Sword-Boy and Shark-Girl

Eldritch and Gunshanks

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Unknown Eldritch
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Sword-Boy and Shark-Girl

Post by Unknown Eldritch » Wed Nov 03, 2021 2:15 pm

Fudo had been travelling with Fuhen's caravan for around t thirty minutes, and the smile that was on his face shortly after joining up to travel back home had since faded, with Fudo feeling a little bit anxious due to his lack of experience being around large groups of people who were focused on him. Ever since he joined up, lugging his cart of metal along, he had been bombarded with questions from several of the caravan members, including a couple adults and several small children . While Fudo tried to keep his smile at first, they were rapidly wearing him down and he found himself becoming less and less comfortable with every passing minute. At this rate Fudo would need to split off from the caravan before the first hour had passed, which was not what he wanted to do. These people seemed to be very nice and interesting, and he really enjoyed talking with them, but he found himself being slowly overwhelmed.

However, Fudo was never one to let his anxiety get the better of him, so he was both keeping his mind steady and keeping his listeners occupied by telling stories, myths and legends that he had heard and read over the years, complete with sound effects. "...and so, with a mighty slash of his blade *SHING*, the valorant god of the storm slew the mighty eight-headed snake god of the mountain, putting a stop to its reign of terror! However, as the god stood triumphant over the corpse of his slain draconic foe, he spotted something... shiny within its body. Reaching into the body of the slain mountain god, the god of the storm pulled forth a mighty blade! The blade3 came to be known by many names: The Grasscutter sword, the Blade of Valor, and Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, but one name stands above all else, Kusanagi-no-Tachi!" As Fudo spoke these words, he held his still-sheathed katana into the air triumphantly, as though mimicking the pose of the victorious god.

"And that is also the name of the sword that I will one day find, whether I search for it, or reforge it from the annals of legend!" Fudo had a broad grin on his face as he said this, a heat in his eyes as he finished the tale.
NameColorVillageRankTeam
Muramasa, Fudo[color=#CB0000]Iron CountryD-RankN/A
Awai, Seiza[color=#2E2D88]KonohagakureGenin???

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Nick
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Sword-Boy and Shark-Girl

Post by Nick » Wed Nov 03, 2021 8:37 pm

Fudo had seen Kosho only briefly before when Fuhen had asked her to carry a pair of the tied up bandits off to the makeshift brig. She of course immediately tried to return to Fuhen to ask him to train her more, but he told her that her training was looking after the new guy! How lame. She didn't see how it was training, but Fuhen said it, so it must have had some merit, but still!

As Fudo finished his story, several of the children that had gathered cheered, or joined in with their own sound effects, mimicking the slashing of the snake. Heavily armored Kosho, however, stood with her arms folded, looking none too impressed. "What?!" She interrobanged finally, unfolding her arms in a look of disbelief. "That story makes no sense! Why was there a sword inside the snake?! Snakes don't have sword babies!" The small girl complained.

"And even if it's real, you can't pull a sword straight out of legend to make it again!" Clearly she had yet to be exposed to higher end ninjutsu magics, and hadn't yet been told of how Fuhen's blades came into existence. She'd learn, some day.
"It's so sad!" the reader said to the writer with a frown. "The character in my book just died!" The author turned to her and burst out into tears, "I know!" he said, "So did mine!"
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Grand Shogun of River
Suzuko
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Sword-Boy and Shark-Girl

Post by Unknown Eldritch » Wed Nov 03, 2021 8:58 pm

Glancing up as he heard a feminine voice interjecting into his storytelling, Fudo found himself rather relieved, given another opportunity to keep himself busy without needing to figure out a story to tell next. The smith's eyes scanned over the form of the girl before him, taking in her heavily armored appearance and her short frame as his well-trained eyes scanned over the armor, filling him with a sense of amusement as he pieced together the size difference between the projected image of the armor, and the girl wearing it. Based on the sound of her voice and her small frame, Fudo figured that she was probably a couple years younger than him, so rather than getting too worked up over her interjection, he found a relaxed smile on his features as he glanced over.

"Well hey there, that's some pretty fine armor you have there! There's a couple ways that the legend could be explained, but I think that the simplest one is this: It was a eight-headed snake god and not a normal snake, so why would you assume that its body follows the same rules as a normal snake?" Fudo had a curious eyebrow raised, interested in seeing how she'd respond to his questions. It was always fun to debate the plausibility of myths and legends with people who only hear them for the first time, so Fudo continued speaking. "As for it not being possible to pull a sword out of a legend to reforge it? Well... obviously as I am there's no way that I could do something like that. But just because I can't do something right now, doesn't mean I'll never be able to. Besides, we live in a world where gods and demons roam the world, causing chaos, uprooting mountains, and burning down villages with as little effort as it takes you to blink. Who are you to say what is and isn't possible?"
NameColorVillageRankTeam
Muramasa, Fudo[color=#CB0000]Iron CountryD-RankN/A
Awai, Seiza[color=#2E2D88]KonohagakureGenin???

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Nick
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Sword-Boy and Shark-Girl

Post by Nick » Thu Nov 04, 2021 8:56 pm

Despite some religious elements in Shark country, Kosho hadn't been exposed to many myths of old. The most experienced fighters amongst her people were definitely of relative 'god' tier in their strength, who could shatter mountains with a punch, but even in the very serious challenges to the clan head's position, things were toned down, more like highly skilled wrestling matches. It was a show for the people more than it was a show of raw strength, the victor was the one who could come out on top without destroying the crowds they drew in the process.

All the same, Kosho blushed at the compliment to her armor. She hadn't made it or anything, but compliments weren't common. Against her blue skin, she turned closer to a purple. She hated how calmly he responded, and it only served to frustrate her further. "If it's got eight heads, isn't it just eight snakes in one?!" She called, and several members of the crowd laughed. It was unclear if they were laughing at her or with her. "I've eaten snake before and there weren't any bits of metal stuck in my teeth afterwards!" She opened her mouth wide, pointing proudly at her several rows of sharp shark teeth. More laughter.

As Fudo talked about gods and demons, Kosho stared blankly for a moment, a thousand yard stare into the distance...
"Run!"

She lightly shook her head, repressing the memory. "What gods do you see around here?" She called out, though her voice cracked a bit. More laughter. Definitely at her that time. Kosho stomped her foot and gnashed her teeth threateningly at the bystanders. "That's all just made up stories! I bet I could kick the butt of any god around here!"

In a covered wagon somewhere in the caravan, Fuhen sneezed.
"It's so sad!" the reader said to the writer with a frown. "The character in my book just died!" The author turned to her and burst out into tears, "I know!" he said, "So did mine!"
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Grand Shogun of River
Suzuko
Just another girl

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Unknown Eldritch
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Sword-Boy and Shark-Girl

Post by Unknown Eldritch » Mon Nov 15, 2021 10:57 pm

Fudo could barely keep a chuckle from escaping his lips at the sight of the blue-skinned girl going purple. She certainly didn't seem to be particularly shy so she probably wasn't embarrassed, but maybe she was just angry? Mentally shrugging, Fudo began to think of how to best respond to her words. She seemed pretty stubborn so he might not be able to convince her to come around to his way of thinking, and Fudo certainly wasn't heated enough about things to want to get into a full-blown argument, so he decided to remain casual, relaxed, and straightforward with her. "Nah, y'see it wasn't just the fact that the snake had eight heads that made it special. It was both a Dragon and a God too, made it a whole lot stronger than most things out there, which was why the storm god was the one who killed it instead of someone else."

Fudo cast a brief, narrow-eyed glance at the people around who were laughing, not knowledgeable enough to tell whether the laughter was lighthearted or mocking, but he wasn't the biggest fan of the idea of his conversation partner being insulted. He was having a lot of fun explaining his viewpoint after all! Turning his gaze back to the shark girl, Fudo tried his best to explain his thought process in a way that would be easy to understand. "And as for the sword? Well, there isn't exactly a whole lotta info out there about the specifics, what with it being a legend and all, but I'm of the opinion that the snake's godhood built up in its body over time. Once the storm god killed the snake god and sliced it open, he found this big lump of divinity in there, and it was the storm god's power that turned it into a sword. After all, as a smith I doubt that a sword would just come out of nowhere, it has to be forged somehow! Whether that means the storm god shaped the sword himself or the sword was forged while it was inside of the snake god's body doesn't matter, but I doubt that the sword just appeared, that'd be silly." Fudo had a broad grin as he finished speaking, curious about what the girl would have to say about that.

As the girl began to brag about how she'd kick the butt of any gods around, Fudo could no longer restrain his bark of laughter as he sent a warm grin her way. "Heh, I'm sure you could, but better not let any gods hear ya say that!"
NameColorVillageRankTeam
Muramasa, Fudo[color=#CB0000]Iron CountryD-RankN/A
Awai, Seiza[color=#2E2D88]KonohagakureGenin???

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Nick
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Sword-Boy and Shark-Girl

Post by Nick » Sat Nov 20, 2021 8:32 pm

The shark girl huffed. This guy was clearly some kind of sword freak, and for some reason it bugged her. While his intentions were likely the best, it came off as showy, cocky even. Of course, Fuhen whom she stuck to so strongly displayed the same traits with intentions even more dubious, so why was this bothering her of all things?

Casually, she slugged one of the older kids next to her on the shoulder, hard, causing him to fall over. The rest of the children laughed again, but not at her this time, and that made her feel better. Many of them were orphans, and those among them that weren't almost unilaterally came from very poor households who had more 'wealth' travelling on the road than they ever did in their squalor living spaces back in River, or wherever else they might be from. Kosho herself was mostly an orphan, though she didn't know it yet.

"What makes you so sure these things are real, huh?" She said, being as contrarian as possible to the very idea of mythical creatures and effects which in reality were very much real. "If all that exists of it are these stories for babies" She said, her tone clearly mocking towards the end of the sentence as she stepped closer towards the apprentice smith, something that might be threatening if it weren't for her small stature. "Then it's all just made up, isn't it? Nobody's seen the sword, nobody's seen the dragon, nobody's seen the god, nobody's uncle has met any of their cousins, either!"

She was practically fuming, and she looked ready to punch Fudo, her hands balled into fists. Why was she so angry over this? "I don't have to worry about god's hearing me say anything! Even if they did exist, they don't come down here, they stay lofted up in their castles, away from us dirt stains!"
"It's so sad!" the reader said to the writer with a frown. "The character in my book just died!" The author turned to her and burst out into tears, "I know!" he said, "So did mine!"
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Grand Shogun of River
Suzuko
Just another girl

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