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 Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 10:16 pm
Iri is wheeling above the tall, waving grasses that surround the wind turbines of her dojo. Violet eyes are scouring the area for something in particular. She knows the general direction, but this will help her out a little.
When she finds it, Iri suddenly dives for the ground and lands in a crouch. What she has landed in is a barely visible trail. Most would not have seen it unless from the air. And in front of her right foot is a track in the form of a little girl's sandal. She follows the direction of the footprint with her eyes. The tracks are fading with the constant blow of the wind, but they are there. And though the tracks may not be visible once she treks further into the forest, it at least gives her a general direction in which to travel.
Iri stands up and flaps her wings to get her body just above the grass. "Shokubutsu!" She follows his name with a sharp whistle.
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Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 8:06 am
Tier half appeared out of the shadow that Iri's body was casting. He pulled himself out of the shadow and stood out of range of Iri's wings.
"Fufufu. Tier was assigned to help with this search." He stated outloud as his single yellow eye was analyzing the point on which Iri was looking at.
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Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 8:23 am
Iri isn't phased by Tier's appearance. Though she hadn't been expecting anyone to form out of her shadow, she's lived with weirder things.
"Sounds good to me!"
She looks down and points at Syn's tracks. At least, Iri can only assume those are Syn's tracks. The odds that they belong to anyone else are slim to none around here.
"That trail should lead us straight to wherever she's staying. I'm no expert tracker, so I hope you can do better than me."
Both wings snap shut. Iri falls about three feet and turns to look toward the trees again. As she stares, Iri begins to twirl her naginata on the side of her body that isn't near Tier. What she's looking for is a distinct trail. All people are creatures of habit, so odds are Syn would have followed either a trail of her choosing or maybe even animal trails until she found the dojo. Animal trails would crisscross the woods in numbers. But one should show fresher signs of use and hopefully a few shoe prints.
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Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 9:36 am
"Ah, alright, let's go then."
Shokubutsu says from a tree. A vine is coming out of his back as he manuvers through branches.
"Who's leading?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 10:28 am
"Well..."
Iri looks between the two men. With a shrug of her wings, she looks back down at the tracks. Her mind made up, Iri starts to trot into the woods.
"I guess that would be me. This was my problem to begin with."
The avian isn't worried about going particularly fast. Speed would only be useful if she knew exactly where she was going. For now, she thinks it best to pay attention to the details of the forest around her and pick out anything interesting or inconsistent with her surroundings. Her eyes are especially on the look out for those plants Shokubutsu was so good to rid her dojo of.
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Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 10:40 am
Tier followed Iri's path but instead walked on the side. He was watching for anything that seemed out of the ordinary as they walked on.
Maybe twigs or branches that had been broken by something heavier than an animal.
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Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 4:01 pm
Syn was in a small clearing by a brook, sleeping. There was a well established trail that she followed once she got a few miles into the forest.
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Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 7:16 pm
"I don't know what exactly we should be looking out for here in this forest."
Shokubutsu said, with now, two vines from his back helping him manuver through the canopy.
"I mean, following a trail of flowers, isn't within my power, granted, I could try to track maybe the pollen of the flower, but all that is just... too much work if you ask me."
He swung low past Tier and shot back into the trees again.
"We're just looking for a cave right?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 8:00 pm
"Yup. It's just a cave, as far as I know."
Iri stops and looks ahead. As far as she can tell, there hasn't been any deviation from this small track in the woods. She has noticed another trend. More footprints are present. These are much older. If she hadn't been looking for them, Iri never would have seen them. But the prints are there. So this is a frequented path. Also, the path seems to get a little wider the further Iri goes.
The avian takes a moment to spread her wings wide and lean backward to pop her back. She's been leaning over this whole time, making sure she doesn't miss anything. Now, though, she's not sure if that is necessary.
Both wings fold to her back and Iri starts to walk again. She's standing upright now, but still dividing her attention between the footprints in the path and her surroundings.
"I don't think we'll need to do anything that complicated, Shokubutsu. Like I said, I'm not a seasoned tracker or anything, but it doesn't look like Syn's bothered to hide her passage. This may lead us right to her."
Iri's head tilts a little as she walks. Her curious bird expression. Violet eyes narrow in thought. The farther she goes, the clearer the path. That troubles Iri more than just a little.
"Uh... Well, damn it all," Iri mutters under her breath.
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Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 9:07 am
The further they walked into the forest, the closer they would be to finding fresh tracks.
"There." Tier's yellow eye was staring at a brook in the distance. He was looking up and down the path as the clues were matching.
"There is a calm body on the side of that brook. Far ahead." Tier said as his single yellow eye zoomed in on the spot.
"It's a small body signature."
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Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 10:04 am
Iri takes a look at Tier, then stares back down the path. Something still isn't sitting right with her.
One wing elbow reaches up to scratch the back of Iri's head. "Erm, I just gotta put something out there. Am I the only one that's bothered by the fact that this just seems way too easy? If Syn is the enemy, and she knows it, then why wouldn't she hide her tracks unless she intended to lead us into a trap? Then again, and this may go back to what I was saying to Shokubutsu earlier, that could also mean she's either harmless or doing harm and has no clue about it."
Iri looks between her fellow nin, quiet for a moment. Then she gives a wing shrug and says, "Or I could still be paranoid from the damn plants and just over thinking things."
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Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 8:48 pm
Syn stirs and lays on the warm rock for a moment before sliding to the edge and sitting up. Rubbing her eye, she looked into the forest. She raised an eyebrow, and her eyes darkened to a deep purple. She smiled and waved in the group's direction, then looked off in another direction, watching the stream, waiting for the company to arrive.
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 12:18 am
"Tier, can you capture her shadow from here?"
He was preparing handseals hidden in the canopy.
"If we can immobilize her maybe we won't have to do anything too drastic, but who knows."
Shokubutsu started to stealthy sneak forward.
"She's waving to us, so, I think she can sense us anyway... Whatever, I have a pretty good plan.. For now."
He was now, perfectly camouflaged in this forest environment, even his clothing seemed invisible, but that was maybe because he wasn't wearing it.
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 7:35 am
Tier cursed in his mind. The girl had spotted Tier and Iri already before Tier could go into a sneaking position.
He kept his voice low, knowing that voices can carry a far distance when outside.
"Tier's shadows reach anything. So long as Tier isn't interrupted."
Tier didn't move forwards until Iri would.
"If she is an enemy of the GNA, then get her to move into a wide shadow casting from the foliage above. If you can't, then Tier can use her own shadow still."
Tier's single yellow eye was looking around the environment. Scanning for new lifeforms that might try to pose a threat during this.
"Trap.. if this is a trap, then we've already fallen to it."
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 11:42 am
(( O.o Shokubutsu going in the nude? Eyes shall burn out! lol ))
A wing twitches. She looks at Tier and mutters, "I guess you'd be right. Oh well. At least that makes things interesting."
Both wings snap open with a rush of air. Iri jumps up and carefully ascends through the trees. She flies the rest of the way to the brook. Instead of landing right away, she performs a few lazy circles. What she's looking for is the best place to perch.
Something catches Iri's eye and she aims for it. The target is a partially broken and dead limb. At one point, it probably would have been covered in ice to the point of breaking, or maybe struck by lightning. The rest of the tree to which it is attached is healthy and full of lush vegetation. The tree is also in front of the sun's current position. The perfect place to provide shadows for Tier. And Syn should like the fact that the sun isn't blinding her with its brightness.
Iri alights on the limb and crouches low, her hands between her feet for extra grip. Her wings stay spread to further shade the area and to provide balance. One wing makes a beckoning motion at Syn.
"Oi! Whatcha doin', wakin' up in the woods? Don't you know that's not safe? C'mere, sweets." Iri's voice isn't scolding. Instead, she's playfully teasing the girl. She even gives a lopsided grin and a laugh.
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