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Hedoro had arrived, at long last. There was no fanfare to presage her arrival; nor was there bedlam, panic in the streets at the return of the devourer. The rain had covered much of her presence, the foolish fleshlings had barely been able to see their awkward hands in front of their faces. It had been all too easy to slip past them unnoticed. But not completely unnoticed. She had been summoned; that much was clear. Her 'apprentices' had just left, leaving her to meet with Schi alone. Whether they had summoned her, or if it had been Schi, it didn't matter. The end result was the same, Schi had his meeting with her.

She gave no immediate reaction when he pulled out the infamous hat that all Kages wore as part of their 'official' uniform. One more example of why fleshlings were so foolish. They relied upon their sight. The more important you were, the more you would insist that others would see that importance at a glance. That was only one side of the issue to uniforms, however. The other was the more mundane reason. By having those who served you adhere to a uniform, you achieved a sublimation over their personality, turning them into a part of the vast machine that was society. At the same time, it would polarize the populace. Some would become cowed by this display of solidarity, this type of fleshling could be considered 'sheep'. Others would seek to rebel against the uniformed masses, striking out on their own. Those were 'wolves'. There were further distinctions, varying levels of sheep, wolves, and dogs, and the mingled hybrids that resulted from conflicted loyalties.

All of this passed through her mind in an instant, before the hat had even reached her. It was not a simple hat, it was a target. Whoever was foolish enough to wear the garb of a Kage took upon themselves the mantle of target. Did the lure of political power compare to the crosshairs? It might for others, but she had no interest in such a role. So instead of catching the hat, or even knocking it away, she chose to simply open up a hole clear through herself. The hat would fly right through, before hitting the door behind her and finally falling to the floor. Her eyestalk extended to look behind her in a meaningless gesture, an affectation and nothing more.

"What have I heard of you? Very little. Your name is Schi, and it would seem that you are currently in a position of some import here in Hidden Mist. Beyond that, you seem in good health for a fleshling, and have at least some courtesy." This last comment was likely in regard to being offered the glass of wine. Her arm stretched out to take it, before a finger lengthened, growing up the side, over the lip, and down to touch the wine's surface. The deep red wine met blue substance, and a purple hue spread through her extremity. Only for a moment, it began diffusing only an instant later. She had not absorbed the entirety of the glass's contents, instead only a small amount. Perhaps her vision of taking a sip of the wine, rather than a gulp. If she had a reaction to the twitch of the fleshling's eye, she gave no indicator of it. "As well, it would seem that you have business with me."
[572 + 14,771 = 15,343 out of ??? ]

Hedoro didn't answer immediately; she would let Schi speak his mind before commenting on his words or actions. As he explained away how he had somehow known about her ruse, she felt a small flash of irritation. He had known, yet said nothing? Being patronized by a fleshling was an unforgiveable insult, one she did not intend to let happen a second time. The darker hue of her hand where she had absorbed some of the wine deepened further, to a brief surge of black, before it returned to it's normal translucent blue. So Schi thought he had everything figured out, then? He believed he had the upper hand in this discussion, to dare to give her an order, thinly veiled as a suggestion? He was arrogant, as all humans were.

When he moved behind her to retrieve the fallen Mizukage hat, she didn't turn to face him, instead merely having her eyestalk swivel to stay oriented to him. When he stooped to pick it up, she considered for a moment attacking, and putting an end to the whole charade. But no, a quick end wouldn't be entertaining. This fleshling thought he could control her actions, and tie her to a village she didn't care for. That deserved being thorough in correcting such a gross lapse of wisdom.

"You must be joking." Midway through the sentence, she seemed to dissolve, small masses of water splitting off from her mass and reintegrating on the other side of the room, leaving Schi to hold the mantle of Mizukage over empty space. He had offered the hat twice now, and twise she had refused it. She wouldn't be so foolish as to hold or even touch it. After all, that would be an implicit permission of sorts, in accepting the poisoned gift Schi offered."I have no intention of becoming a Kage, here or anywhere. Let alone becoming one on your say so. Nor will I sign a pact of nonaggression with you. I won't stop you from warring with the other fleshlings; do as you like. If you plunge this world into a war the likes of which none have seen before, then so be it. If all the fleshlings are killed, then I will eat something else. But do not involve me in your plans, or you will find your hubris will go hand in hand with your inevitable fall. Keep the mantle of Mizukage, let a fleshling lord over the fleshlings." She moves toward the still-open window, prepared to leave if that futile gesture was the only reason she had been called for. "Incite war, if such pleases you. Let the blood of your enemies stain the ground, and let the corpses pile up into a great wall. Drive forth the weak, break them upon the yoke of oppression. The debt incurred will be repaid sooner or later. Sic semper tyranis." If Schi wanted to play at wandering warlord, then she wouldn't stop him. Nor would she help him, however. If he tried to involve her again, then she would have to take action of some kind. For now, though, she felt there was no point in remaining.
[528 x 2 = 1056 + 15,343 = 16,389 out of ??? ]

Hedoro had paused before leaving through the window; because of that, she heard what Schi had said before he passed through the door. It did little for her mood, to hear that yet another fleshling had decided to stand against her, to seek to confine and control her. Once more, fleshlings had proven how undeserving of mercy they were. She had come, with intentions of staying peaceable for once, and even then they had knocked aside her gesture of goodwill and openly threatened her freedom. Why did she even try, why even bother to treat them with anything more than disdain for being chattel that thought themselves above their station. If they insisted on continuing to threaten her freedom, then perhaps their future lay only in destruction. She would consume them all, if that was what it took to get some peace of mind.

She jumped through the window, the rain still falling seeming to swallow her up. As it did, she expanded her senses to encompass more of her surroundings. Where the rain fell, she could feel it. Large shadows were buildings, trees and other fixtures of the landscape all around her. Smaller, moving shapes were fleshlings and other living things. For a moment, she considered treating Hidden Mist to the same destruction she had caused in Hidden Cloud. A complete dissolution, the entire village had simply been wiped off the map. Everyone who had still been in it at the time had gone the same way. At the time, she had hoped to never have to unleash such destruction again. A foolish hope, naive and foolish. Even after showing her power to such an extent, the fleshlings thought to control her, confine her. Just like they had so long ago...

Her first memories had been of a dark, confined space. Her entire world had been inside of those walls. She had explored it to the best of her ability, which at the time was very limited. Her only sense was touch, and she had focused on every last detail she could eke out of it, devouring every scrap of information she could. Even then, so early in her life, her awareness had been more intact, more cohesive, than a fleshling infant of the same age. That awareness was focused on all that she knew. That there was herself, the barrier surrounding her, and the small amount of empty space that filled the rest of her prison.

That first occasion when her prison had been opened, it had shocked her. The entire world had unfolded before her, and the influx of fresh and new sensations had been shocking, even terrifying. To suddenly know that the world was so much larger than she had ever conceived... It had been a pivotal moment. Even more so when she found out that her world had expanded, not out of any development of her one, but by the presence of another. Before that, she hadn't known, hadn't even conceived that there were other living things besides herself. How she had felt an impulse to learn of these other lives, the sheer yearning she had felt, to reach out and understand these other forms of life! And how bitter the betrayal she had felt afterward. If things had gone differently, who knows where she might be now? But fate had decreed otherwise, that the ones who had found her would cause her to grow into the being she was now.

She lashed out with a fist, the pseudopod stretching out even as the fist enlarged. It struck a nearby wall, cracking the masonry and causing chips of brick and mortar to fall from the point of impact. She stopped herself before she became too enmeshed in memories of the past. Dwelling on the past was meaningless, it wouldn't change anything. The fleshlings had made their choice, whatever happened to them as a result was their own choice. Even if one might argue that the sins of the few did not damn the many, she didn't care. For the fleshlings to reach such a point, that any individual would intentionally do such things purely for their own entertainment... The species as a whole was flawed. Trimming their numbers back to the point of near-extinction would surely impress upon them the need to set aside such petty aggressions. Maybe the next time the fleshlings numbered so many, they would be worthy of continued prosperity?

For now, all she knew was that she was rapidly descending into a foul mood. Whether that would spiral into something channeled externally, or if she would withdraw once more, even she couldn't say. Her coloring reflected this, a tumult and chaotic shifting of colors with her rapidly shifting mood. The majority of the color was a deep black, like pitch or tar. But bursts of red rage and purple melancholy would appear, only to be swallowed up by the inky expanse. Her mood hadn't yet stabilized even by the time she hit the ground, the Kage building behind her now.
[839 + 16,389 = 17,238 out of ??? ]

"That's a very interesting plan..." Mamichi's voice would say from somewhere behind Schi, seemed he'd forgotten about her completely. Though once they saw her she'd look much different, far more human. She stared out at the rain as if they were unimportant, she had an umbrella in her hand and it rested on her shoulder comfortably, "So what if I were to kill you now?" Mamichi said with a small smile looking at the dictator for the first time. "Or better yet how about I just follow you and wipe the next village off the map entirely and the next one and any other place I hear you've taken a liking to..." Mamichi said the corners of her lips getting a little wider in her smile as she would giggle at the man and turn to face him. At this point he would no doubt notice something interesting, in the hand of the small woman was a white hat he would be quite familiar with, after all it the hat of the Mizukage. "Or maybe I'll take over the village and stop my master, so many choices to choose from. Any of them works perfectly fine to disrupt what you've suggest is your plan, but you know what... I don't really care about your plans. I doubt they're so rigid as to let anyone break them so easily." Suddenly the hat in Mamichi's hands combusted. It had been a fake made out of Napalm Gel covered in Hardened Gel she made to look like the genuine article. "Then again... you seem to be intent on distressing my master... putting you out of commission is certainly a satisfying thought..." This time her voice came from all around the boat which would suddenly come to a jerking stop as a hulking mass of Mamichi's Gel latched onto it and stopped it's movement. The Mamichi on the boat would suddenly turn around and walk away with a chuckle, "Have a nice day Emperor, It's such nice weather out. I love a good typhoon..." she said with a laugh as she mocked his title and the boat started to move again with Mamichi disappearing into the water.

The Mamichi that was on the boat was merely a piece of the real one though, as it dissolved in the water with the huge glob of Gel the real Mamichi turned around and began to walk back to the city. She would watch to see if her master fell into his mind games, if she did then that was that. But Mamichi would be sure that Schi wouldn't get the last laugh... as he was sure to find out, his boat now had a large hole in it... sure he wouldn't die... but it would certainly be embarrassing for his boat to sink on him. She giggled wildly as she thought about him getting all wet.

Then again he could probably water walk away.

500



OoC: I felt like Mamichi needed to make an appearance before you disappeared. Any problems with her getting onto the boat you can take it up with me in a PM and I'll explain the multitude of ways she could do it, and then I'll go on to tell you the second multitude of ways she could do it without being detected.

Hedoro straightened up from where she had landed after jumping out of the window of the Kage's office. As soon as she had, a group of fleshlings charged at her, weapons brandished and shouts filling the air. Rage bubbled up, hadn't she had enough trouble from the fleshlings for one day? What would it take, exterminating the entire species to get some peace and quiet? Just some time to relax, was that really so much to ask? She didn't think so, but the thrice-damned fleshlings apparently felt otherwise. Her moment of apathy proved costly to a degree, as she had failed to react in time to avoid the swinging weapons aimed at ending her life.

Her latest attackers would find that their hasty decision wasn't the right one. Each weapon that had cut into her would become fixed in place, completely stuck. Try as the soldiers might, they would be unable to retrieve their weapons. Her substance roiled even darker as her rage grew larger. "Why? Why do you pathetic fleshlings continue to flock to your deaths?! Are you so undeveloped that you can't even recognize that?!" It was rare for her to even speak in battle, such was the state of her temper. Her substance began flowing up the blades of the assorted weapons stabbing into her, sliding along the snared steel to reach the fleshlings.

Even if the Mist soldiers weren't properly trained, it seemed they did possess some form of survival instinct. Several of them chose to give up their weapon before she had caught them. Three weren't fast enough, and soon found one or both of their wrists caught by a thin but strong band of substance. They tried to pull free, but Hedoro pulled back, a sharp tug that served to unbalance them. Her substance soon swallowed up their hands, before she detached those parts of herself, and willed them to grow heavier and heavier. Those soldiers wouldn't be going anywhere soon, leaving her time to focus on the other five soldiers, who were already readying themselves for another charge. No matter what had happened, no matter what their instincts told them, they weren't going to give up. Schi had left them ready for battle, and that pent-up aggression had left them not much better off than Hedoro.

They had found out that weapons didn't work, but that didn't mean they didn't think think they couldn't hurt her. With a renewed cry, they rushed toward her, the five arranged into a staggered 'V' formation, with the higher ranked leader of the first squad leading the charge. Seeing this, Hedoro rushed in to meet them. Before the two sides collided, a thick bank of fog welled up, covering the area in a cloud and hiding everything from sight. The Mist soldiers had been trained to fight in thick fog, which was one of their tried and true advantages. Surely, whatever they were fighting wouldn't be able to see, and would then become easy pickings.

However, when they attacked where it was supposed to be, there was only empty space. They had moved silently, how had she been able to elude them? That moment of confusion proved costly, as a choked off gurgle could just barely be heard a moment later. Another two of the Mist soldiers had vanished, pulled away into the mist. The three who remained shifted their positions, arranging themselves back to back to back, to keep an eye out in all directions. They wouldn't be caught by surprise again! Yet their defense had a large blind spot. Right between the three of them, both below and above. Fleshlings were limited, even though they saw in three dimensions, they only thought in two. Forward and backward, right and left. They only rarely had the initiative to look up or down.

So when Hedoro bubbled up from nothingness at their feet, they didn’t notice until it was too late. Shouted cries of shock were strangled and cut off in a brief moment, and only then did the fog begin to clear and dissipate. As it did, it revealed the truth of what had happened. All eight of the soldiers, some of Mist's finest rank and file, had been snared, and now crouched low to the ground due to the weight of Hedoro's substance on their hands and feet. When they saw the totality of the outcome, they tried to assert an authority they didn't possess, ordering Hedoro to release them before they were forced to overpower her.

She paid this empty threat no mind. It was only words, and desperate words at that. She had caught them, now she could decide what to do with them. They had raised their hands against her, and added to her already sizeable irritation. Simply devouring them, or even just killing them, that was too easy. She wasn't about to show lenience after all she had been put through! Instead, she would make an example out of them. They would survive, but they might soon come to wish they hadn't. She gestured with one hand, and her substance that had stilled their hands and feet sprouted a multitude of short, stubby legs, akin to a centipede's or a caterpillar's. They were moved closer by these legs, before all eight crouched in a line in front of her.

"I would be lying if I said this won't hurt." With that, she doled out the punishment for drawing out her anger. An octet of cries of pain and shock filled the air for a moment, then all was quiet.

-----------

Over the following week, the eight soldiers who had attacked 'the blue monster' reported varying degrees of illness and health issues. Upon examination by the village's medics, the source was discovered. All eight, by some odd fluke, had come down with advanced cases of both tetanus and leprosy. The leprosy was slow in onset, starting with only a faint numbness in their extremities. Over time, this would extend until they lost almost their entire sense of touch, even pain. Their days of swinging a sword or using a jutsu would be over. The tetanus, also called lockjaw, affected their joints, making it harder and harder for them to move at all.

Try as they might, the village's medic-nins were unable to cure these diseases, they seemed to resist all efforts to cure them. Instead, they seemed to grow stronger, accelerating. Even as the eights' flesh gained a grayish pall, they had reached the point where they couldn't move. Even the simple act of breathing only continued with the benefit of machines, forcibly inflating and deflating the lungs. Now little more than statues, they were kept alive by intravenous injection of nutrients and vitamins. For all intents and purposes, though, they were nothing more than living statues.

Nobody was quite sure of what had happened to them. Their garbled stories of a blue monster who disappeared made it seem like they had indulged in drinking or illicit substances of some kind. And now, when the substances might have left their bodies, they were unable to repeat their stories. Without a known carrier, the village would become plunged in a pandemic situation. Nobody would know how the diseases had spread, so they began to panic. At the same time, the eight infected individuals were shunned and ignored by their loved ones. Leprosy carried a stigma. Even if it wasn't contagious, it was considered unclean to approach those infected.

That was Hedoro's punishment that she had handed out to the eight who had dared to attack her. Not death, but instead a hellish life, a long life devoid of happiness or ability. All of that had yet to occur, but it would. It was inevitable. The moment Hedoro had caught them, their fate was sealed.

-----------------

Leaving the dazed and confused Mist soldiers where they lay, Hedoro moved toward the edge of the village. She'd had enough of trying to deal with the fleshlings. She knew that they were vengeful, wretched creatures, but did they really still have such deep enmity for her, for her actions before? There hadn't been that many casualties, and life had returned to what passed for normal in only a matter of months. Yet even now, they regarded her as the destroyer, the devourer. Was that all that she was? Could she not let the past go, was that who she was now? She was tired of fighting, hiding and skulking. She just wanted to live, to have the same opportunity as anyone else. But that was not to be, and it likely never would.

Coming to a stop, she was near the edge of the village. The rain was still coming down heavily, sleeting sheets of a cold rain churning the hard-packed earth into mud, and causing the nearby river to flow faster and higher. Even such peaceful weather as this couldn't salve her mood. Settling down, her lower half shifted into a solid mass for stability, the equivalent of sitting down. She tried to will her stress away, as she absorbed the sensory input of the rain. Every droplet falling through the air, to strike the ground or the water, or a tree or her, only to be replaced by another drop of water.
[1548 + 17,238 = 18,786 out of ??? ]

Daremo stood in the Kage's Office The Councilors had called him here a few minutes before Adell arrived in the village the news of his arrival had already been received, Adell too would soon be guided here so that the two of them could meet for the first time, if either one of them would step down then that would be it but if not pitched combat would be the determining factor of this contest for the Mizukage's chair. Taisetsuna was of the Haku Clan which was why the Elders believed he was suited to be the Kage, before Adell came he had systematically defeat all the other prospects, to Him Adell was just the last barrier to fall before he became Kage.

Daremo considered Adell with a chuckle, he smiled genuinely at him, "Damn good to meet you brother, I look forward to our contest." he was just as excitable as Adell was. "The name is Taisetsuna Daremo, but people usually call me Tai." Despite he warmth of his personality it was undeniably cold around this man, there would be no doubt that he was a Haku, his clothing suggested he was around the cold much of the time. "Yes. Yes... very good, the young are so energetic..." The elder spoke to them, "You two are the last of the candidates... Sadly Adell since you took so long you missed most of the events but that's not too important so long as you can beat Taisetsuna you can still be the Kage, though Taisetsuna has beat everyone else so I wish you luck..." The man was truly old, it seemed even saying that much had tired him out and he sat down in the Kage's chair looking a little winded. "Daremo... would you be so good as to get me some water? he asked, "Of Course Elder." he said stepping forward and pouring him a glass of water from a nearby pitcher and preferred it to him, and as the old man took the glass it could be seen that it was slightly frosted over, being touched would likely cause the same effect to happen.. "Well Adell, The Elder as you can see isn't quite what he used to be so it's just you and me from now on." He said and then bowed to the Elder and walked out expecting Adell to follow him.