[Mission] [Yumi] Not Lost

[Samejima]

One Tsukino Yumi would find herself in a dark room, stone flooring and not much to see but a few slight glimmers of light. These glimmers would reveal, among other things, a bed (and someone in it), a table (pretty old table, could collapse at any moment), some food on that table (though it's gone bad) and a few torches on the ground. If she was actively looking for them, she'd be able to spot some oil and matches as well, but other than that, the only sources of light at present are the cracks made in the roof of wherever she was.

Upon awakening, she would likely not recognize the area at all, being in the first floor of the Obsidian Palace that is underground, and may enter a state of fear or anger as she realized she had been taken against her will again, as this was clearly not where she remembers having tucked herself in the night before. Being a cold stone floor and all. She would also find that she had a strange note with her, but wouldn't be able to read it until a better light source was found. In the distance, there was some wind blowing in... But as of now, all she could do was hear the howling, and not the direction of the wind itself.

The bed would rustle a little if she made much noise, but otherwise nothing would happen until she decided to find a way out of the place.

 

[Kazumi]

Yumi let off a small groan as her eyes reluctantly pulled themselves open. She felt rather terrible and her head hurt something fierce. As her senses slowly regained composure she felt the cold hard ground pressing against her cheek. Still in a daze she let off another soft groan as she pushed herself up with her left arm as she reached up to try and wipe some sleep from her eyes. The stone left small impressions on the side of her face where she had apparently slept, if one could call it sleeping. Her head throbbed and with each beat of her heart she wanted to let out a pained grunt.

As her eyes began to focus she looked around the room with no obivous signs of alarm at first, the situation had not yet had a chance to form in her head. Another few moments of rubbing her face gave her addled mind time to process where she was... more specifically the fact that she didn't know where. Her eyes widened and she began to quickly look about the room for an exit. As she did, she noticed the other various items scattered about the area. "Am I asleep?" She warily asked herself as she reached up to pinch her own cheek. Wincing slightly as she closed her eyes from the pinch, she tentatively opened them to see that her surroundings remained along with her headache.

She grunted softly as she pushed her hand to the floor to help herself stand, the edge of her finger brushing a piece of paper as she stood. Once on her feet she leaned down to pick it up, but couldn't make out anything that was written on it. She stepped over to the table and set the paper down upon it. As she did, she noticed the old food sitting near its center and after a moment of closer inspection she reeled back with an expression of disgust. "Eww... that smells terrible." She softly remarked to herself when suddenly she heard a rustling sound coming from the bed.

Her eyes shot over towards the sounds and she quickly silenced herself as she waited for the sounds to cease. Maybe they are asleep? she thought to herself before she hesitantly stepped over towards the side of the bed, keeping her steps soft and light to avoid waking whomever might be sleeping in it. Once next to it she would try to peer over and around it to see if she could get a look at who was sleeping, if they were sleeping, and if she was not able to see a face she would hesitantly pull any covers off their face very softly and slowly as to try and not wake them.

 

[Samejima]

The student wouldn't be able to see much of a face before pulling the covers off, but once she did the face of a seemingly young man would be the first thing she saw. It wasn't easy to make out the male-ness of that face at first.

Tachibana Sora​

The long hair didn't make it any easier as the young man sat up. He seems to have been oblivious to the fact that his cellmates had all escaped, or at least not willing to disclose the fact that he was one of the prisoners who remained in the Obsidian Palace once the gates were proverbially blasted open. He seemed thin, as if he hadn't eaten in awhile. Rubbing his left eye sleepily, he asked, "Oh... Small. You new?" in a hoarse, soft voice. He was rather surprised by the way his voice came out, reaching around the other side of the bed for something he thought he left there. Finding nothing, he cleared his throat and continued. "Not often to see a prisoner as young as you... But in the first floor, usually not bad person." The hoarseness didn't change, though his words did come out somewhat louder.

The wind's howling increased with the young man's awakening, though he wouldn't acknowledge this change, being groggy and all. There is now a slight breeze going through the room, like a cold draft from a slightly open window in a cold area that no one shut due to its distance from the living room. "Hmm... Woke up first? Weird... Dark..."

 

[Kazumi]

"Prisoner?" She asked in a surprised tone as she stepped back from the bed. She looked around the poorly furnished and even more dlimly lit room, a small shiver trailing down her spine as the wind began to pick up. "No no... I'm not a prisoner, I just woke up here." She meekly corrected him as she located one of the torches laying on the ground. She scampered over to it, and picked it up as she began to look around for something to light it with. It took a few good moments of work until she finally managed to locate the oil and matches. Clutching the torch awkwardly under her right armpit she poured a little bit of the oil on the torch and then attempted to strike the match. Presuming she would manage to get it lit, she would then proceed to attempt to light the torch before extinguishing the match.

Regardless of if she got the torch lit or not she would look back over towards the other person. "So is this a... prison or something? Why are you here?" She was woefully naive on the geography of the village, and the Obsidian Palace's existence did not even register as a possibility in her mind. If the torch was lit, she would step over towards the table to try and get a peek at the paper she had found before, holding the torch carefully in the air above the table with her left hand.

 

[Samejima]

[col]

Tachibana Sora​

|"Not... So you're lost?" he asked, somewhat confused. It was no easy feat even getting into the Obsidian Palace, and getting lost before winding up in it was even harder. The man had either been framed for the sentence or had lost his memory, as the possibility of having been kidnapped didn't come to mind. Seeing Yumi actually putting effort into lighting the place up, he felt rather inadequate as he stretched before hearing the question posed. Before answering, he took the time to test his limbs to see if they still responded to his will, and upon standing up and twisting a little, a series of loud cracks could be heard as the air trapped in his joints escaped. "Been sleeping." He raised his hand slowly to lightly scratch his head before letting out a huge yawn.

"This is Ob-sid-dian Palace. Place for criminals. But..." By the light of the successfully lit torch, no one else was around. "No one here. There was many before," He began walking closer to Yumi, stopping at just about a polite distance away. "Tachibana Sora is name here," he said, offering a hand to shake. If shaken, that hand would feel rather cold to the touch, and Yumi may notice that despite the cold and how thin he looked, he didn't seem to be shivering in the least.[/col]

Before he did so however, Yumi would be able to read the note that she found earlier. It said,
[legend="[size=2]Note Contents[/size]"]Bundle up.
- S[/legend]

It was written in rather elegant print, though the paper used seems to be quite old. Were she to check the back, she would be able to see various writings in Runic Terran, as if the scrap had been ripped out of the center of a book page, but it was unlikely that she'd be able to read it as she wasn't a native Sunan.

 

[Kazumi]

Being polite, Yumi did shake the man's hand. He didn't seem obviously harmful and she was not cynical or experienced enough to expect everyone to back stab her for no apparent reason. That would come later in her career no doubt. "Sleeping? Umm... you didn't say why you were in a prison though." Was he one of those despits who went to prison just for the place to sleep? That didn't seem likely...

Her attention returned to the paper and the indecipherable script on its other side. She wondered who this S could be. Was it even left for her? Probably... but why was she even here? She began to look around the area as she put the note in her pocket, pulling the torch from under her arm. "I'll stop bothering you and let you get back so sleep. I'm going to go find a guard and get them to let me out. I'm a student at the academy... and so I shouldn't be here." Was it all a dream maybe? She thought she had considered it before, but her head hurt and thought was rather difficult to do consistently. She gave the man a light bow and walked over to try and examine and open any potential exit she saw.

 

[Samejima]

[col]

Tachibana Sora​

|The man stopped at the observation the girl made, seemingly trying to recall why he was in prison in the first place. After a few moments, she said she was going to try and find a guard, and Sora went back to sit on the bed. "Quite sure there was guards near central area," he said, trying to locate some water he was absolutely sure he left nearby.[/col]

Upon reaching that area however, it wouldn't be guards that Yumi found... Merely that the column that allowed transport to and from the outside was stopped. The sound of the whirring made by the apparatuses was still audible, but it either wasn't opening, couldn't open... or was an illusion. In any case, it didn't seem like it would let her through anytime soon.

Back at the bed, though there was no light since Yumi likely took it with her to examine the central column, Sora was digging around the bed frame now trying to find a glass or bottle, or anything really. He was pretty thirsty. But he did come across a book, which seemed like it hadn't been opened in a long while judging by the groove in the ground he had to pull it out of. He tilted his head and held it up a little to squint at the title...

How to Check For Vulnerabilities in Buildings​

 

[Kazumi]

She continued to inspect the area for any signs of a way out. She rubbed her hand across the wall in obvious spots and tried to feel around for... a button or switch? There was the sound of machinery, so something must open it? If she would have no luck she would eventually turn and loudly ask, if he was far away to necessitate it, "Do you know how to get this thing working?" She would then pause a few seconds and tilt her head as she looked at him. "What're you doing," she asked out of curiosity as he went about his searching.

In the meanwhile she tried to think back past her headache to see if she could remember... anything? Did whatever organization that sent... that man do this? Surely if they had she wouldn't be alive but...

 

[Samejima]

The search in her head for anything that may connect her abductor to that man drew a blank. This was either completely unrelated or vaguely related, from some offshoot of whatever sick plan the organization had in mind for the girl they took so much from... But at the moment she wouldn't be able to recall anything that might connect dot one to dot two.

The search for a button in an obvious spot however, namely the right side of the column at about hip height for a grown man, would reveal an access verification area, which was activated by chakra signature. Yumi likely wouldn't recognize it unless she'd read about it before somewhere, or gone anywhere that required a high level of authorization to pass through. This meant that no one in present company would be able to open it. The obvious sound but curiously absent warmth that should be coming from people working on it would continue as Yumi asked the searching sleepyhead if he knew how to work the elevator.
[col]

Tachibana Sora​

|"No... Apologies..." He was unsure of what he'd be able to do at this point, seeing as the guards seem to have left along with the prisoners. Trying to hunt them all down no doubt, and they've definitely been out for more than a day if Yumi was left here and they hadn't come to retrieve her. Then again, it wasn't often that anyone would stay inside a prison in which the prisoners have been given the time to escape.

"Found a book." Sora held it out for her to see under the light, somewhat tentatively. "Can you read this?"

It seems he couldn't read the common language.[/col]

 

[Kazumi]

She was certainly not smart enough, or exposed enough, to know about anything as advanced as chakra signatures or scanners which utilized them. All she saw was some sort of panel that looked like it might be used as a locking device of some sort, one she had no clue how to operate. She poked and prodded it a little, with likely no avail and she turned away from it and towards him with a small sigh. "Book?" Was it related to the note? Probably not... She stepped away from the column and walked over from him to take the book. If it was in that unfamiliar language then she wouldn't be able to help at all either.

So, she opened it with her left hand and awkwardly tried to flip through pages, all while balancing it in her open palm. As she fumbled through it she suddenly missed her good hand, two made these things so much simpler... Regardless, she was rather dexterous with her fingers from all those hours of training with hand seals and so she would eventually be able to look through it as she tried to keep it in the light. One thing she did check for was to see if perhaps that torn page came from here? If it had than perhaps S was...

 

[Samejima]

The title was in common, so the rest of the book was the same way. Had it been in some other script, Yumi wouldn't have been able to read the section that said something about drafts being indicative of an opening to the outside and that one should always remember to check if the temperature in a building being examined was the proper level for the amount of insulation from the outside and the actual temperature in the area the building was built in.

The current temperature would still be rather cold, having stayed constant since Sora awakened. If they went back to the bed, they would be able to feel the draft coming in from a very suspicious-looking crack in the wall. Getting closer to it would trigger a response from Sora, who would head back to the bed to grab the sheets he was sleeping in earlier before returning to Yumi's side.

It was dark, but Yumi would be able to make out a very familiar smell. It was the faint, crisp smell of fresh snow, through a crack in the wall of a detention facility in the middle of a desert. If she tried to look through it, she'd see nothing but darkness, but as soon as she glimpsed some white, a sudden gust of wind would cause her eye to shut reflexively. Once it opened again, the crack would have reverted to darkness...

But of course, this was only if Yumi decided to follow the book's instructions to be aware of temperature changes. If she didn't, she'd be able to spot a note on the edge of the page that section was on, which said something about there being a trapdoor for the central column's maintenance somewhere. If she wished, she would be able to try and open it to leave the prison and return to Sunagakure, if she could trust a note likely written by one of the inmates.

 

[Kazumi]

Yumi winced backward as the gust of air caught her by surprise. She blinked a few times to moisten her eye again and to try and get that weird sensation to vacate. After a few moments passed she would toss the book down onto the bed and would take the torch so she could hold it closer to the crack, trying to shine some light in there. I surely couldn't be snow on the other side... but that air was very cold, and it smelled nostalgically familiar. Perhaps a...? "Do you know what is on the other side of here? Maybe a freezer of some kind?" She asked as she took a moment to continue to peer, finally looking back towards the wrapped man.

She, unlike him, did not seem at all bothered by the chilled air. It was certainly nice to feel, as it was quite different from the cold air that permeated the desert surface at night. She couldn't say why, not really, but it just felt different to her. Regardless of that, she looked over towards him with curiosity. Surely he must know something. As she waited and listened for his response she looked around the area to see if there was anything to pry into the crack? Perhaps it could be forces open... or made wider somehow? It could end up to be nothing, but her curiosity drove her forward.

 

[Samejima]

[col]

Tachibana Sora​

|"Free-zur?" Sora would look confused before he answered, though it wasn't of much help. "There should not be cold here. Geographically, the Wind Country is an arid region, devoid of life and liquid except in the most remote of places." The last sentence sounded like it was being read straight out of a book, monotone and matter-of-fact. He walked forward a little, not believing that this would be the source of the cold. Though he couldn't summon much of a memory about his own situation, it seems he knows many things about his surroundings and what they entailed. There shouldn't be a source of coldness, not underground, so he willfully stuck his hand into the crack, fully expecting it to hit a solid wall.

But it went through, and some of the wall seemed to dissipate as he pulled his hand back towards himself. Gears turning, he tried it again, forcing his hand to either side of the crack. The right side allowed that hand passage, and he explained, "Genjutsu used. This... isn't a fake. But wall is not here..." And that didn't explain how there could be a cold place in the middle of a desert of all places. Sora walked on through the wall, anxious to see if it was, indeed, another area.[/col]

The area inside can really only be described as a clearing in a wintry forest, with snow falling and tightly packed deciduous trees in the way of anyone who would try to enter the forest itself. There was a snow-covered wooden sign in the middle of the clearing, though the lettering on it was illegible. Even if words used to be on them, there were only faded markings and a simple snowflake which seemed to have been branded on the sign's wood. Surrounding them were four paths, two of which would feel decidedly warmer if they decided to get closer to either path, but due to the fog, was not fully visible. Of the other two, one would seem quite auburn in the distance, while the other seemed to be another snow-filled area.

 

[Kazumi]

Yuri watched in confusion as the man simply... stepped through? Hesitantly she scurried over towards the wall where he had dissapeared though. THis was a genjutsu? She reached out and put her hand on it. It surely felt real enough and she couldn't push her hand through it. She had not learned a ton about genjutsu, but she did know how to dispell them atleast... with a jutsu. She grimaced and stepped against the wall to look through the crack where she saw the man on the other side. She stepped back and then went over towards the bed. Putting the torch under her arm once again she grabbed the book, and on a hunch she tossed the book at the wall.

Without a sound the item passed right through it. Although she kinda knew it would happen she still looked slightly dumbfounded. Thankfully no one was nearby to see it and she did quickly regather herself with a determined scowl on her face. She took a few moments to think. If it was fake... then she could walk through it. Except that her mind knew it to be real, and so it wouldn't let her go through it... unless.

On another hunch she stepped over towards the wall, took the torch back in her hand and took a long hop away from it as she closed her eyes. As she landed she regathered her balance and began to walk backwards towards the wall as quickly as hhe could. A chill passed through her body as she felt that faint sensation of snow melting on her exposed skin and she finally opened her eyes. She was standing on the other side of the wall. Her hunch was a complete success!

Silently cheering herself on, she spun and hurried after the man, stopping as she caught sight of the split path and the lone illegable sign. She began to look around and take in her surroundings. "This... must be another illusion then? There is like... no way that there is a snowy forest anywhere near the village." Or even in this entire region, she thought. She had traveled for over the span of a few months to get to Sunagakure, and while she didn't know exactly how far away she had last seen snow, it was much further than anyone could have carried her in a day... or even a week!

 

[Samejima]

[col]

Tachibana Sora​

|"Yes. But this is..." Reaching down to pick up some of the fallen snow, he formed it into a ball and flung it at the sign, causing some of the snow to fall off in a very realistic fashion. "High level. Mind does not believe it is genjutsu... Ah!" He turned quickly, facing the girl. Once he realized his mistake in not telling her to wait there before stepping through, it was too late. Eyes still half-closed and quite sleepy, the cold didn't exactly help him stay awake. He was visibly on the verge of collapsing, and walked over to the sign in order to prop himself up and promptly admonish himself for forgetting to tell the girl to stay back, as he would have done in any normal situation. It's not like this was the first time he's had to bring a charge through an arguably dangerous situation after all.[/col]

The way back to the Obsidian Palace had disappeared, as they couldn't re-enter the area they entered from - there was no longer a wall floating in the middle of a forest, and there was no one back the other way to take their cue to exit from. What were they to do now?

The leftmost path from where Yumi and Sora were facing was the warmest, and the temperatures decreased from there. The now-cleared sign still showed faded lettering, and there was nothing behind it. Additionally, Yumi would be able to feel a certain presence. It seemed to radiate from the sign, but it's just a sign... An almost blank one at that.

 

[Kazumi]

That familiar sound of snow crunching together as it was formed into a small ball sent sparks along old neural pathways, and as the semi-sphere of snow crashed into the wood those sparks ignited old memories. It was icy almost year round in her village, and there were many fond memories she had of playing around in the snow with her friends. A smile traced her lips as she could almost feel the familiar sensation of cold creeping up her right arm as she readied a salvo to throw at her father once he exited from their modest home.

The man's actions went largely unnoticed until he latched himself onto the post as a makeshift crutch. Her mind fast forwarded to the present and she blinked as her mind processed everything that had happened during the past few seconds. Her feet crunched the snow down as she tried to hurry over towards him, concern for the stranger urging her forward. "You alright?" She asked, looking at him, curious as to why he was barely able to stand up on his own. She didn't reach out to touch him, but she poised herself to intercede herself between him and the ground if necessary. "Can you walk?"

While she awaited his answer she took to looking around the area, mainly on the sign and then the four paths that surrounded them. "Is this an illusion too, and if so... what do we do now?" Yumi posed the question to the man, as he seemed to be knowledgeable in such things, atleast more so than she was. Her attention drifted over towards the sign and she took to stepping around behind it so she could look at it from all sides. Something about it was... strange, though she could not place it. Perhaps simply an effect from it being part of some grand illusion?

 

[Samejima]

[col]

Tachibana Sora​

|"Sleepy..." After having slept so long his joints popped and cracked like bubblewrap, it was a wonder he was still sleepy. He felt he could still walk however, keeping his consciousness up by sheer willpower with how cold it was there. Looking down all four paths, he found that the most appealing one was the second, the one that wasn't as warm as the first but more so than the two after it... But he should answer the girl's question first. "Can walk... This is strong genjutsu, but the way out is somewhere. Need to find." After a pause, he continued. "Remember anything from before wake up?" He was sure he'd have remembered was the presence of a genjutsu like this within the very cell he resided in, but this was the first time he'd even sensed it. Ergo, it must be related to the girl. Right?[/col]

 

[Kazumi]

She brushed her hand across the sign, inspecting it for a few seconds longer before she relegated herself to a simple sigh. Looking up from it she began to walk around the area in a large circle, trying to peer out through the fog of all the paths. Noticing that each of them seemed slightly different in temperature she stopped ahead of the one with the coldest temperature and looked down it ever harder. "I think we should try and go this way," she loudly recommended to the man as she continued to scout. "It is the last way anyone would expect. So its gotta be ther right way."

If the air was as cold as the illusion suggested, a tingle of familiar chill would tingle up her spine, bringing another smile to the blonde haired girl. "Brings back a lot of memories," she softly mused to herself, allowing her mind to wander off for a time as she awaited the man's comment. The tingling was replaced by pricks of pain at the nub of her right arm, which had never been subjected to colder temperatures before. The bandages by now were all gone, currently ending in just the scarred tip where her skin had been stitched back together after several painful trips to the hospital. There certainly would be scarring, but given the damage it turned out much better than they had originally anticipated.

 

[Samejima]

[col]

Tachibana Sora​

|"Memories..." he mused for a bit, before remembering he had no time to be musing. There wasn't much of his consciousness he could keep, and he wasn't about to let a little girl just get lost in whatever manner of genjutsu this may be, even if he didn't know her name. "Cold... Want to go there?" It wouldn't have been his first choice, as he needed to stay awake in order to be of any assistance, but if she was sure... He took several steps towards the path she'd picked, fatigue becoming slightly more pronounced.

[legend="Sleep"][progress]20[/progress][/legend][/col]

Assuming the two proceeded down the path without incident, they would come to another clearing that looked exactly the same as the last, except the snow upon the sign was still untouched. There were the same four paths again, and the fog was still obscuring the first two paths. It didn't seem like there were any footprints in the snow either, so it must be another area... right?

 

[Kazumi]

Yumi paused as they reached the 'new' identical area. She was not sure what exactly she expected. The girl looked around and sighed softly. "So... if it is just a genjutsu. Can you just do that release technique on us?" She couldn't recall if he was a shinobi or not, but he was in the prison after all... Yumi turned back towards her temporary companion to see him sleepily making his way down the path towards her. "You okay?" she asked with curious concern. He was moving rather sluggish

She stepped away from the sign and walked back through the snow towards him, trying to get a good look at his face as she waited for him to respond. If he died on her, how could he help her out? As soon as that thought came into her mind she stopped herself, looking slightly stuneed that she had thought such a thing. Where did that thought come from? She didn't think that way! Suddenly her head began to ache a little more as she pressed her eyes shut. Another of those migraines was hitting her... and now was certainly not a good time.