Training and Camping in the Crimson Snow [Open]

[Osuteno]

Osuteno stared at the heavily scarred trees surrounding him while breathing heavily. The sun was starting to get low in the sky but he had no intention of heading back yet. He gathered blood around his arm into the shape of a long thin lance. He stared at it for a while before letting go of the shape and reforming it to have a more drill like shape and attacked one of the trees trying to increase both his speed and his power with the technique. However despite the heavy daily training and his balanced diet, Osu was a small thing. He could do the speed but not the power, his frame was just too small, even for an eight-year old. After about ten minutes he fell backwards into a thin layer of snow panting and rested a bit, letting the bloody lance melt off of him and staining the snow a brilliant crimson. Staring up at the tree tops Osu began noticing the leaves falling down and decided he would keep training even while he rested. His blood took form around his hand again but this time in the shape of a long rifle and he began taking shots at the fluttering leaves as they made their journey down. Eventually he had a calm and steady beat going as he shot one leaf after another from the cloudy sky.

After some time and many destroyed leaves Osu regained enough of his energy to get back onto his feet and decided to continue trying out weapon types swords, hammers, scythes, kunai and any other weapon types and variations he could think of. At the moment he had just finished with a club like shape and had moved on to simply making some gloves around his fists. Soon enough his arms were dangling by his sides and he just sat down from exhaustion. He moved closer to the fire he started and began making tea and cooking some fish he had caught earlier. Blood was soaked into the snow all around him that made it look like a battle had taken place there. He went a little bit away from his clearing where he trained to where he had his camp set up for the night and walked up a tree where he kept his provisions. It would be a simple stew of kale, potatoes, and seasoned pork tonight. Simple but good, and he had more than he needed because for the season the food was a bargain.

After Osu got his stew and tea started for dinner started his hands began to release a gentle glow and began soothing his sore muscles. There was still another hour or so before the sun completely set over the area but the sky was plenty dark already, with light specs of snow falling. The snow wouldn't get any heavier tonight so his tent was good as it was without much risk of collapsing. Camping out was pleasant, and it allowed him to get an earlier start on training the next day. The chilly Kumo air he had been used to his entire life hardly phased him as he simply listened to the forest around him and the crackling of the fire. His blood red eyes held little white to them now and currently appeared to shine in the light of the fire. Soon he should be ready for his genin exam and earn his headband...

[Thread Open feel free to join]​

 

[Ryu Hime]

Far from Osuteno's camp Ittai and her two sisters where out in the Ancient Forrest searching for a horse that wondered off from the stables. This was not an average horse however for like the Inuzuka clan her family bonds with horse, thus giving them human like intelligence. Ai, the horse they were looking for belonged to Ittai's sister in-law Ayume and it was not surprising she would wonder off at a time like this. Ai always loved the night for the stars seemed to inspire her work. Unfortunately they didn't notice her disappearance til long after her leave. The snow might be like but it covered her tracks by now.

Much closer to Osuteno's camp there was a sound of crunching snow as something walks closer to his location. The brown mare could smell the food and was attracted to the scent of cooked kale and potatoes. Ai was a young mare just reaching into adulthood and thus she was not very tall; she was about the size of a deer. The saddle bags draped across her back made it quite evident she was not a wild animal. Cautiously she walk over unsure what sort of welcome she would get. Something clanged like metal striking bamboo as she walked and the sound came from her bags. What was she carrying in there?

 

[Osuteno]

Osuteno looked up at the night sky as he finished preparing his dinner. Light snow was dancing down as stars peeked through the clouds. He loved how beautiful his home could be. He was so lost in it that he didn't hear the crunching sound at first. As Osu ate some of his stew he noticed that something very, very large was directly behind him from the sound of its blood. He slowly turned to see what it was with a kunai drawn and saw... Well... "Hello there... horse." He heard a clanging sound as it moved... Horses don't go clang. He leaned over to the side and saw saddle bags on it. So someone had lost their horse. He thought it was unusual to see a horse out in the middle of the forest. He looked around and didn't see or hear any people. He then saw the horse looking at his stew. It must have been attracted by the smell. Moving slowly he grabbed another bowl from his pack and put some of the stew in it and removed the meat. his placed the bowl down in front of the horse gently and moved around to the side of it and went to open up the bags. "Let's see if we can find a hint as to who your owner might be so we can get you home safely." Osu said softly making sure the horse knew he was there and to help prevent it from being spooked.​

 

[Ryu Hime]

As soon as the stew was set down before her, she places her muzzle into the bowl and begins eating. Ai didn't even noticed that the boy was ravening through her pack, until she her the chimes. Inside were a hollowed rods of bamboo of various sizes and a pair wind chimes. She allowed him to look but if he went to touch she would quickly turn about and swats the boys hand with her tail. These were her instruments and not toys for him to play with. She knew of shinobi boys and did not need someone swinging around one of her bamboo rods like a sword.

Considering he did provide her food, she will offer him a performance. The snow and starry sky was definitely inspiring tonight. Ai sits down at a small tree and lets her pack slide off. With her mouth she grabs the two wind chimes and hangs them on a couple of branches. She then begins to play. As she sat on the ground she used her front hooves to strike the chimes in a tune. It would likely be quite amazing to see a creature like her be able to play such beautiful music. Those who are chosen to be companions often attain intellect that is equal to that of a humans. However it is rare to have one that spoke the human language. Ai was not one of these lucky few and like most companions found other means to express themselves. Music was her outlet and she was quite good at it.

​

 

[Osuteno]

Osu sighed when he saw some bamboo and wind-chimes. That wasn't going to help find the owner at all. As he tried to move the objects aside to see if there was some sort of hint under them the horse swatted at him. "Oww! Calm down... girl? I am just trying to figure out who your owner is so we can get you home safe and sound." Then the last thing Osu had expected happened, the horse hung the chimes up, sat down in a way he had never seen a horse sit in before and began to play music. Yup, something wasn't right here. As the horse played on Osu began to check the ingredients to see if any of them were spoiled... No that didn't seem to be the case. Oh maybe it was genjutsu! He kept trying to cancel the genjutsu he had to be under but... nope nothing, the horse was still playing music on the wind chimes. He just couldn't make sense of it. Maybe... No that was silly... But could it be some sort of ghost or monster? The forest was ancient and he was camping alone like in so many campfire stories. It was likely that or he had gone insane like so many others in the past had in this forest. Heck the hospital used to be an asylum that specialized in people who went crazy here. "Well this is unfortunate, it appears I have gone insane." He muttered to himself as the horse played on. "At least the music is good," he said as he sat back down to continue his dinner and listen to the horse play music.​

 

[Tanuki Rinko]

Kirei Zoro & FuwaFuwa-sama​

Zoro grumbled as he trekked through the snowy forest. He had caught wind that his super best friend was out here somewhere, and the blonde couldn't rightly leave him to freeze in the snow. There were rumors of strange things in the forest, and most of them were probably dirty. He looked up to find that night had fallen faster than he anticipated, and he turned to face his shih tzu friend. "I toooold you we went the wrong way. Your nose isn't up to snuff." *bark* "Hey, I'm not the dog between the two of us. You're the one who's supposed to have super smelling powers. *woof bow-baaaaar bark woo-bark* "Don't 'well excuuuuuse me, princess' me! You don't like to be dirty as much as m-." Zoro's word was cut short as odd music rang nearby. The boy looked to his canine companion to see if he heard it too. He did.

Feeling a bit creeped out by the sudden sounds, Zoro's body tensed as he proceeded forward, drawing closer to the music. What he came upon first, however, was a bloody sight. Red blotches covered the snowy ground, and Zoro's stomach churned in response. FuwaFuwa-sama huffed a few times as the scent of the dried liquid was overpowering for his sensitive nose. Zoro's body shook lightly as a hint of fear set in. "The music...all this blood...it's a lot like those campfire stories...huh?" *bark* "Um, yeah, I'm sure Osu already went back home, so why don't we..." Air caught in Zoro's throat as he felt something crawling on the back of his neck. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!" The boy sprinted forward, away from whatever had grazed him. His eyes were closed, as he didn't want to see what had touched him. Running blind, his lower body hit something, and he tumbled onto the ground face first. Whipping his body to face what he'd knocked into, he saw Osu with a bowl of stew. "S-s-ssssss-super best friend!!!" Zoro lunged at the purple-haired youth, his body lightly trembling from the excess dread from earlier. The blonde hugged Osu tightly. "You're alive! Save me!"

The embrace lasted a bit longer than it should have as Zoro tried to calm his racing heart, but soon he pulled away when he realized that he was in no immediate danger. He coughed to hide his embarrassment, though the blush on his cheeks gave him away. "I mean...I'm here to rescue you!" Recovering surprisingly fast, Zoro smiled broadly at his friend and placed his fists upon his hips. After what had happened at the plaza, the boy was glad to see that his friend was alone. Zoro was quite the jealous type. However, Zoro soon took notice of the elephant in the room...or maybe...the horse in the campground? He eyed the creature. "Since when did you get a horse Osu? Don't you know how dirty they are? They just poo wherever they please! Isn't that super gross?" Zoro definitely wasn't one for tact, even less so when it involved someone or something that he found to be unclean. Regardless of whether the horse was clean or not, Zoro took a seat on the side of his friend that would block him from the creature. Because you can lead a horse to Zoro, but you can't convince him that it's clean.

"So whatchya dooooooin'?" Zoro finally scanned the area, noticing the tent nearby. "Eew, are you...camping? Do you know how gross the ground is? That's the whole reason why something that is unclean is called 'dirty'...you know...like dirt? That's on the ground?" Zoro stretched out his legs, making sure not to push the snow out of the way as that was the only thing cushioning Zoro's dainty rump from the filthy forest floor.

[Topic Entered with NPC]

 

[Ryu Hime]

The sudden scream causes Ai to not only mess up but knock one off the wind chimes of the branch. Unamused by the event she looks over to glare at the source of the disturbance. From the scream she thought it was a girl but instead in was some rich person's son. Such prim and proper people annoyed her and not surprised she is one of the first to get hit with rude insults. His tack could use some work for Ai has met people like him that can insult a person while sounding like a compliment. Ai just could not stop thinking, the poor poor dog. Never will the canine know the joys of the wild and experience life like his ancestors long ago. He was made into a decorative item like a golden sword hung on a wall; beautiful but absolutely useless.

Now When the snob start asking the kid was camping more questions was brought to mind. Like why was he hear? Who told him the kid was here without saying he was camping? What does he think he is rescuing the kid from? Did he think the kid was brought here by force or something? Unfortunately she cannot ask these question. Thus she takes the chimes and places them back onto the branch. The next song she preforms was not played as softly as the ones before. This Allowed other people wondering around to here her melody and they start to follow it.

​

 

[Osuteno]

Osuteno was happy if a bit confused when Zoro burst out of the woods and hugged him. Osu gently picked up and tossed a spider that was crawling on the back of Zoro's head that he would never, ever need to know was there. Osu returned the hug, still confused, He had no idea why Zoro thought he needed rescuing and and waved at FuwaFuwa as he was about to reply when he noticed Zoro could see the horse too. "Well it's not my..." but Zoro cut him off by questioning his reasoning for camping.

"Well in all fairness Zoro-Senpai the inside of the tent has a rather soft and thick material for the floor and it is actually pretty clean inside. And I am camping next to my training spot over there so I can get an earlier start in the morning while training for my upcoming genin exam. Besides it is good to connect with nature sometimes. However..."

Osu stared at the horse as it started playing more music. "Do you also see the horse playing music? I was beginning to question my sanity considering the dark history of these woods. To be perfectly honest I am not entirely convinced I am not simply having hallucinations by myself in the middle of the woods. Would you like some stew though?" Osu asked getting out two more bowls and cups for tea for Zoro and FuwaFuwa. "Of course based on those old ghost stories I could be the hallucination here for you. Or even we could all be figments that the horse doesn't realize are not really there as it loses its sanity. I might need to write this down as a good ghost story for a future trip." Osu mused.

Then it hit him. "FuwaFuwa-Sama, Zoro-Senpai, you two should camp with me. It is much too dark and the weather is too cold to try to make it back to the village safely tonight. I have plenty of warm covers and a really big sleeping bag we can unfold. It will be like a sleep over. We can even stay up late and tell spooky stories, sing campfire songs and roast food over the fire like the people do in the stor... I mean like you would typically do while camping." Osu had never camped with other people before, hallucinations or not and was admittedly ecstatic at the idea, though he only managed to do that thing where his face was blank but he was unconsciously humming to the horse's tune.

 

[Tanuki Rinko]

Zoro nodded as Osuteno explained the inner cleanliness of his tent. "Good good. If you're going to camp, that's doing it right, by never touching the ground." Hearing that Osu was going to take the Genin exam soon, the blonde frowned. He was older than his friend by two years, yet he would remain a student while Osu passed to greater things? Zoro wasn't really sure what to think of it. He hadn't been in a rush to graduate, what with Genin rank and up jobs being relatively more dirty than the simple jobs students are sent on. But the idea that his kouhai would be a rank above him? It caused an odd sense of competitiveness in the boy, as well as sparked a bit of jealously.

Pushing the thought out of his mind, Zoro focused on the next topic of discussion, chime playing horses and hallucinations. The blonde crossed his arms. "I'm no hallucination! If I were, could I do this?" Zoro pinched Osu's arm, just enough to cause Osuteno discomfort. Truthfully, if the purple-haired boy was indeed deep in a delusion, he probably would feel pain, and Zoro's argument would be mute. However, Zoro wasn't the brightest Searchlight, so he believed his logic sound. "As for me hallucinating, that's ridiculous too! My mind is super sharp and fully aware of my surroundings at all times!" An utter lie, but it would be difficult to convince Zoro otherwise. Accepting the bowls of stew and cups of tea, Zoro and FuwaFuwa-sama took bites and sips at random intervals.

With Osu's suggestion that they should camp together, Zoro scrunched his nose. "I don't know...even if your tent is protected from the dirt, we'd still be outdoors." *bark* Zoro shivered. "Um...yeah...I guess it would be better to stick together, you know, so you aren't alone Osu." Zoro tapped his chin with his finger. "Hmm. I've never been camping before. So you say we tell spooky stories, sing songs, and roast food? Huh." The blonde closed his eyes and tried to pull up a story to tell. "Oh! I've got one! So there was this boy who was super clean." *bark* "I was getting to that. And he had a dog. Anyways, the two were walking through Dawnbringer Plaza when they decided to rest at the fountain. Without thinking....they took a seat........aaaaaaaaaand...........THEY SAT IN CHEESE!" Zoro's body visibly shook. "It was horrid. But that's not the worst of it. Not only was there cheese...but mixed in was tomato sauce! There was no way that stain was going to come out! Bum bum buuuuuuuuuuuuum." Obviously the word spooky had a much larger range of meaning for Zoro than most. He looked to his friend. "Alright, your turn."

 

[Osuteno]

Osuteno was... interested in Zoro's idea of horror. He could certainly find how his friend thought it was scary. Still Osu thought he would need to put everything in the proper spooky setting. He brought out a flashlight and shined it under his face for dramatic effect which helped bring attention to his expressionless face. "Many years ago on a night much like tonight, except a bit stormier..." Thunder rolled in the distance as he said this. "Oh that was convenient. On a night very much like tonight, in these very woods there was a group of pioneers who were attempting to map out the area around our still young village. The group consisted of a Santaru, a Chigokai, a Kyoubaku and an Inuzuka with his ninja hound. The group was well trusted and considered very capable by their fellow villagers and they had worked well on many other dangerous missions before. The first few days of their expedition things went pretty smoothly, a bit of trouble with the wildlife and some unfavorable weather, but nothing they couldn't manage. But on the fourth day... funny that is how long I have been out here training... it began." Thunder once more rolled in the distance and a chilling breeze blew through the area causing the fire to dance as flakes of snow swirled. Osu no longer looked at Zoro or FuwaFuwa as he spoke but was looking around as if he had sensed something.

"I don't know if you know this or not but those of us with the Chigokai bloodline can hear the blood flowing through those around them, and the older and more experienced can determine a lot about a person or creature from that from the size and shape, to the general health and stress of that which they can hear. Well the group's Chigokai started saying he heard a whole group of people all around them, but something was horribly unsettling about their blood-flow aside from the bloodlust he felt coming from them... their blood was flowing backwards. Once again thunder rolled and the wind blew harder causing the fire to rise further and then fall causing the campsite to dim significantly.

"The others immediately prepared for an enemy attack... but there wasn't one. The Inuzuka and his hound noticed that there was no enemy scent nearby. The group started growing concerned as the Chigokai started growing more panicked so the Santaru, who was leading the group suggested that they scout around anyway while the Chigokai watched the camp. They were not to go too far away in case the enemy had simply managed to cover their scent. After a few minutes the Kyoubaku and the Inuzuka duo ran into one another confirming no sign of enemies when they heard a strike of lightning nearby and the sound of the Santaru screaming." As if the sky itself were listening to the story the sound of a relatively nearby strike of lightning and thunder rang through their ears as Osu stood up and began looking in all directions rapidly before sitting back down, but skipping a beat in telling his story. "When they arrived they found her corpse as if it had been fried by the lightning they had heard with the words 'No Escape' carved into her forehead. They ran back immediately to the camp to make sure the Chigokai wasn't already dead too. When they got there they were relived to see he was still alive but quickly grew concerned as the Chigokai began screaming how the bleeding ones were all around them and they had gotten the Santaru. They stayed together through the night hoping to escape once the sun rose. But they had no such luck.

The next few days were darkened completely by a seemingly unending storm. After two days of darkness and the increasingly disturbing muttering of the Chigokai the Kyoubaku and the Inuzuka decided to scout around once more to try and find a quick way out of the forest. The Inuzuka and his partner heard the Kyoubaku yell after a couple minutes. When they got there though they only found his headband and trees that appeared to be bleeding pools of blood. Then they heard the Chigokai cry out in a spine chilling howl of pain." The wind burst through the trees scattering and clouding their vision with snow. Osu found he had to speak rather loudly to be heard which added dramatic effect.

"As the duo approached the site they slowed at the intense smell of blood that was surrounding them. The Inuzuka held his breath as he slowly entered their camp to find the Chigokai with shadowy figures to either side of him both holding scythes against his neck ready to pull. Just as the Inuzuka was about to charge into action he saw that the figures were clones of the Chigokai himself. The two locked eyes briefly, the Chigokai's cold and hopeless, the Inuzuka's full of horror. As the clones pulled on their scythes the Chigokai said a few chilling words and his head rolled. Days later the Ninja-hound was found dragging his unconscious human into the village. When he awoke he recounted the tale and chanted the Chigokai's last words over and over until he finally passed away decades later in the mental institution. To this day some say they can hear the voices of the dead in these woods repeating those very words." Rather conveniently the storm and wind and all the noise that had surrounded them died down as Osu whispered, "Only death can stop the screams." Thunder rang through the air to punctuate his statement and it almost spooked him, and he was the one telling the story. "Goodness this weather is rather convenient for this sort of thing isn't it?"

MFT WC 968

 

[Tanuki Rinko]

Zoro pulled his legs to his body as Osuteno began his story. He wondered where the boy had produced the flashlight from, but it didn't seem important enough to question aloud. The rumbling thunder in the distance accentuated Osuteno's story and the blonde leaned in close. The tale started out simple enough, with four shinboi out in the woods on an expedition. Of course on the fourth day, things got sticky. Zoro's eyes flicked to the fire, as its movement caught his attention. He returned his gaze to Osuteno as the purple-haired boy continued.

The explanation of the Chigokai brought Zoro out of the story for a moment, as learning in narratives usually do, but he was quickly sucked back in at the mention of backwards blood. The wind ruffled his bangs, causing him to close his eyes. When he reopened them, the world seemed much darker and in response, his eyes grew bigger. He bit his lower lip as the group decided to split up. Even Zoro knew that such an act was just begging for something horrible to happened. The thunder strike rang through the air, and Zoro's heart skipped a beat. His arms opened up, and FuwaFuwa-sama jumped into his lap. They lightly shook as the story continued. His teeth chattered, causing him to have to lean in farther towards Osuteno to hear him. The wind burst forth, whipping Zoro's hair and FuwaFuwa-sama's fur around them. They closed their eyes, and hunkered close together.

The story's villain was revealed, and was thus executed by himself. Once this happened, Zoro and his canine calmed down. Everything died down around them, with one final crack of thunder to emphasis the last words. Because they had relaxed, the final strike caused Zoro and FuwaFuwa-sama to jump up, and they rushed into Osuteno's tent. They peeked out at their storyteller as he made note of the convenience of the weather. Boy and dog left the tent, puffing themselves up to hide the fact they had indeed been scared for most of the tale. "Not bad. I would complain that not everyone died, but I can understand how it would be difficult to kill an Inuzuka. We're pretty amazing." Zoro's eyelids fluttered as he realized his error. "I mean...they can be. FuwaFuwa-sama and I aren't Inuzuka. We're Kirei. Right FuwaFuwa-sama?" *bwooark* "Well, yes, we are clean, but it's our surname too." *bark* "Hey, dogs can use surnames too."

The shiz tzu huffed, indicating that he was done with their insignificant banter. He trotted to Osuteno and placed a paw on the boy's leg. "FuwaFuwa-sama says your story was really good. I guess it wasn't too bad. Not as scary as my story, but it's hard to do things better than me." Obviously Zoro was forgetting their game of Go Contract Summoning. Zoro's eyes fell to the fire, and his lower lip pouted slightly. "Uh, the fire looks a bit low. I guess...maybe...we should get some firewood or something? That's what you do when you need a bigger fire, right?" It was apparent that Zoro had never taken any sort of outdoor survival class. "But, um, let's NOT split up, okay? You know, because I wouldn't want you going insane and killing people. Aha...ha...ha..." Saying it out loud, Zoro couldn't help but worry that his friend may indeed be a psychopath. Gulping loudly, he motioned for Osuteno and FuwaFuwa-sama to follow.

 

[Osuteno]

Osu felt a bit of satisfaction at the complements they gave his story, especially considering he had simply made it up on the spot. He would have to reuse it at some point after cleaning it up and coming up with more ghost stories. He felt little bad that they had run off for a moment but also rather proud at the same time. "I would imagine that having such a loyal and strong a partner as a ninja hound would not hurt their chance for survival." Osu giving FuwaFuwa a stoic faced wink.

Osu looked at the fire as Zoro mentioned it and nodded. "We are rather lucky on several parts. First, this is a fresh snow and the temperature has been a bit below freezing for a couple weeks now, so many of the branches we can find on the ground have not had time to soak up moisture from the snow. Second, the strong winds will have likely brought down some extra wood for us. Third, if we can't find too much firewood we can likely get some straight from the trees as the evergreens in this part of the forest are abnormally thick most of the lower branches will be a bit drier, though they will have a bit of moisture and sap that will make it rather difficult to burn them so our best bet is to find dead limbs. If push comes to shove we can always encase the tent with a thick layer of snow to help trap the heat in as this last snow fall is excellent for packing. It was why I chose to go camping now to begin with."

Osu may look and sometimes act rather feminine, but he had some masculine qualities to him too, such as extensive knowledge of the outdoors and camping in particular. Actually, that was one of his only masculine qualities, not that he realized flower arranging was not a very manly quality. "Lead on Zoro-Senpai, it doesn't seem like the brunt of the storm will hit us for a few more hours, but just in case I can tie us together so we don't get separated if it gets hard to see through the snow." He said this as he used a band to attach the flashlight to the side of his head and made sure he had fresh batteries in both his pack and his pocket, then tossing a flashlight to Zoro and offering to put an adjustable headband on FuwaFuwa.​

 

[Tanuki Rinko]

Zoro felt his head nod a bit when Osuteno began to explain the firewood options. "Blah blah blah. Dead branches, let's go!" The blonde fumbled with the flashlight, looking almost like he was juggling it before finally getting a good grip. Osuteno offered FuwaFuwa-sama a headband. Zoro took it and used it to mount the flashlight atop the shih tzu's head. The sky rumbled lightly as the trio set out. Whether the horse followed or not was up to it.

They walked along with FuwaFuwa-sama taking the lead, since he had the flashlight and not Zoro. Whenever he found a branch, Zoro would douse it with water to clean it off before picking it up. He had only collected five pieces before he had worn himself out. Being an academy student with little chakra control made using Ninjutsu extremely fatiguing. However, despite his tired body, Zoro looked around constantly. Sounds came from the forest, ones he swore didn't belong. His mind flashed back to Osuteno's story, and Zoro glanced at the purple-haired youth's back as the boy bent down to grab a branch. Chigokai...now that he thought about it, wasn't Osuteno one of those? They did blood stuff, and the blonde distinctly remembered him using some weird red umbrella thing. "Uh, hey, Osu? You...you don't hear anything, do you?" The boy reached out to touch his friend on the shoulder.

 

[Osuteno]

Osu had gathered a decent amount of firewood and decided to check up on Zoro. He turned just in time to watch Zoro soak the little firewood he had collected and noticed his friend looked exhausted. This was not going to work Osu could not help but think to himself as he looked at the firewood his friend had ruined and watched how the cold wet sticks were draining heat from his tired friend. Osu hid his eyes behind his hand while he wrapped his other arm around his bundle of sticks. Zoro was his friend but he did some rather... Osu was having trouble thinking of something more polite than dumb at the moment. He then heard is friend ask if he heard anything.

"No I don't think I hear anything out of place Zoro-Senpai... But... I am afraid to say you are... well... if you were out here alone in this state you would probably die." Osu felt as Zoro's friend this was a time he needed to be a little more straightforward. "You can't burn the wood for fire if it is soaked and carrying those wet sticks around is only draining the heat from your body. Please drop them immediately." He had thought most of that would have been common sense but then again he knew just how obsessed his friend was with cleanliness. He looked towards FuwaFuwa and hoped to get some support from that direction. The ninja hound was the more... focused of the two and was more accepting of advice.​

 

[Tanuki Rinko]

Zoro frowned at Osuteno's declaration that the blonde would die if he were alone. Throwing down the damp sticks, he crossed his arms sharply. "Well I wouldn't even be out here if it weren't for you. So don't try to blame this on me." *bark* "Hey, you don't like dirty sticks either." *broo* "So what if you have to stick them in your mouth, while I have to hold them. Same difference." *bar* "Okaaaaay. Fiiiiiiiiiine." Zoro saw a dead tree nearby and snapped off the lower branches. His eye twitched as he held them unclean sticks in his arms.

As the three made their way back, Zoro would pick up a few more sticks from the ground, ones that he'd missed on their way from the camp. His feet were dragging a bit, and it was obviously that he was going to fall asleep soon after they returned. Reaching their destination, Zoro paused, a look of dread upon his face. He looked down to see a small army of ants marching up his arms. Whipping the firewood down, Zoro began to scream, running around the campsite as he wiped furiously at his arms. "EEEEWGROSSGROSSGROSSGET'EMOFFGET'EMOFF!"

 

[Osuteno]

Osu frowned while listening to Zoro's retort "That reminds me, how did you find out I have been camping? Tomorrow will be my fourth day out here and the only people I think I told I was going camping were the maids and the guards at the estate." It occurred to him that he had not told Zoro that he had moved to a new place of residence... or had been adopted for that matter. Before he could get an explanation though Zoro started having a panic attack or something. It was odd but Osu was beginning to build of a sort of tolerance for this sort of thing. He carefully arranged the firewood that he and FuwaFuwa-sama carried before walking over to Zoro and brushing the last of the ants off of him and trying to calm him down. "There there Zoro-Senpai, everything is alright. How about we go to bed? I was planning on training more tomorrow but I think it would be best to get you back to the village." There was no mockery in his voice, he really was concerned. At the same time though he aimed a glance towards FuwaFuwa and gestured like he was striking Zoro in the back of the neck, seeming to ask if it would be best to go ahead and get him to sleep that way than let him continue to freak out. While a child with good intentions Osu sometimes had a strange way of going about things.​

 

[Tanuki Rinko]

Zoro's body continued to twitch, even after the last of the ants had been swept away by Osuteno. "It's not like you don't stand out. I just asked about a purple-haired girl in a shawl and eventually I was sent to that fancy mansion of yours. The guards were kinda rude, but at least they told me you were somewhere in the forest. After that, we just walked around here until we found you." He placed his fists on his hips triumphantly, even though his body continued to shiver. "D-don't underestimate us!" As Osu suggested that he return to the village, Zoro crossed his arms with a huff. "I'm fiiiiiine." He continued to speak, unaware of Osuteno's silent conversation with FuwaFuwa-sama. The dog gave a nod to Osuteno. "I mean, yeah, the dirt is gross and the bugs are gross and the firewood was gross, but-" Zoro was cut off by the chop to his neck, and he crumpled to the ground. FuwaFuwa-sama trotted over and carefully dragged the blonde through the snow. Once within the tent, the shih tzu used his head to roll Zoro over, so there would be enough room for Osuteno to sleep in the tent as well. *bark* FuwaFuwa-sama gave a bow of his head, seemingly in gratitude, before doing a few circles and plopping himself above Zoro's head.

[Topic Left as They Slipped into Dreamland]

 

[Osuteno]

Osu was a bit bothered over how it seemed people perceived him. Did he really stand out that much? And this is a poncho not a shawl. During his silent conversation with FuwaFuwa Zoro's voice seemed to calm a little but he was still trembling quite a bit. As the ninken nodded Osu said, "Goodnight Zoro-Senpai," and his hand came down. There sleeping soundly, before Osu had the chance FuwaFuwa had decided he would be the one dragging Zoro to bed and Osu didn't want to hinder his independence. Instead he zipped the tent up with them inside and placed some pine for a quick hot flame and some oak for long burning just so and enjoyed the warmth of the campfire a bit longer while watching the snowfall. Perhaps next time... it would be better to misdirect Zoro's search so he didn't get himself lost in the woods. Osu could not have that on his conscience. It might be best for Zoro to just not come out to the woods at all. FuwaFuwa seems like he could handle himself a bit and when he can't he seems to follow direction but the blonde was a bit of a wild card. after getting a few blankets nice and toasty near the fire he put it out thoroughly and went to sleep himself after making sure the other two were warm.

[Topic Left]​