Private Between the panels Act l

[Momo]

BIG HAT MOMO​

The sun was beginning to set now. The orange hue of the resting sun meld with the purple lake of a night sky took her back to simpler days. The vast ocean above was filled with tiny diamonds sparkling and twinkling as dusk set in. Her eyes jumped from one star to the next as her fingers plucked the strings of her guitar, Baston. She played a slow, light melody that trailed elegantly through the vast silence of the graveyard. Something fitting that altered both the mood and perspective of a spooky grave to a calming experience where both the dead and living could sleep in harmony. It was a warm night, warmer than most at least. Perfect weather for a simple get together. In one of the shallow graves dug up by the grave keepers the morning before, laid a vibrantly and eccentrically dressed Momo with her big hat, guitar, and a case of unopened soju. It was from here that the music originated, the epicenter of soothing beauty. Her teammates would have no issue finding her by following the sound of music. Their invitation was sent out to them this evening via a small black greeting card stamped by red lips that when opened released a feint disagreeable oder. It was the smell of Yew trees, also known as the death tree, The greeting card also housed a small riddle for the receiver. It read, “I am hidden somewhere quiet, people here are purely bones, If you wish to track me down, look under the stones. Signed: Big Hat Momo.” Very… cryptic (see what I did there?) but that was just Momo having a bit of fun. Perhaps they would show or perhaps they wouldn’t. Still, tonight Momo had the night off and would spend it where she laid. The view from the grave created a window like effect, a kind of tunnel vision from where she laid. Momo chuckled a bit. Her emotions began to wonder as her empathy took her on a journey. The final picture seen by the dearly departed, was much the same as this tunnel vision view of the stars dangling about the dark void. Though still chuckling, a single tear fell down the side of her cheek… soaking the dirt of this shallow grave.

[mft]
[Requesting Sukejuro and Koga]

[edited]

 

[Koga Akane]

“Okay! OH KAY. I WILL.” Akane threw her hands up at the doorway to her house. Her voice echoed loudly into the kitchen. A louder voice echoed back, littered with consequences and punishments about her daughter’s loud trap. “Sorry… Yes Mother...” She rolled her eyes, taking a hold of the door knob and shutting the door. A sigh of exhaustion bellowed out past her parted lips. Her household has become more and more toxic ever since the separation of their family. Strange individuals arrive during the nights, the overprotective religious mother who kept her overbearing talon grip on Akane’s shoulders, the list went on and on. ‘At least she’s too busy to stop me now.’ She snickered happily.

Naturally she kept her true whereabouts hidden behind closed lips to her mother. A fictitious story of heading to a church to pray with her kin. In reality, it was mischief with the team. A strange invitation made its way onto her desk. Marked with red lipstick and the smell of… ‘What WAS that?’ Her nose twitched, remembering that smell from beforehand. The riddle was simple enough for Akane to figure out. Her hands rubbed together as she walked down the paved pathway that eventually returned to a rocky road. Sporty white and blue sneakers, that matched her equally two toned floral hoodie and white skater skirt, agitated the rocks on the pathway out towards the ancient forest. “It can’t be too far now could it?” Speaking aloud Akane placed a bent index finger at the groove of her bottom lip in thought. Lost in her trance the further she walked the sound of music grew louder. ‘Is that…?’ In the forest, in the middle of trees, nature and… bugs… Akane deduced the melody came from none other than Big Hat Momo, her idol. Eager to meet up with her she kicked her pace into high gear and chased the tune.

Akane moved past massive trees with overgrown roots, protruding rocks that left their shadows behind him from the setting sun and finally sliding to a halt in front of broken and deformed iron bars. The music echoed straight in front of her past the rusted all gate. The gates, though heavily worn from weatherization, legibly read ‘Graveyard’ that arced over top of the gate. Akane’s brown hues peered past the gate, observing the ominous moss covered tombstones she felt a lingering presence. Something… not directly evil however one didn’t need to be evil to do wrong. ‘Am… I afraid of ghosts…?’ she pondered to herself. Never had she encountered one or met anything akin to them, why was she suddenly paralyzed now. Under her breath she whispered, “Where the hell is Sukejuro when you need him…” Grumbling she sucked up her fear and replaced it with pseudo-courage, venturing forth to follow the music.

Each step filled her with regret before finally she had enough looming around with the dead. “Momo! Is that you?” She called out in the graveyard, “By the church I hope it’s you…” She moved cautiously to a large tomb decorated in moss and chipped marble. The sound of music faded and curiosity took over her mind. The door nearly fell off from rusted hinges Akane reached out, opening it. Her eyes widened in fear as a big black shadow moved quickly past her feet. Without skipping a beat, other than her heart, she let out a loud scream of terror before bolting away from the tomb. Mid flee, the distressed Akane tripped over a knocked over tombstone. Momentum carried her forward and it wasn’t long before she bounced past another set of lots and came to a sliding halt, face first. Coughing up the chunks of grass and dirt Akane looked down into the tomb to see the curvy woman dressed in red with a beautiful guitar across her lap and that signature red hat. Looking like hell and embarrassed there and back Akane looked at the woman, “Hi Momo…” As she groaned a raccoon lept on her back, hopping away quickly after.

[Topic entered]
[wc:676]

 

[Horigome Sukejuro]

Such invitations were certainly unheard of, or atleast they were up until now! He had guests, he had teammates, what were the odds, he wondered. There was so much noise and stimulation that it was difficult to fathom how he would use all of this overwhleming social energy that he'd sucked up from his last few major encounters. Sukejuro found himself contemplating the letter for a bit, tracing the satisfyiying and crisp folded edges of the paper shell which previously enclosed the invitation left laying on the floor.

Despondent.

Akane and that other lady...with the metal accoustic-type device? Momo, yes? It was taking some getting used to, maintaining some functional front to disguise the trauma prone young man into something less...disappointing. It took about 15 minutes of contemplation to decide if he even wanted to get up right now, deprived again of sleep but hoping he might be ready to lay down and rest sometime soon...but he ultimately came to the same conclusions again and again.

---


Wandering through the familiar grounds, conciously making notes of where familiar frounds he had treat as a youth were, fromm the resting places of those few who didn't leave him behind so willingly. He wandered full of nostalgia and melancholy as he avoided going straight for where he figured the music came from. Instead he simply skulked about, mind afire with the impressions of old feelings, old memories floating up from the mire of his currently still mind. Clamboring up grand monuments of stone, crawling amongst the burrows, oh how it reminded him of what it was like to maintain relationships, how it felt to experience comraderie and teamwork. If it werent for his fondness for and familiarity of the graveyard he wouldn't have had the haziest idea and would have possbly broke down and wandered aimlessly to try to find the sender of the letter.

He knew he had been quietly wandering for sometime however he could hear a voice amongst the sad tones that carried and bounded through the burial place. Under the blanket of darkness, wrapped up in somber spun blacks with skull mask peering from the voice he found Akane, so she had come too? Or was it truly her or someone else? He spent some time watching and listening, trying to connect their unsolicited responses to seemingly no one within earshot.

Very curious, indeed.

When he approximated that Akane must have reached Momo, he decided to climb the worn decorative arch once belonging to some greater, older stone structure that lay partially burried onder mud and dirt, a victim of the place it resided. Climbing up the partial stone arch he would emerge within peripheral vision and in a somewhat amused voice as it rolled out steady and slow, with a methodical flare "To what pleasure do we owe this summons for?" He would ask, only quite too pleased with the idea of spooking either of them, a mischievous part of himself being expressed, even if he didn't make that immediately obvious.

[mft]

 

[Momo]

BIG HAT MOMO​

Momo’s finger tips continued through the commotion from up above. Plucking away at the thin strings of Bastion to continue the sweet harmony as a familiar face plopped before her. It was the weird fan kid she had the misfortune of teaming with. Seeing the raccoon use her head as a spring board added a slew of additional adjectives to Momo’s repertoire. Momo wouldn’t respond right away to Akane. Instead, she would stop playing her guitar to allow for a moment of awkward silence. Momo would simply stare into Akane’s eyes within the awkwardness, wondering what thoughts Akane could possibly conjure by Momo’s blank and utter awkward moment causing stare. The real question was what was her Bastion and Hat thinking as they stared back. Sukejuro would soon break the silence in his usual way of speech which lacked proper charisma and influence of today’s pop culture. Still, it was refreshing at times to hear someone speak and sound as if they came right out of a history book. Momo would smile from her whole before popping right up. From Sukejuro’s vantage point, he’d only see a big red hat sticking out from the ground however. “Is that my Sukeju?!” She completely missed his little antics since she couldn’t see him from the empty pit she was in. Momo would reach down and grab the drinks she brought and toss them above ground before hopping out the grave herself. “Took you two long enough to find me!” Momo would run her fingers across Bastion to release a zesty tune. “Hello and welcome Akane and Sukej. I hope you two are ready to rock out. I thought this would be a perfect night for us to ya know, get to know one another a bit. I mean we’re going to be working with each other and probably die together so, ya know, let’s break some ice. I got Soju~ So how about it? You guys are already here after all. Oh I know, let’s play a game of 20 questions! Ha I’ll go first. Akane and Sukeju, if you could change one thing in Kumo what would it be?”

[mft]
[Requesting Sukejuro and Koga]

[edited]

 

[Koga Akane]

A sudden groan escaped her chest as a critter bounded off of her back. Akane held her eyes shut momentarily, hiding from her current situation between her and Momo. Slowly her eyelid crept open to see Momo’s own eyes staring at her. Akane stared back, pondering the idea of something stuck to her face. She even resisted the incredible urge to reach out and poke her eye and see if it shut slowly like a slugs. Her hands dug into the grass to push herself up off the ground. Following she dusted herself off and readjusted her hair only to hear the sounds of a masculine voice echo out. She cut her glance over her shoulder, noticing Sukejuro's massive form eclipsing the moonlight. With a deep sigh of relief Akane finally let her shoulders relax. In the presence of two teammates and notably strong ninja, she hoped, there was no reason for fear.

Momo’s charismatic voice matched her outward appearance. Welcoming both of them and offering the two drinks began to feel like a proper gathering. With that the party game started with 20 questions. From her experience it meant 20 cringe questions that inevitably went nowhere but the very first question piqued her interests. Akane shrugged her shoulders. She’d only been here for less than a few years. A curled finger pressed itself into the groove of her bottom lip. She pondered the big picture of changing Kumo into something young and trendy. On the opposite side of the coin her entire culture seeping into the cracks and converting Kumo into something more akin to her true home felt like the right answer. If she spilled the beans to them there’d be no telling what would happen to her. “How about more towers for better phone service. I get no bars in the outer village.” Her hand dug into her pocket to pull her phone out, solidifying her statement by only getting one bar in the graveyard. A dull answer, sure, but deep down… ‘How hard is it to build another tower!’

Akane moved around to lean up against a dusty tombstone. Noticing a lack of cups she found loose hand size rocks around her. Far from being an expert in chakra manipulation she performed a transformation jutsu on the rocks. The natural energy within the rock illuminated a dull white before taking the sudden shape of small porcelain shot cups that held up to their purpose but lacked any elegance. A small cup sat in her lap while her other hand tossed a cup up to Sukejuro, reaching over to hand Momo a cup.

[WC:436]