[♥] Kokorogakure || Civilian District

[HeadlessKoko]

Enter from [♥] Kokorogakure || Civilian District

"Hey!" a voice exuberantly called out into the empty house as a door was opened with the same kind of energy. All of that excitement, however, and the words that would have followed were swallowed by the silence. She hadn't been surprised to see that the lights had yet to be turned on in the house. Similarly, hearing nothing when she walked up to it was equally expected. He liked the quiet and the calm, and he had fewer issues than even most shinobi she had known in her past with seeing in the dark. Sitting "gloomily" in the dark was just a state of natural being for her cat-like companion.

Tentatively now, as the green haired girl's eyes scanned the living area, she asked, "Shadow?". He should have been here. It would be unlike him to not be, and she had felt like she had gotten the knack of reading him, arguably, even better than when she had known him in their past life.

However, it appeared he really wasn't here, and for that matter, neither was Takeda. Though, the other boy had... Well, she would refrain from jumping to reckless conclusions on that matter. Looking behind her as she held the door open, Kagerou gave a smile and offered an explanation, "Well, looks like my friend isn't here. Aha, but we can just get started on dinner without him. He-". A pause. As she remembered, she changed the words she had planned, "-can take care of himself."

"Would he leave me behind? I can't say it's outside the realm of possibility."

The aura about her and her demeanor remained pleasant and welcoming. However, the gleeful cheeriness from before, a combination of excitement from making a new friend and attempt to entertain him so that he would be able to more easily forget the uncomfortable feeling from earlier, quelled and calmed without any transition. Setting the bags of groceries atop the table, Kagerou asked Finnian, "Would you like to help prepare or would you rather take a seat and rest?".

She couldn't help but notice, [i["No note. No signs of a struggle, either. Door, properly closed. Belongings... presumably taken unless they're in his room." Eyes remaining amiably trained on Finnian, even when she knew that he wouldn't be able to see even if she were to let her vision dart all over the room as she would have liked to, Kagerou both looked and felt the very picture of calm. If Finnian could sense emotions, then yes, worry and... even a little of fear stirred in her, but despite the obvious presence of both emotions, neither seemed to effect her overall state.

Royal Taorito

Aritaryn

 

[Lanfaer]

tab There came a knock at the door.
tab A single tap, no more or less, but the door opened slightly a moment later with the briefest of pauses. Only an inch, enough for a masked face to peak in, an aura of menace following the heavy breathing that came from it.
tab Then it spoke in a breathy, feminine voice, best suited to someone who spent far too much time in dark places. "Miss," she began with a rasp. "I was told not to tell you but you-see-he-went-places-without-you-and-lord-Oragor-said-he-can't-survive-without-you-and-Shadow-looked-sad-and-worried-andohgodi'mbabblingpleasestopmeSHADOWNEEDSHELP-"
tab With every word she vibrated in placed harder and harder until the entire door was rattling in what could only be abject terror at making a mistake. And by the end she was screaming, and clearly it would get worse if Kagerou didn't intervene.  

[HeadlessKoko]

Finn didn't answer. Oh no, a case of the afks must have taken him. Kagerou knew well what to do in such situations. Ffinn would be fine if she left him as is. Though, part of her wondered if she should help move him to a more comfortable position.

As she tap tap tapped her chin in though, the door knocked, and before she could react, it opened to allow an ominous mask to enter, heavy breaths coming from behind it setting the tone of the introduction, and what an introduction it was. Frantic, panicked, and ultimately, difficult to gauge. However, on the off chance something really was wrong, Kagerou could not disregard the lady.

She also couldn't panic. Therefore, with the maturity of someone many years older than she appeared, the small girl walked up to the taller woman and gently held her hand. "Please calm down," the green haired child chirped with a smile that jarred heavily against the panicked expression of the other woman, "and tell me the details. Where did Shadow go. Who can't survive without me? What does Shadow need help with?".

Lanfaer

 

[Lanfaer]

tab There was an audible click as Kagerou moved towards her, likely from a horse-like closing of the mouth that brought top teeth to bottom in a jarring manner. The offered hand was stared at, weighed and measured with a wordless gaze before she took it much like she would touch something dangerous and apt to bite her. Perhaps the calm demeanor worked, however, as the woman spoke in a hushed, but clearly strained tone as she released the hand after a quick squeeze. "Lord Shadow went to the Forest of Mists. He didn't look okay when he heard there was some strange person with emerald eyes and a tall hat speaking in riddles. I don't know why, but he left right away. The other guard said he was told to wait till Shadow didn't return but his tone was one of someone who might return and who looked-like-he-was-going-to-walk-to-his-death-and-OhNoLordOragorIsGoingToFREAK-"
tab Once more the girl's voice was rising as the horror of what might happen began to affect her addled mind. She was going to be punished, there was no doubt about that.

HeadlessKoko

 

[HeadlessKoko]

"Who is Lord Oragor?" Kagerou asked, standing in the middle of the room as her hand had been too quickly dropped for her to lead the stranger girl anywhere more comfortable. "Emerald eyes, riddle, tophat, someone Shadow would leave for," Kagerou mused, thoughts hidden by her pleasant smile, "I would be a fool to not know." Therefore, she inquired further, "Can you tell me more about this person Shadow chased? Do you know why Shadow may have gone after him? Why would Lord Oragor know that Shadow would have gone after this particular person?". Hands folded neatly in front of her, intense scrutiny shone through the large red eyes. Blithe as her expression may have been, it could not completely hide the tension rising within her, but the more she felt was wrong, the more she called back on memories and mannerism of the past.

Lanfaer

 

[Royal Taorito]

tab Shock was clear in the girl's posture, frozen as she was. Dipping her head she leaned against the door and took deep breaths, seeming to somehow inhale the calmness that Kagerou produced. Something was off, certainly, but whether it was a psychosis or other malady wouldn't be certain. Finally, after a few minutes of silence, she spoke in a much more evenly paced voice, her tone audibly strained but controlled. "Lord Oragor founded this town alongside Lord Baranara," she began, hands clenched on the doorframe she leaned upon for support. "Lord Shadow met with Lord Oragor not long ago, and part of his discussion entailed this...report. There's been...stories...that this region is populated with strange, supernatural events, and one of them was this. A scouting party reported back with the description of the man I told you about, and that they'd been taken into a mist in a region of the forest that hadn't been explored yet. Only the one scout returned, saying that the others had 'failed' according to the person who claimed them."
tab Reaching into her side pocket she withdrew a rolled parchment that she held for Kagerou to take as she continued. "What wasn't told to Shadow was that the Anzu don't go there. They say that a...gateway...lie there that bridges the land of the living and the dead, as best our translators can understand it. They called it the....the Echoes, but we don't know if that's the region of the bridge itself. Lord Oragor realized that this could be bad and ordered that I pass this information to you, as you would be the best to hunt him down. Why or how the Lord knows this, I cannot say, just that he appeared to be...certain."

HeadlessKoko

 

[HeadlessKoko]

"So he is someone who knows of my relation to Shadow, but wishes to keep his identity secret," the small girl continued to dissect the information she had been given calmly as she accepted the scroll and scanned her eyes through its contents. She knew many who would be like that, for reasons ranging from deadly to beneficial. Where Lord Oragor likely fell in that spectrum would need to be a dilemma resolved at a later time.

Despite the almost flippant calm she exuded, attempting to both maintain a level head and obfuscate information regarding her exact relationship to Shadow in the presence of this suspicious situation, Kagerou was very, very, very concerned. She was not one to panic, but it was close.

There was not enough information to go in alone, but there was no one she could go in with in the first place. Shadow had already gone ahead. Takeda remained stubbornly behind, or maybe stubbornly entrenched in another place altogether. Well, she couldn't say anything about him, at least he had a place chosen.

Rolling the scroll and pocketing it with an amiable smile, the green haired looked kindly up at the taller woman and brightly suggested, "Thank you for catching me up. Rest here for as long as you'd like. Help yourself to some water, and food even. Though, I'm sorry, but you'll have to prepare it yourself. I'll be going now. Bye bye~"

Picking up the travel bag she had only just put down and giving a childish wave, Kagerou set out once more.

Exit to wherever Lao drops me

Lanfaer

Taorito