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IC: Mitsuri - The Waikiru, North of Sado Crumbling wood. Screaming Dashi. The world rocked around her as impacts tossed the little hut around. Wait... that didn't make any sense. "Hey! Vilda! I get to be your personal voice of reason today. Get up, you're not out of this yet!" "H-Heiya?" Mitsuri whimpered, just before something else heavy landed on the upper deck and tumbled off into the water, rocking the ship enough to send Mitsuri careening into a wall again. What was going on up there? Mitsuri closed her eye, and when she opened it again, she was looking down on the ship from a literal bird's eye view. Shinku was wheeling high above the ship after its perch on the mast had been disrupted. Only then did Mitsuri realize what deep slag they were in. The mast was gone. The other rafts were drifting away. Yuna and Raika were struggling against one of the Serpents, the mere sight of which nearly sent Mitsuri into another spiral. Ahri was attacking a massive tendril and being swarmed by countless smaller Rahi. Shinku's eyes followed that tendril back to a colossal creature that dwarfed the size of the Waikiru, led by another serpent. This... was bad. Mitsuri was no soldier, no survivor. She lived a cushy life away from the squabbles of the other clans. Her blades were ornamental more than anything. And the last time she faced one of these Serpents, she... she... "Wh-what do you want me to do?" she whispered desperately to the voice. "I... I can't fight these, you know that..."

IC: Mitsuri - The Waikiru, North of Sado There was something primally satisfying about standing in the surf, wooden hull to her back, feeling the weight shift from a heavy, terrestrial thing to one miraculously born atop waves, rocking with each swell. Mitsuri may not have been the most helpful of the Dasaka in that moment, but she still felt more powerful than she had in weeks. She'd seen gratitude and relief in the Dashi's eyes as she was pulled aboard, and for just a moment, things didn't seem so grim. She even chuckled softly to herself as she struggled to find her sea legs. She looked up to see why Heiya wasn't laughing too. And instead saw the only place she had ever truly called home slowly being eclipsed by around the rocky shoreline. Mitsuri's smile fell. She watched the last hut disappear forever, and then decided to find a dark, isolated, fish-smelling corner down in the hold, leaving the navigation to the actually useful Dasaka. She... slept? If sitting against the wall, slipping from reality with her good eye open counted as sleeping. It passed the time, and kept her from crying or wailing as others in her dark, isolated corner were doing. She wasn't the only one who lost someone here. The Serpents had taken many lives, severed so many bonds for good. She wasn't unique in her suffering. She didn't have to be so useless. ... She awoke to the groaning of the ship as it was slowly pulled to a stop. There were hushed voices above; Mitsuri pulled herself up, wincing at a stiffness in her joints, eye looking to the upper deck warily. Had... they landed? The deck above buckled as something huge slammed across it, quivering the entire ship. Shafts of sunlight poured through broken boards, along with viscous strands of vile venom. Mitsuri heard someone shouting her name from above. Was it a man's voice, or a woman's? The past and present blended together, both shattered by the horrific shriek of one of the Serpents. They were back. There were screams. Groaning wood. Running feet. Mitsuri had fallen, though she wasn't sure when. She wasn't sure... when she was at all. Her arms came up to shield her from a Serpent's staff, from the crumbling beams of her home above her. Something kicked her back, and she lashed out desperately, tripping a fleeing Dashi. She stared at them with a wide, fearful eye, her expression mirrored in their mask, mirrored again by their complete face. She froze. OOC: @Keeper of Kraata @The UltimoScorp @Lady Takanuva

IC: Mitsuri - Oki Village On hearing Ahri's summons, Mitsuri picked up the pace, jogging back the short distance to the village proper. It felt good to be able to move again, a welcome distraction from the turmoil still running through her head. It had taken everything she had to walk away from that place, and she could still feel the paradoxical draw to return there forever, to bury herself in the dirt, but also the repulsion and fear of everything that had happened there, happy memories shattered into painful crystals at a Serpent's touch. She shook her head and focused on the path, on her breathing, on the feel of her muscles stretching and contracting as they worked with her mechanical components to push her onward. It seemed she cut her little excursion pretty close, the others were already loading the villagers onto the boats. But for all the people brought into the village, it was no louder than it had been the day before when it was just the five of them. Everyone moved in eerie silence, a tension in the air as they waited for the Serpents to break through the treeline and attack again. She turned to Raika beside her... and froze, any words dying on her lips. Raika... had not been there a moment ago. But as the Menti faded in beside her, it suddenly clicked that they had followed her all the way through the forest, their footsteps dismissed as just an echo until right at that moment. Before then... Mitsuri wracked her brain to try to think of any other signs of Raika's passing, and came up empty. Last she could remember for sure, Raika had wandered off, promising to watch her back... but of course, she didn't recall that until right at that moment. Had they watched as she grieved, convinced she was alone? The experience was unsettling to say the least. But by the time Mitsuri put together enough to question Raika about it, they were gone, wandering off to help the villagers board. After a moment, Mitsuri followed along while lost in thought, finding an open seat on the larger boat. OOC: @Lady Takanuva @Keeper of Kraata @ARROW404 @The UltimoScorp

IC: Mitsuri - Oki Village Finding herself alone, tired, but with an odd sense of security she hadn't felt in this forest since the attack, Mitsuri knelt at what was once the doorstep she shared with... her, and just let the emotions she'd been holding back run their course. They were unfathomably large, an entire universe worth of agony, and her body a tiny conduit to it, a hairline fracture in a massive dam that could only express so much. But still they forced their way through her in the form of stinging tears and whimpering wails as the morning light became golden. When at last the emotions became bearable again, Mitsuri found herself curled up in the dirt, shuddering, hollow, and tear soaked. After a while longer, she picked herself up and brushed herself off, scoffing bitterly at what little remained of her Vilda pride. It was a few minutes more before she realized she wasn't going back to the beach. She couldn't bring herself to leave now, as if she were tethered to the remains of her former life, to the remains of... her as well. There was this nagging thought that she should bring something with her, but it seemed easier somehow to just let dead things lie. Besides, she had the most precious gifts she had ever received from Heiya, the mask that had preserved her life and would remind her of her love in every reflection, and her tonfas... somewhere. Never let it be said Heiya gave impractical gifts. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen her blades since one of the others took them yesterday. Yoka, was it? Well, she better have taken care of them, or there would be Karz to pay. And that was the thought that finally urged her to snap that tether and leave everything behind her without looking back. OOC: @Lady Takanuva

IC: Mitsuri - Oki Village Outskirts .:If... what was...?:. Mitsuri's exhausted mind was struggling to keep up with Raika, and she didn't even notice them going for their blades. .:Another... mind inside?:. She put a hand to her head. .:Whatever it is, it's fine. It's fine. I just... need a minute.:. OOC: @Lady Takanuva

IC: Mitsuri - Oki Village Outskirts "Raika, no." Mitsuri quickly turned and held the smaller Menti by their shoulders, bending down to their eye level. They tried to look Raika sternly in the eyes before a lash of pain made her flinch and look away. Mitsuri stretched her sore jaw and tried again over their mental link. .:Raika, I would never say such a thing about this. When I was in your mind, I saw... only the last few days, maybe. I saw your thoughts on the others, your fear of trusting us, your feelings for Yuna... but when I pushed further, I hit a wall. You said you opened up everything to me, but this... this was like I ran into your wall all over again. Like you have another mind inside yours that is not as easy to crack. I've never seen anything like it, and I didn't exactly have any time to ask you about it before.:. She was losing control of her emotions the longer she went on, and feelings of pain and unfocused frustration began to leak over their connection. Mitsuri's head drooped as she tried to take a breath and steady herself again, snatching up all those leaking emotions and pulling them back deep inside her. Raika didn't need that right now. .:I... don't know what you've been through...:. she sighed tiredly, .:but I'd like to, if you'd let me.:. OOC: @Lady Takanuva

IC: Mitsuri - Oki Village Outskirts As the minute of silence dragged on, it began to set in how harsh she sounded. Her good eye flicked over to Raika to see her holding just a simple shard of protosteel. .:...bring something with you. That way they're never far. You can let the place go… after a while.:. The wheels turned for just a moment. Then she winced, feeling guilt like a punch to the gut. .:You've... lost someone too, haven't you?:. Mitsuri didn't even realize she was crying until she felt the bitter sting of the tears running into her still-healing wounds. She wished she could brush them away, hide them behind the mask that did so little to cover her broken face. OOC: @Lady Takanuva

IC: Mitsuri - Oki Village Despite everything that had happened here, Mitsuri was just too numb to be surprised at the sudden appearance of Raika. She just continued staring at the ruined hut without really looking at it. .:There is nothing to be done. This isn't something you can just fix. So why are you here?:. OOC: @Lady Takanuva

IC: Mitsuri - Oki Village It was a fitful night of sleep for Mitsuri. Surely there were more comfortable lodgings than coarse sand and itchy vegetation back in the village, but there were also people there, far too many people, far more than the little clan she had only just started to trust anyway. Those few were more like the animals she had cared for all her life; all broken in their own ways, needing her care... and a useful distraction, especially now. Just as caught up in their own survival and oblivious to her deeper feelings, but unlike those animals, she could not vent her emotions to them without consequence. So she would remain silent and distant. Just the ruined Vilda, a ghost on the fringe. She awoke early the next morning, taking a moment to peer at the incredible progress that had been wrought by the villagers overnight. It was only then that it started to sink in: they were leaving, and she might never see their home again. She left before the suns were quite risen, slipping back into the jungle she knew so well, quickly finding the path she had walked countless times. The journey back went much quicker than yesterday; she could feel strength returning to her after weeks of stagnation. And then... she found herself in front of a ruin, and the strength left her. She could not move another step closer. She knew every inch of that ruin, inside and out, and she knew what she would find there, and she wasn't ready to see it again. OOC: @Keeper of Kraata @The UltimoScorp @ARROW404 @Lady Takanuva

IC: Mitsuri - Oki Village Mitsuri tasted blood. As she tried to push herself up, a flare of pain worse than any she had felt before struck her face, and she collapsed again gasping for air. No... she had felt this before, but... couldn't quite... remember. She opened her eyes. Well, tried to, at any rate. Her right eye refused to cooperate, almost as if sealed shut. Her left eye saw something stranger still. She... wasn't home, she was... lying at the base of a tree. She could hear the sounds of waves crashing and industrious workers, but the foliage obscured them from her vision. Her hands felt sore and gritty; from the look of the ground at her feet, she had dragged herself there feverishly. As she stared blankly at the patterns her escape had created in the sand and foliage, threatening to slip back into whatever nothingness had consumed her for... who knew how long really, there was a soft chitter from the tree above her. Mitsuri's eye snapped upward, catching a flash of scarlet that shone with the sickly sheen of an oil slick. Its faceplate opening, acidic venom dripping from its maw as raw terror flowed like ice through her veins. She screamed, uselessly raising her arms above her head as the thing unfurled enormous wings and plunged toward her... It perched by her side, gently nuzzling her shoulder with a crystalline beak. Shinku had sensed her partner's distress and was there, as she always was. Mitsuri blinked away frightened tears and tried to steady her breathing as she gently pet Shinku's familiar, feathery head. Relief broke over her, and Mitsuri descended into choked sobs, curling up tight on the forest floor. It... it may have just been a nightmare, but the memories that inspired it... they were not. OOC: @ARROW404 @Keeper of Kraata @Lady Takanuva @The UltimoScorp

IC: Mitsuri - Oki Village Mitsuri involuntarily took a step backward, eye narrowed. It occurred to her in that moment that she still knew very little about any of her rescuers, nor if they had ulterior motives for rescuing her. Anxiety coursed through her, preparing her limbs, atrophied as they were, to run; purely by habit, she was already reaching out to Shinku to follow her out... Listen Gankonut, you can't let your emotions get the best of you like that. You want to make the most of the situation? Calm down, sit tight, and let them make the first move. The voice unexpectedly bubbled up from her past, knocking the wind out of Mitsuri as effectively as any physical blow could have. She took a quivery breath, and another, opening her good eye that she hadn't consciously squeezed shut to see the fear in Raika's eyes, to realize that that same fear had been seeping into her mind over their connection. And once she realized that, she sealed off that emotion from her own and calmed down as she had been taught. She knew how to deal with that fear in Rahi, the fear that made one feel so trapped and isolated and ready to lash out. She knew with certainty that Raika would not hurt her, they were just scared of whatever past they hid. Mitsuri let a very slight smile spread across her face, and reached out her hand again for Raika to take, an anchor in the storm of emotion. .:I'm willing to offer my help and not my judgement, Raika. But trust has to go both ways, and it begins with an act of faith.:. OOC: @Lady Takanuva

IC: Mitsuri - Oki Village Mitsuri had indeed walked her way back to the coast, a slow process, but she was determined not to keep the others waiting for long. She would not be a burden, not to these people who had already suffered so much and gone out of their way to help her. Even now, she rested to the side, out of the way of the others, making a fresh poultice for her wounds from plants she had gathered on the way. Most of her focus however was within Shinku, spiraling high overhead and keeping an eye on the ship rising from the water, giving sharp calls if it saw the ship growing uneven, but even this was hardly necessary. The Mindarms did masterful work, and soon enough the boat was risen and ready to be repaired. Mitsuri idly watched through Shinku's eyes as the bird perched on the ship's mast, appraising the vessel while her own hands almost automatically applied the poultice. And so when she heard a voice in her mind projected from nearby, she jolted slightly as she yanked her perception back from her companion. Her shoulders quickly relaxed as she recognized Raika, and she tried to offer a sympathetic smile, though she wasn't sure how effective it was given the state of her face, scarred and covered in fresh bandages. On realizing that, she quickly looked away herself. .:I hope you slept well, friend. That is the best thing you can be doing for all of us in these times. You missed very little, at least in terms of what us more... mentally attuned Dasaka can help with. But I was just...:. Mitsuri grunted softly as she started pushing herself up, .:...thinking of checking with the others myself.:. Once she was more or less eye to eye with the shorter Dasaka, Mitsuri caught her shoulder and tried to meet her gaze with a more serious expression, at least for a moment. .:Are you sure you are well, friend? The repairs can wait for a time, your health cannot any longer. I will not pry without your consent again, but please... at least consider my offer of assistance?:. OOC: @Lady Takanuva

IC: Azusai - Ga-Koro She glanced back gratefully to Karoru, both for her steadying grip and her encouraging words. Maybe... she really could do this. She had really gained a taste for nautical navigation over the last few weeks, and the idea that she could do something meaningful with it... while also not starving on a tiny raft, thrilled her. "Thank you, captain. I... w-will try not to disappoint." Her stomach gave an undignified rumble, and Azusai flinched and looked at the ground shyly. As the captain left and the... Toa began to rouse, it was all she could think about. She tried to wait patiently for business to conclude, but Karoru's promise rang in her ears still. Finally, she gave a little tug on Karoru's hand beside her. "Um... c-could we get something to eat... before we head out? You... could see if Miss Skyra would be interested... I'd love to hear more about her." OOC: @Lady Takanuva @Snelly Dinner time!

IC: Mitsuri - Oki Village Outskirts "I'm afraid I won't be much use lifting the boat, but Shinku can keep an eye on things from above or in the smaller crevices." The Sakl bird perked up at mention of its name, and Mitsuri raised her arm, clad in a soft leather glove, for Shinku to swoop down and perch on. She staggered for a moment under the weight of the large bird, but remained steady and almost dignified as Shinku chittered meaningfully in her ear. OOC: @Lady Takanuva@The UltimoScorp@Keeper of Kraata@ARROW404

IC: Mitsuri (Shinku) - Oki Village Outskirts As Yoka pulled the other tonfa from the wall, a small pile of rubble collapsed across the grave, obscuring the name. Shinku gave Yoka a wary look, as if to say, "You better give those back," before fluttering back up to its spot on a beam. With Raika asleep and safe in the arms of Ahri and Yoka, Mitsuri took a breath and pushed herself back up on quivering legs, before staggering slightly to a still standing beam. Getting a chance to stretch was already doing her some good, but a proper meal wouldn't go amiss either. .:Very well, Mashtet Ahri. Please, lead the way to your ship.:. OOC: @Lady Takanuva@The UltimoScorp@Keeper of Kraata@ARROW404