Post by UmbraSight on Mar 4, 2023 0:10:52 GMT
“What? You—“
For a brief moment, it had seemed like things were finally back under control. The noroi turned as Tohai’s light grazed against it, her incantation sending a gust of motion through the twisted tangled hairs giving a flash of the almost-shape beneath. A hazy joke of human form with a wispy half-moon smile appeared for a moment, before vanishing again. It turned towards the weaver, towards the pain, and Rei gripped her sword tight ready to strike. Between the two of them, they could weaken it enough for it to succumb to fire, as long as they could keep its attention off Hibiki. So long as Kasumi’s inclination about this hairdresser’s nightmare was correct, and she often was about these sorts of things, then this was salvageable.
Then, Hibiki spok, and there was guilt.
Walls groaned as if the space itself were attempting to pull close as the noroi turned. Floorboards shifted underfoot with a strange scratching noise, and between the slats thin strands prickled out like thin blades of grass. They reached for Hibiki as a flower might for the sun, and Rei really didn’t want to see what would bloom from that reunion.
“Kasumi! Git him to the candles now.” Her even clinical tone broke as she spoke harsh and quick with a faint countryside twang. Kasumi wasn’t a fighter here, and she wasn’t going to put that on the girl’s shoulders just because she hadn’t brought her damned rifle. Rei shifted her weight forward as she pushed out a breath, short and cutting. Footwork and breathing, as an instructor once told her, were the basics of any proper stance. How true that was, this ronin hadn’t the faintest idea, but it made for a good way to channel frustration towards something productive.
“You deserve this, you know.” the voice shivered, like a whisper just behind the ear. “Do you enjoy watching women die?” the noroi took a step forward, strands of hair pulling taut where they had wormed into the floor. Smoke curled where its edges smoldered from Chie’s lantern, but it did not seem to mind anymore.
“Todai! Burn the ones connected to the floor!” As Rei called she took a step forward, her heel hitting hard as she pivoted her momentum into a horizontal strike with the shaft of her sword. Hairs rose to intercept the blade, strands sizzling as the sword sliced through. Rei stepped back, as quick as she had advanced as the mass attempted to catch her sword before she could pull it away, burned edges drifted to the ground as they nicked the tip of the shaft.
”You deserve this.”
For a brief moment, it had seemed like things were finally back under control. The noroi turned as Tohai’s light grazed against it, her incantation sending a gust of motion through the twisted tangled hairs giving a flash of the almost-shape beneath. A hazy joke of human form with a wispy half-moon smile appeared for a moment, before vanishing again. It turned towards the weaver, towards the pain, and Rei gripped her sword tight ready to strike. Between the two of them, they could weaken it enough for it to succumb to fire, as long as they could keep its attention off Hibiki. So long as Kasumi’s inclination about this hairdresser’s nightmare was correct, and she often was about these sorts of things, then this was salvageable.
Then, Hibiki spok, and there was guilt.
Walls groaned as if the space itself were attempting to pull close as the noroi turned. Floorboards shifted underfoot with a strange scratching noise, and between the slats thin strands prickled out like thin blades of grass. They reached for Hibiki as a flower might for the sun, and Rei really didn’t want to see what would bloom from that reunion.
“Kasumi! Git him to the candles now.” Her even clinical tone broke as she spoke harsh and quick with a faint countryside twang. Kasumi wasn’t a fighter here, and she wasn’t going to put that on the girl’s shoulders just because she hadn’t brought her damned rifle. Rei shifted her weight forward as she pushed out a breath, short and cutting. Footwork and breathing, as an instructor once told her, were the basics of any proper stance. How true that was, this ronin hadn’t the faintest idea, but it made for a good way to channel frustration towards something productive.
“You deserve this, you know.” the voice shivered, like a whisper just behind the ear. “Do you enjoy watching women die?” the noroi took a step forward, strands of hair pulling taut where they had wormed into the floor. Smoke curled where its edges smoldered from Chie’s lantern, but it did not seem to mind anymore.
“Todai! Burn the ones connected to the floor!” As Rei called she took a step forward, her heel hitting hard as she pivoted her momentum into a horizontal strike with the shaft of her sword. Hairs rose to intercept the blade, strands sizzling as the sword sliced through. Rei stepped back, as quick as she had advanced as the mass attempted to catch her sword before she could pull it away, burned edges drifted to the ground as they nicked the tip of the shaft.
”You deserve this.”