A Permeating Fog: The Doorway

[Riko Rain]

"Okay.. ew.." he muttered as he headed that way, for once wanting to be the first and lead there. There was some dead.. SOMETHING in the 'hall'. He stepped around it, nearly barfed at some nasty smell that wafted briefly. He stumbled through some dark spot where apparently there were clothes and cobwebs hanging down. Now he almost dreaded even goign this far. Finally he reached the 'left' but he didnt want to. He peeked in, let his eyes adjust, but the smell said everything to him.

"Really.. I think Ill just.. go for a walk. Outside, around this building or something.." He said. Really, he planned to find a nice tree, and piss on it like in the wild. He was practically in wild mode anyway, prepared to pee and shit in the forest, try to hunt, and sleep with spiders. But one thing he wouldnt do: use a rancid portable. Using a tree was much better, and this room was like a rancid portable without the stifling humid smell he had gotten years ago from havign to go in a portable parked out in the sun.

[Hiroshi Shinda]

Hiro followed Riko, seeing the dead thing, and covering his nose.

"She wasn't kinding when she said the third piece..." Hiro said with a laugh...

He didn't look into the actual room, smell was enough, instead he turned around and walked away. "I'm going to find something to clean the corpse out with...and maybe the bathroom..." he said, suddenly not having to go to the bathroom, and having no desire to go outside just yet.

He walked back toward Sunasa and looked around her tiny shop, noting few foodstuffs and mostly hardware...he even thought he spotted an axe leaning against a wall. He shook his head, releasing the death grip of his nose and looking to Sunasa a moment.

"Hast du etwas, mit zu säubern?" he asked. He was hoping to clean the hallway at least.

"Ja, aber ich habe keine Zeit zu säubern. Warum?"

"Weil, ich will die Leiche in der Halle entfernen..."

She laughed. He had said that with such a straight face, even he was forced to laugh a little.

"Ja, der Besen ist im Schlafzimmer."

"Hast du eine Schaufel? Und eine Matte?"

Again, she laughed "Ja, sie sind auch im Schlafzimmer..."

"Sweet, Danke," Hiro made his way through the shop, back to the bedroom, where Sesso was still trying to wake up...sitting up on the bed, rubbing his eyes and yawning like an ape.

As he was looking for the shovel and mat, he knocked a book of the shelf nearby. Picking it up, he read the cover. It was a spellbook, in German, and very, very dusty...But it tickled his fancy, to he tossed it under his arm and grabbed the mat, tossing it to Sesso.

"Here, we're cleaning up a corpse..." he said as he grabbed the shovel and headed out, followed by Sesso.

"Danke Sunasa, aber...kennst du was die Leiche waren?"

"Ick denke, ein Wolf, oder ein Hund...er hat vor drei wochen gestorben..."

"Gross...three weeks dead...this could smell really bad." he muttered as he came back to it in the hall.

He paused, wondering if anything in the spellbook would help clean the rotting mass...Leaning on the wall, resting the shovel between his shoulder and the wall, he scanned through the little book.

Some spells talked about calling spirits...something better left for later...something about ashes...might be counter productive...one about turning once living matter into something useful...that one sounded like a winner.

He pointed at the mass, and spoke the simple words, and before his very eyes...the rotting corpse liquified...

"Shit! Now we need a mop.." he jumped back and shuddered inwardly. He reread the spell and hit his head on the wall...one word off, form the spell before, and he turned it to a stink puddle...but then...at least now all it did was smell.

He looked at Sesso and shrugged, taking the mat from him and tossing it over the newly formed putrid puddle and hoped it would soak in the stink and the water.

Clearly, as he looked back at the spellbook, he would need a little more practice with the idea of actually being able to use the spells...big difference between looking at it and mumbling it and actually making it work.

He laughed a little, and looked at the mat as it slowly changed color, and walked outside, shovel in one hand, book in the other...

[Riko Rain]

As Hiro had gone off to get materials to remove the dead nasty something, Riko couldn't take it anymore. Doing the pee-pee dance in full bloom he flailed his arms in frustration. "I cant hold it anymore!" he yelled angrily as he stormed out some back way door into the night, yelling back "I HAVE TO PEE".

When he was out, he turned around, making sure the little shack made enough light for him to see it should he go a bit too far. With that confirmed he began off a bit, still sorta doing the pee dance in his step. He hurried off, found a nice tree, and did his business. He didn't even care who could see him in the growing light. He really had to go. He thought off ways while he was going. Just random things. Out of sheer curious stupidity he was remembering all the animes, games, and movies where the characters did something similar to this situation or just different, but they always found some specialization. What would be mine? He thought to himself. He never thought of his strengths or weaknesses before.. So he couldn't quite place it. He went on a tangent with thought and ended up with a blank stare at some far off tree waving in the mist and wind, as the rain had lessened for a bit, as if to grace Riko with a pleasant piss.

It seemed like it took him forever to finish. When he was done his lower stomach felt sore. He groaned. It wasn't gonna feel good later if he had to hold it again. Done, he came back to go through the same door after having caught his step on a root once and grabbing some prickly plant that lightly scratched the surface of his arm.

He heard something and came to find Hiro quite close. "Ah, man, sorry. HAD to go. You uh.. might not want to go over in that way. Left quite a big puddle I'm afraid.." He felt bad. Instead of helping he went off to please himself. Wrong words, but it was true.

[Hiroshi Shinda]

Hiro tried not to laugh as he set the shovel on the ground. "Not the only one to make a puddle..." he said with a half straight face. "Mine smells like rotting dog..." he mused a moment, still trying to stifle a laugh as he adjusted the book in his hand.

"Whatever you do, don't step on the mat," he warned a little as calmed his laugh a little further as he stepped further outside.

"That's so much better..." he sighed as he looked at his little spellbook...it was more thin than small. He couldn't imagine there were many spells in it, given the size. It was old, and dusty, and clearly one of the impulse buys that proved fruitless for Sunasa.

He flipped through a few pages again, checking what spells they had...mostly looked like alchemy...turning objects into something else...The spell he bungled was meant to turn the corpse into something of a table...a not stinky, not rotting table...he said "Stapel" instead of "Tisch"...pile instead of table...stupid mistake...

"Well, should we head out? Grab some supplies from Sunasa if she has some, and leave before the mold spores kill us off?" he asked, glancing at Sesso with a devilish smirk, reminding himself of his first encounter with the other.

"I think, we should at least see if she has some food we can get...bread, or something we know won't make us sick." He added, looking at Riko and Sesso, before looking back at the shack as the sun seemed to slowly rise...

He glanced at the window where the bedroom was, and looked around, pointing to the newly adjusted North. "North is that way, what used to be our East...I think we should maybe head back into the trees, head East," he thought, plotting a course in his head. Trees meant cover, which meant a little more safety while they figured things out...and East was a random direction he wanted to travel in and explore.

[Riko Rain]

[color=green"Hmm" Riko peered over and spied the book. "Reading material for later?" He joked. At least someone had something. He didn't care though. He'd figure this world all out from scratch if he had to, even skulk around with amazing guile if it made it easier. He just imagined that, creeping in the dark, listening, like some wild yet tame animal. Thee thought made him giggle a bit. Yes, giggle. Not chuckle, not laugh, but giggle. That made him giggle a bit more. He found it funny. Now rested, and emptied of his excess, he was a bit hungry, but dared not take anything from the weird woman inside. He felt the need to move on. Surely someone nearby or even a bit farther had a decent abode and substance. Maybe he could even just hunt. he would have to find some items to use.. string or a stick or a sharp rock.

Thinking about this, was when he suddenly remembered. "Oy!" he said loud but in a whisper as he reached into his back butt pocket and pulled out a decent sized pocket knife. The whole thing was about three maybe four inches long (perfect hand grip size), about an inch wide, and half an inch thick. When open, the thing proved to unsheathe a good, decent, strong and sharp blade. He took it out and huddling back on the bed, which the entire time he had been walking back in and had sat back down, he unflipped it to both admire it and make sure it was in good order. It was, and he smiled. At least he could try to hunt, or if they got anything, he could skin it. Maybe fish for something?

He shuddered again. The smell in the hall had some twinge of fish and it turned his stomach into knots. If he had anything much in his stomach he'd have barfed it up. He also took note that he still had half a granola in his jacket pocket. He'd note that again for later.

Sighing now, he took a look around. He wanted to say they should move on. Riko thought for a second the smell and airity of this shack was making him physically sick already, but.. he wasn't that type. He wouldn't even say anything about it. [/color]

[Hiroshi Shinda]

Hiro smiled a little. "Spellbook" he replied, walking back inside after clearing his nose of the odd smell of rot. Sesso followed in after, appearently off in la-la land still as he hadn't said a word all morning. He wondered a little if the stench had made the younger boy mute...for fear of tasting the air by accident as he spoke.

Hiro shrugged as he walked inside, stopping to look around the shop some more. Looking for a bag or something like a sharp stick...or both. He knew he didn't have money, but they needed something to hunt with...protection would be covered...anything that was a threat could be liquified with the mini spell he had invented.

Food was a bit of an obsticle...they would have to find someone who spoke English and knew which things were edible and which were not...preferably a human, so they would have a similar palete...Who knew what Sunasa ate, if she ate...which, given her size, she must.

He sighed a little, looking at what appeared to be a burlap sack. He looked around, trying to find the axe he thought he'd noticed before, and wandered over to the spot to find nothing more than a mirror...useless unless broken for the sharp edges...and given the fact that spells worked, he wouldn't test superstition...

"Sunasa, hast du eine Waffe? Etwas mit zu jagen?" he asked, looking at her again as he looked around.

"Doch, neben zu die Taschen...ein kleines Messer."

He looked, and by golly, there was a tiny little knife, not worth mounting on a stick...Instead, he picked up the sack and sighed.

"Ich will nichts von dir zu nehmen, aber, kann ich diese Tasche haben? Wir wollen gehen gleich..."

Disappointed, she nodded, and went back to work. He tossed the book in and tossed the bag over his shoulder, walking into the bedroom and looking at Riko and his knife.

"You carried that to school?" he asked, only a little surprised...mostly impressed. He paused, thinking something over...think about how many sockets and screwdrivers he'd taken over the years of his schooling...he'd be home, cleaning out his pockets and discover a new tool for his arsenal of ill-gotten tools...If they weren't too heavy, he was sure he would have taken a jack stand from the auto lab without noticing...

In light of that idea, he padded down his pockets one more time, finding the two remaining granola bars, and a pocket full of now useless tender...He sighed...only one lucky klepto thing....probably for the rest of their time here..

[Riko Rain]

He shrugged guiltily. "Well.. yah. I usually didnt carry it around but I went out earlier and I always take it just in case I need it for something." He fiddled with it a bit and closed it, returning it to his back butt pocket. Riko thought briefly over its uses. He had seen some of those nature wildlife survival shows lately. Not the fake Survival: Hawaii or anything, but the real ones. He could rattle off a few ways to catch something. "At least itll be good for some skills outdoors." he said as he stood and stretched again.

"You get somethign else from her? I swear, take anythign else and shes gonna start considering it wedding gifts to her lovable hubby" he said both jokingly and disgustingly. He felt as if once they exhausted as much as they could take from her without getting Hiro a new wife, they would have to leave before she decided to stop them. Riko felt it anyway.

He took note of Sesso now. The poor guy looked as if he barfed. He probably hadnt but he sure looked it. Riko didnt deny he looked it too after seeing the dead thing. He only imagined what happened while he was gone. Sesso also seemed to be coming to from sleepiness. The first to fall asleep and the deepest, Riko envied him. Of course Sesso had probably been so tired he passed out much like Riko and Hiro had later.

And now awake and aware and remembering, the guy took a piece of his granola, crunched it quietly to soothe his stomach, and dared to speak after holding his breath from the rank and rancid humidity. "Um.. where.. Are we going to go? Because that creature scares me.."

[Sorry taking a bit more initiative with Sesso, but Im not changing text color for him. I hope Gabe comes back soon because this really sucks]

[Hiroshi Shinda]

Hiro blinked...only after a moment did he remember the spellbook in the sack...He honestly doubted she would ever miss the thing, given how dusty it was. He held back the shudder, but he couldn't help but make a face about being married to Sunasa. She was nice, but he would die...either from living here, or from her.

"At least I asked for the bag..." he said in his own meager defense. He looked at Sesso a moment, and thought about the question. "East, into the woods again, maybe find a few fallen branches to make points out of for fishing..." he looked back to Riko.

"Too bad I didn't steal anything else..." he paused," at least, anything I know of..." he looked off to the side for a moment, thinking things over carefully...which didn't help...he took things he didn't need, and usually didn't notice until he found it in his pockets...

He shrugged and looked around one more time. "We should get out of here now...I'm tired of the stink...and I'd like to find out more about this world...and find something better than a granola bar to eat..." he paused yet again, "My book might have something to conjure up a flame, if we find something to eat.."

He, in truth, wanted to leave so Sunasa wouldn't change her mind about him leaving...she seemed, protective, which was good and bad at the same time...often protective people took that too far...he would know, he was one of those protective people...at least he never overstepped his bounds.

He sighed again and looked out the bedroom door, ready to leave, hoping to get some clean air...get away from this tiny shanti town and back to exploring the new world. World, he'd decided, not planet, but more of a new Realm, or dimension...

((Yea it does...I don't like playing other people's character...and now I want a granola bar...))

[Riko Rain]

[Hahaha Id give you one via the internet if I could xD I dont liek playing characters that dont have enough information attatched to them]

"So lets get going" Riko said low so no one but the three of them could hear properly, "Before she finishes with whoever that is and decides to 'entertain' us. Or stare at us more.. I swear she was last night for a bit." He shivvered again. Just the thought of being able to se eher watching him. Eyes in the night scared the shit out of Riko, ever since he was little. The only thing he could cope with via eyes in the night was a pet, and that was usualyl because he used the pets senses to help him determine if what he saw was real or imagination. Especially if the pet had better eyesight, hearing, and detection than he did, which cats did perfectly.

"And.. I bet we can find something along the lines of food. If you can do a fire, that solves that half." The only thing he overlooked at th etime was trails. He only knew a few, and he figured the things here were different in some way. Tracks were tracks though and almost anyone could pick them out if they paid attention. A game trail was usually a bare track, so it was easy enough. If he could spring some traps or catch something, all the more better.

Later he would have to stop and ask questions about the reality of what they were doing, able to do, and were going to do. But for the time being RIko was Riko and he was outgoing, excited, friendly, and motivated to move. He was sure to make his energy pull the others along even if they didnt want to, but he woudlnt take lead. Never lead. He would be the equvelant of the annoying comic relief character he found so funny in the tv shows, but without the annoying.. without the comic relief..Ok, nothing like it but similar. He was already ready to go.

[Sorry, Id add more, but the sleeping pills are kicking in. My head feels liek a lead weight..]

[Hiroshi Shinda]

Hiro nodded as he headed out the bedroom door and said a finaly goodbye to Sunasa, not wanting to wait for her to remember her apparent infatuation with him. He headed out the door, gaged where East was, and looked back to the others.

It could be said, that Sunasa did creep him out more than the others...and that would easily explain his motivation to leave as soon and quickly as he did.

He was ready to explore...to learn about everything here, which was his curse...he always wanted to know everything there was to know...from there, he let his own philosophy roam...He never read Plato, or Socrates, he didn't understand why some one would listen to some one else's theory of life, when life was individual.

Of course, now that only came up as he remembered the books that piled in Sesso's locker. He prefered to think up his own theories...not read about some one else's.

He knew that he would have to stop his burning desire to move and learn by doing eventually, and question things more thoroughly, but when they came to that road, he would cross it slowly.

He also wondered if they would find a way back. He felt more driven to stay here, his mother being deceased, and his foster family being slowly removed from parental status, he had nothing to lose by staying in either world...and this one offered more to gain.

He yawned a little, and started off toward the woods on the other side of the shanti town, keeping a slow starting pace. That is, until they hit the trees again. He took a deep breath and sighed, feeling his senses come back to life after shutting off his sense of smell thanks to sinuses.

"Let's make a patch...before we go into another house, we make sure we know the level of cleanliness they keep..." he said with a small laugh.

(sorry this took so long...and I'll be on later to post again...)

[Riko Rain]

[Im sorry I didnt ge ton much today. Just around 10. There was a series of events that forced me to stay off my laptop and actually do some manual labor]

"Uh ok, hehehe yah that would be most advisable." He quotes the last bit in a tone from some video game anime thing. "Honestly Id rather sleep in the woods with the bugs than in some nasty home that has only shelter to offer but stink to add." He had to admit though that having a bit of sleep was good for him at that specific time. Riko moved on through the trees, growing in this area more like in thick groups in a larger sparse field, which appeared odd to him. Usually those happened in really hot or really cold places but this was neither; it was just perfectly in the middle.

Which is something he loved mainly because it didnt make his hair stand on end or be flatter than an ironed shirt. He didnt mind cold either, it usually was dry and thus didnt mess with his hair. Hot or humid though, phew, and his hair was poof and static despite the humidity. He walked out of some trees, and into some grass, which he happily walked through a bit faster than through the trees. Only by a fraction. Then they hit more trees again.

He wanted to catch something more to eat. As of now the best they could do were small steaks or jerky, but he was sure once they got some materials that they could cook up some nice stew or something.. which reminded him of some of the soups and stews he made himself and his stomach was now on the verge of growling. It twisted and poked him in annoyance and lack of food. He sighed. He would go ahead and watch for trails, but he doubted anything would be this close to the town even with how different this place may be.

[sorry its kinda short and crappy, but I suddnenly remembered.. entrance time for a certain someone, so Ill try to see abotu doing that tomorrow morning, now that theyve gotten further in the forest again]

[Luke Kithan]

He followed close behind. Ever since he had left this odd feeling had been about him, and when one night he found the tracks he followed them to their source, only to find they apparently came from thin air with a bang, as if fallen from the sky.

So having found the source and being baffled, he had turned around and followed them along. When he came to civilization, if it could be called that, he wandered off to the forest for a break, a recoup for the night without a fire, and returned to his track later. Which he found he couldnt stand the area much, so he waited even longer. It was only when he saw the twinge of real light coming over from the Sun that he left his perch high and safe to follow again, which he then began taking note of steps, actions told in those steps, and the way the beings were walking. He suspected humans, as always, and since the footsteps had originated near his post it was his responsibility to at least observe. He planned to do more though, as he caught sight.