Nogitsune Shrine

[Shifter]

Looking at Tenshi's dejected reaction, Shifter was really tempted to let her know that he had done what he could to improve Kitsune's chances, but he quickly decides that he would be better off saving that relevation for when they will not be listened in upon. If someone unwelcome should be trying to learn what the nogitsune have been up to recently, any knowledge that Shifter has tried to temper with Kitsune's grim destiny will receive far too much interest in return for comforting the spirit youko immediately.

Following the white furred youko down the hall, he finally decides upon what may be the best action. He doesn't really care where they go to talk, so long as their words will not be able to reach the wrong ears before it is too late; but if they are soon going to leave the shrine for a while anyway, they may as well go where they can finish multiple tasks at once. "Do you suppose we could move the treasure to one of our pocket realms and talk there?"

While he is also curious about what had happened to Tenshi's hand, the kuko knows there will be plenty of time to ask his 'sister' later.

[Tenshi]

[.The kiko slows her pace, but does not stop. She thinks for a moment, moving a few loose strands of brunette tresses behind her ear, and nods in the affirmitive.]

"Sure... if you don't mind, may we talk in yours? I have not yet had the chance to recover my spiritual energy to its full, and transferring all of the hoard would be quite an effort for me.."

[.As they reach the room where the treasure was stored, the vixen stops outside the door, and finally turns to look at her 'brother' again, silently awaiting a response.]

[Akina]

((Yeah, my poor characters always seem to have the worst timing for everything Tenshi sweatdrop ))
The young vixen felt sick in her heart having to leave Kitsune to battle in her condition, but there was little the forest kitsune could do. She hoped the void would use her gift of the healing liquid before charging off into battle, for then the nine tailer's body could at least be somewhat healed before exchanging blows with the enemy.
With slow, almost painful looking steps, Akina made her way back to the shrine's main enterance. The three tailer sensed something very odd about the air around her there, but with the overload of thoughts jumbled in her brain she was unable to place the feeling. Akina looked up towards the sky for any signs of what might be causing the disturbance, but the only thing in view was the snow white thunder fox basking in the sun's warmth upon the roof.
"Oh, why bother, he wouldn't know anything, and even if he did he wouldn't tell me. Besides, Ieyasu's just up there relaxing as if the world had nothing troublesome in it." She shook off the feeling, taking it to be no more than her own mind playing tricks on her senses, and entered into the shrine's protective walls.

[Shifter]

"Of course, Tenshi-san." Passing by the white furred vixen, Shifter gathers his concentration and spiritual might for a revision of one of the old portal spells as he opens the door. Between the vastly taxing magic he now has planned and several other recent energy expenditures in the process of assisting Kitsune, the wind youko will have used up the majority of his strength by the time they have reached his personal realm.

However, Shifter really doesn't mind using up large amounts of chi since he plans on restoring his energy on some human organization's expense. The only question left to him is who will annoy him then get to pick up the tab for whatever sorts of revenge he decides upon. The kitsune always did enjoy entertainment with his meal.

[Tenshi]

[.The youko bows in thanks to her companion, and patiently waits for him to open the door. As it is opened, she steps inside, but remains at the edge of the shiny hoard so that Shifter might transport them and the room's contents into his own realm. However, she pauses in thought for a moment, for she had never seen the wind fox enter his own pocket space. Truly, she did not know whether he was going to use the same spell to get them all there in one trip, or if he was planning on sending the treasure ahead of them, and entering the space in a usual manner of a portal. So, she merely bowed her head, and waited with patience for him to continue. After another moment, she had a thought, and raised a gloved finger in a polite interruption.]

"Excuse me, Shifter-san, but if you would like some of my chi for this rather large transportation, I would be glad to assist. Just tell me what you need. After all, just because I cannot do the whole job myself doesn't mean I can't contribute."

[.She feigns a small smile, trying to lighten her own mood. She was fully capable of adding to the effort, and would feel terrible if her 'brother' had to do it all his own. Besides, she would recover her energy soon enough, and didn't expect to run into any dangerous enemies any time soon that required her full energy.]

[Shifter]

Shifter follows Tenshi into the room and looks at the piles of treasure as he continues thinking of how he could best transport everything within a room of this size to his pocket space at once. Though he already knows the spell he plans on modifying for this particular casting, the wind kitsune wants to conserve at much energy as he can with this casting since the energy needed from even an efficient dimensional shift of this area is highly energy intensive. Saving energy in this case will mean working with the wa of his surroundings so he doesn't have to fight the environment's desire to remain settled, and can instead simply redirect those natural forces around the localized transition to a different environment.

Stopping any further action for the moment when his 'sister' poses her extremely generous and trusting offer, he looks over the vixen with a mild intensity as he carefully examines her aura. That Tenshi would be openly willing to directly expose her chi to him is enough to make him smile slightly since he has come to place a similar level of unconditional trust in the kiko. At this point in his life there are only four beings the silvery youko would willingly trust to such an extent - all of them nogitsune.

"Thank you for the offer, Tenshi-chan, but I will only be left with a little less chi than you after this spell. Even though I require more to sustain myself than you would, I will be able to conserve enough strength to continue until the next time I feed."

Turning his attention to the far wall, Shifter begins converting then moving a large part of his chi to the distant edge by the floor. He is not fully certain the spell he is crafting will be entirely successful, but he knows that simply transporting all of the wealth within the room at once would require nearly all of his strength even if his aura was saturated with chi.

[Tenshi]

[.The young spirit youko returns his smile with one of her own, and nods slowly in response. If she was not needed in the process, then she would stand by, and wait until she was. She watches as Shifter casts his spell, gathering chi in the corner of the room. She still did not quite know what he was doing, but this much chi in one area was sure to attract unfriendly attention. As the wind kuko begins to move the chi, Tenshi slowly makes her way to the door of the treasure room, and closes it tightly, standing against the now sealed entrance. The least amount of attention they gained, the better.]

[Shifter]

As Shifter slows the flow of his chi to the casting down to a trickle, the pooled energy in the edge of the room fades into visibility as a rippling blue wave seemingly lying against the wall. The treasure that had been lying on the floor above the remade spiritual energy promptly falls into the nearly water-like depths and vanishes.

As he finishes the last mental touches to his unusually formed portal, the kuko sends its nonexistent mass surging forward like a wave with a quick thought then calmly grasps Tenshi and pulls her close to him. Before she can fully react, the wind youko smiles slightly and briefly explains himself. "It wouldn't do for you to fall in with the treasure, Imoto."

As the water-like form quickly washes through the entire room, all of the wealth lying within its path are pulled within its blue depths and vanish. As the wave of energy comes into contact with Tenshi, she briefly feels a strong pulling sensation upon her feet before her 'brother' reflexively holds onto her more tightly. Despite the closeness Shifter has brought the white-furred vixen to him for the moment, he tries to keep his protective embrace from becoming uncomfortable.

Passing the pair of spirits without slowing down, the elongated portal quickly sucks up the remaining treasure before slamming into the far wall and breaking apart as the conditions of the spell are finally completed.

Taking a moment to look at part of the now empty room, Shifter releases his hold on Tenshi and grins at her sheepishly. "Sorry for not warning you earlier, but I didn't think of that risk with the spell until the last moment..." His smile fades into a calm, satisfied expression as he brings his thought back to the task partially done. "Shall we continue to my pocket space?"

Realizing how much energy he has spent so far from the sense of tiredness in his body, the wind youko decides to accept his friend's recent invitation with a slightly meek grin if it is still open. "This time I wouldn't mind if you would still like to help me."

[Tenshi]

[.Tenshi watches as the treasure slowly begins to funnel itself into the watery substance that the wind kuko had created. A clever plan, no doubt, and she approvingly continued to observe this fascinating process. Although she was not so terribly shocked as the wave surged forward, she clearly had not expected Shifter to pull her in close to him like he did. Because she trusts the wind spirit, she does not allow her reflexes to harm him, but truly does not know how to react. Luckily, his explanation was quick, and quite reassuring. Now that she understands, the tense youko relaxes, allowing herself to be kept close to her 'brother', so that they both would remain seperate from the treasures.

The wave rushes over them, and a slight tinge of fear flickers within the kiko as she feels her feet starting to shift beneath her. However, Shifter is quick to react, and as she clings to him a bit this time, she feels secure once again.

It was quite a difference since the last time one of the male species had touched her, for she had considered killing him on the spot. But now, unexpected as it was, Tenshi felt completely safe within the clutch of her elder 'brother'. At his sheepish grin, the vixen can do nothing but smile and let out a small chuckle.]

"It's alright, you didn't hurt me."

[.Her smile broadens into a grin as his naturally calm demeanor is expressed upon his face again. That familiar, friendly sight alone is enough for her to accept his request. She nods, and places a hand on his chest, deciding it would be the fastest and least taxing way to transfer a portion of her chi.]

"Just relax, it won't take but a minute."

[.Closing her eyes, the youko mouths some unspoken words, and her hand alights with a pale blue glow. The area around her hand as well lights up, consuming a large portion of his chest beneath the clothing. Shifter himself feels nothing but a small warmth within, during the process, but soon, his chi is stronger, and the youko removes her hand from him. Now left with only a quarter of her previous energy, the kiko sighs and smiles contentedly. Silently, she promised herself that she would soon feed...it would not be long. Of course, she would not willingly admit her paranoia of being without full power at this particular moment, but because she was only going to the kuko's pocket space, she figured it did not truly matter, for there would be nothing to harm her there.]

[Shifter]

Knowing that Tenshi did not hesitate in expressing her trust in just moments earlier, the question of if he should trust her in turn when she places a hand on his chest and briefly contacts his aura does not even cross Shifter's mind as he nods slightly in response to his 'sister's' reassuring words. Feeling the internal warmth as his chi levels improve noticeably, the kuko silently hopes that he will be able to return her selfless favor in full whenever she needs help.

Though he may try later, the wind kitsune does not believe that words could fully express his feelings for some of the nogitsune he has met during his months visiting the shrine. Gently pulling the kiko into a light embrace and smiling warmly in a silent display of thanks, the air surrounding both youko becomes blanketed in fog as Shifter silently creates his variation of teleportation.

Where most of his life had been a series of misadventures almost solely for the thrills between bouts of misery, this place is the only one he still looks forward to visiting regularly. Completely trustworthy friends are extremely rare in the six-tail's experience, and that he had met so many in one land along with his lover is a personal good fortune that he would have never seriously imagined outside of finding his clan before coming to this place. What the silvery furred kitsune does know for certain is that he will never willingly give this life up for constant travel to far flung kingdoms that do not care about his existence. …But then again, he certainly does not wish to fully retire from adventuring, either.

[Tenshi]

(( grawr... where did my postie go? sad I swear I already replied to this... stare *sends Gaia an ebil, accusing glare* ))

(( okay, i promise i'll edit this with a post later tonight or tomorrow morning. my sister is kicking me out of the room... ))

[Shifter]

((Heh, don't worry about it, Tenshi. The inclusion of the friends list threw everyone around here for a loop. I don't mind relatively minor inconviences like the unexpected wait since I believe the feature is well worth the trouble it created.))

[Tenshi]

[.The spirit youko smiled, and returned the gentle embrace from her wind spirited companion. His silent display of thanks, and kind appreciation for a small token of friendship was almost flattering to the kiko, but she greatly appreciated his thanks. Friendships were not one of her strong points, for she did not usually get along with many other beings, even of her own kind. Before she had managed to stumble across the Shrine, Liandria was her sole companion in the world. No family or distant relatives, nor friends of the family were known to still be living, so all in all, the white fox was almost alone in the world. Yet now, she had three trustworthy friends that she would trust with her very life. Strange how these things changed.

Not wishing to disturb the transportation spell, Tenshi did not move too much, remaining close to her 'brother'. She watched as the silvery fog around them swirled about, and silently waited for the wind kuko's pocket space to appear before them.]

(( did you want to RP in your pocket space in this thread, or did you have something else planned? ))

(( oops. sweatdrop didn't edit that post up there... *sigh*. oh well. ))

[Shifter]

((Generally I have considered such locations to be RPed out of the thread, but I don't mind continuing it from here so long as no one forgets that we are presently not at the shrine. :3

And I have made the exact same mistake as you just did in the past, along with several other related posting mishaps, so don't sweat it.))

As the visible aftereffects of the dimensional transit fade away, Tenshi finds herself still close by the wind kitsune, but now on a platform the size of a large room that looks like it is floating in a sea of stars. The soft lighting of this place is coming from the various celestial bodies floating within the surrounding void. Whatever floor this minor realm usually has is now covered by the valuable metallic carpet the youko are standing on.

Looking to his close friend and guest, Shifter allows the white-furred kiko the chance to react to her surroundings before saying anything.

[Sayuriko]

Kiyumi tacked her silvery auricles to the sleek golden cranium beneath them. She had quietly examined the ordeal between Tenshi and the mage, but had done nothing except shift uncomfortably upon her silvery forepaws. She looked to Liandria, cleared her throat, then slowly asked her question.

"Well ... Now that the revolting mage has taken leave, should we consider continuing towards the mountain? Or... Is that a little out of it now?"