He could hardly take the time to wonder, as the Nexus was in the process of sending them both out of this realm.

Neither wanted this departure, especially in the moment. So much progress had been made, and for what purpose? Perhaps they would be sent to the same location, and could go on as if nothing were amiss. The voice claimed it would be meeting them again, so this was in no way to be a permanent change. In that case... now was perhaps the perfect time, aside from the fact that it could have waited an hour or so. Shunning those thoughts for the moment, he fixed his crimson gaze on Kimiko. "Well... I guess that's that, then. Just in case... don't forget you have the answer," he said to the lass while moving forward. His lips encroached upon hers, but before any contact could even be managed, the transfer was complete; he was gone from this world.