The three-woman party is barely are on the road for an hour before they realize they have no real destination, "So... You three planned all this, right?" Kumiko asks back as she glances at the two unashamed thieves, "So you know where we're heading off to? Believe it or not... this isn't exactly what I'd call an easy method of travel for me."
Shiori leans forwards pushing Peri against her sister's back as she gets close to one of the silver-haired fox's ears, "We thought the world-weary adventurer would have an idea of where to go." She tries to give Kumiko a charming smile, but the fox girl feels is Peri's knee jamming itself into her side.
"Shiori, your wiles don't work on me while I'm being punished for you even trying." She narrows her eyes at her which allows Peri to relax, "Seriously. I'm the only one that threatens her, so can you not?" Not wanting to let Peri get off scot-free she throws a verbal jab back at her. The entire time Seek's eyes are radiating a pink light.
He listens to the bickering for a bit until he replies, "Master... This is boring. We've been just running through the woods forever..."
Peri pops up over Kumiko's shoulder and replies energetically, "Was busting out of the city not enough excitement for you? Seriously kid... The world isn't so exciting. Not if you're planning to stay as squeaky clean as 'Miko here."
"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" She glowers as Seek's eyes turn a shade of green, "Look just because we're criminals doesn't mean we have to be bad people..." She sighs as she feels her head start to hurt.
"Well, you used to be opposed to anyone profiting off what they haven't earned, refused to even eat the food we brought home even once you stopped being able to work in Windgate." Shiori attacks as she pats Seek's hindquarter, "I assume you're going to be more okay with such things?"
Peri starts to laugh fiendishly, "Remember? If those apples weren't acquired with gold or honest work then it is as good as trying to fill ourselves up on dreams!" She crosses her arms over her chest dramatically as she lays back against Shiori who laughs.
"Fine, fine, I was a bit dramatic... Too many nights working at that traveling drama entourage." She sighs as she remembers it fondly and feels a smile spread across her lips, "I never had stage presence, but they always let me watch in return for setting up."
"That sounds fun. Why don't we do that?" Seek asks as he raises his head, and wags his tail eagerly.
"... Start a drama troupe? With no scripts? Silly Seek." Kumiko responds as she laughs a bit and hugs him tight around his neck, "Besides these two are enough improv for us both. When we get to town you can see their song and dance."
"Oh, they dance?" He asks with his eyes shining a very light purple, "I'd like to see you dance Master."
"... Not that type of dancing Seek..." Kumiko laughs nervously as she shakes her head, "More... Pocket picking and the like."
"We do that type of dancing too now 'Miko~" Shiori cackles as she puts the now very skittish shapeshifter on alert before she tries to shapeshift into a small cat, but she gets caught before she can flee, "Nope. We're having this talk."
"Oh wow, so I won't randomly get the crap beat out of me anymore?" She smirks as Peri in cat form tries to claw at her face to no avail.
"Careful or I'll throw her at your face." Shiori grins mischievously as Seek is constantly peeking over his shoulder at the little show, "And if you don't stop being so skittish maybe you can get some exercise... Miko, does Seek tend to chase cats?"
"I chase my Master who is a fox, but if she asked me to I'd chase a cat for a while assuming she keeps up." Seek replies as Shiori places Peri in her lap and laughs nervously.
"He's an odd one. All I can say." Kumiko shakes her head, but Shiori squints at her.
"Say... Why don't we go to one of the 4 Keytouched cities and figure out his deal?" She speaks rather softly as Kumiko sighs.
"He can hear anything I think or am told and can understand reading and writing. Whatever you want to say, just say it. I'm not getting rid of him." She says looking a bit distrustful of Shiori, 'I wish she'd just tell me what she wants out of people rather than playing this game.'
"I meant what I said. Why don't we figure out what he is? What if you have some duty to save the world!" She says as Peri shapeshifts back into one of her humanlike forms. A short girl with brown hair and a chubby face. It puts the two on alert as she has keener ears than the two of them though Kumiko's ears come close, "Maybe have Seek hide for a bit?"
"Yeah good idea you two hop off, Seek come inside for a bit, please?" She says sweetly as the two shed off his back and grab their bags, and Seek transforms into a white mist and flows back into Kumiko.
'Just don't make me fight... That scared me.' He says mournfully before his presence vanishes, and he goes passive within her.
'If it comes to a fight we can handle ourselves.' She thinks to herself before she blinks, and clears her head, "Looks like it's going to rain, is that what has you spooked?"
Peri doesn't speak with her mouth but simply starts to make symbols with her hands.
"Spirits?" Shiori says as she translates, all these hand signs being more their language, "Oh... Wraiths."
Peri nods quickly as Kumiko starts to feel a bit worried but before she can state her concern at fighting undead with their equipment they motion for her to follow them into the treeline, and out of the dirt path, "Not those types of wraiths you a monster fanatic. Humans with swords and bows. They adopt roads and block them off. In return for keeping them clear of monsters, they waylay travelers instead so no one bothers to do anything."
"Oh, the toll keepers?"
"Oh my god..." Shiori whisper shouts as she walks into the woods exasperatedly, "You are too gullible and too honest. Just follow us..."
"Have you two been out of the city?" Kumiko asks concerned, but as she watches the two of them get caught up on the brush, and foliage she relaxes a little.
"Nope, it's why I'm shocked at you." She whispers as she shoots Miko a disappointed look, "All that study on monsters, dungeons, and everything else, but you never considered humans could be monstrous?"
"... Well as you know I don't think monsters are monstrous..." This manages to silence Shiori too as Peri has been in the middle of the two of them as she puts on a neutral expression.
"I don't need you to soapbox for me you know..." She stalks ahead with a frustrated look in her eyes. Right as she stumbles she shifts into a wildcat and darts off ahead of both of them as they have issues keeping up. This causes both of them to fall into a hushed silence.
"So... How are you two want to play this?" Kumiko asks as she looks to Shiori who is following Peri's tail with her eyes, "Because Seek and I could probably down the road.. We don't need to head off into the woods.
"You mean because they don't have tools designed to take down armored wagons, and a magical wolf won't at all draw out the big guns?" Shiori replies a bit snarkily before she calms herself, "... Sorry I'm being too harsh. You know how it is..."
"Yep, I get it. Fail at your charm game, and you get grumpy. I'm pretty much just snark because I'm never charming." Kumiko laughs at her own expense in hopes of breaking the redhead out of it, "Y'know Peri is more upset at me than you, right? She always wanted to be an adventurer to hunt monsters too. It's easy to forget, cause..." Peri glances at her and moves ahead clearly not wanting to hear whatever she's going to say, "I started treating her differently when I found out she was an outsider too."
She hears Seek rouse in her head, 'Outsider?' He asks as she can feel her thoughts being picked for meaning.
'Someone who isn't from the human realm. Spirits, demons, even angels, but Peri is closer to demonkind.' She taps her forehead with her index finger against her head, "I guess I lost my drive to be a big dumb hero that swings a sword and got a bit lost. Even at the school."
At the mention of the academy, Peri stalked back closer watching Kumiko carefully with her bright green cat eyes, "I got in the shit, and got saddled with a lot of extra work. In class, they taught us about shifters."
"Ah. I see now. And big dumb hero here had to preach... And then you got desperate and tried to salvage your reputation with a dumb caper. Right?" Peri shifts back into what is as close to her natural form as she can. A white-haired girl with red eyes and a tanned skin tone, "And that's why you came home a year early with a giant bruise, no money... And why you suddenly grew a spine and decided to wreck shit if it meant no one stepping on you."
Kumiko refuses to make eye contact with Peri until she looked back at her with a tired expression, "I did what was right."
"Well... I don't see anything wrong with us having food or a place to sleep. So I guess my hands are clean too. Right?" Peri asks as she holds out her hands, she always wears a single pair of fingerless gloves on her right hand with a metal sheet on the palm. All so she could ride the automata zip wires. It's the only piece of clothing that isn't technically just her skin.
"... Fair enough. Guess so." She smiles as she slaps her hand on Peri's gloved hand, "Fine I'll stop being such a mother hen. Just don't lose yourself or I'll be there with a net to catch you." Her gaze burrows into Peri's own eyes as Peri just looks ahead and runs up to catch up with Shiori, and linking elbows with her, 'She's all grown up now. She's with her teenage crush.'
'She seems to be the older sister rather than you.' Seek says in her head as Kumiko flinches, and walks with her hands behind her back, 'That's what you were thinking. You want her to be clinging to your leg, right?'
'Hey, you don't have the right to go needling me like this... You asked me for a bedtime story last time we slept.' She sighs as she starts looking around feeling uncomfortable.
'You told me to act more adult. Perhaps you aren't ready to have a mature relationship?' This almost makes her halt in her tracks as she speeds up to catch to Shiori.
"Hey! I know you two are an item now, but don't cut me out, and get stuck in your own world!" She laughs as she feels forced to change her behavior to fit in with the two of them, 'I don't want to have a discussion like that right now.'
"I'm still here too." The two look at her as she has pushed up between them, their shoulders still linked as they simply smile up at her.
"You're talking like we forgot..." Peri pokes her tongue at her as Shiori looks at her with an easy-going smile, but something shading her eyes as they walk through the woods. Kumiko knows that she can see past the thin layer of sociability she shows.
"Well... I don't exactly like being the third wheel... I want to keep up." Kumiko admits as she starts to smell a campfire in the distance, "Uh we're heading towards people. Since we're downwind..."
"Hm? I don't smell anything." Peri murmurs as she puts her nose to the air.
"Your nose is blind, you're too used to the smells of the city. I know when a dry log is being burnt, and when it's about to rain... Which both is soon." Kumiko says dryly as she crosses her arms, "My shoulder hurts."
"Ah, yes, the geomancer Kumiko." Shiori says with mocking praise, but she nods to Peri, "Any idea why anyone would be out here?"
"Well... Either they set people out here to catch people with our idea... Or it's someone else out here trying to escape. One is preposterous, and the other means another monsterkin or someone else with good senses." Shiori says as she pulls out her dagger, "Rule of thumb of a thief, cut the purses with the weakest strings. Why not make contact? If they're a Wraith then well we're gonna have to fight no matter what."
"I would prefer it if we not have to fight..." Kumiko whines a bit like a dog as her normally blue eyes turn a pinkish red, and return to normal and clears her throat, "... Seek doesn't want to fight."
The two give her a soft smile as they touch her shoulder, "You may have to fight if they've gone to all this trouble to box us in." Peri speaks softly, but hands Kumiko a padded stick, "At least with this you won't be forced to see blood?"
Kumiko holds it in her hand, and squints at it, her subconscious screaming at her that this isn't the type of weapon a hero would use, '... Does a hero always seek to kill others? Or is it that the weapon doesn't look cool enough?'
'... You're really attacking my vulnerabilities...' She looks away from the stick and hands it back to Peri, "We'll be fine."
'... Alright, so I'll make it so your sword can't kill if you swing it at something. Just knock it out... Or something... I'm going to watch.' Seek says sounding tired while Kumiko feels a jolt run through her body. Her hands and legs feeling like jello for a few moments before she regains her senses and follows after Peri and Shiori... Unable to remember that Seek said those words to her as his presence recedes in her mind.
"You sure you're going to be fine? I don't want to do the possessed sister shtick, but for real..." Peri says as she looks at the silver-haired fox and gives her an honest look of concern, "We've been on the road for quite a while now."
"I'll be fine. I swear. I've traveled a lot longer than this before." She whispers as they start to see a soft glow from a campfire and the earthy scent that precedes the rain starts, "If I thought I was going to pass out I'd tell you first thing."
They creep in on the camp from multiple directions, but as they approach they see only one bedroll here. Whoever it belongs to is completely covered up, "Uh... Hey." Kumiko speaks up as the other two start to follow their thief instincts and was ready to pick through their things.
The person sleeping throws off their covers as they fumble with their waist, only to realize his sword is by his pack. Though before he gets far he relaxes, "Ah? Silver? Good to see that white wolf didn't eat-chya!"
"... Hi, Godhand." She says dryly before she leans up against a tree, "This is a friend from school." While he looks to Peri and Shiori she holds up finger quotes, "So... What are you doing out here?"
He seems to be more interested in the two girls as his eyes dart between them a few times before returning to Kumiko, "Well... You see... After that wolf attacked me, I ran into the woods... And haven't found the road yet."
The two of them look at her with some doubt, and white he seems to interpret doubt of his story as he starts eagerly insisting his honesty... Instead, the look is at Kumiko, "I didn't know my little sis had such a charming friend~"
Shiori is the first person to open her mouth as Kumiko stalks forwards and bares her teeth, "He's anything but."
"Ahh, there's the honesty. Haha, seriously guy, this girl can only trust men as far as she can throw them." Peri starts cackling like Shiori and clings to her arm, "What'd you do to piss her off so much?"
"What? I didn't do anything..." He holds his knees to his chest, "I just wanted to have friends..."
"Which is why you were in the class for rejects with a bullshit workload. Cause your attempt to get friends lead to the creation of your notes on every damn girl in class. And I wasn't one." She narrows her eyes at him, and it's after he looks at her face a bit he laughs nervously.
"Ah... Kumiko... I thought you were someone else from the school..." He says as he suddenly feels surrounded, "Well... Look it was no secret where your interests lied..."
"Every single one but me." Shiori and Peri even raise their brow at this.
"Wow, every single one but her, huh? Wait don't tell us you're one of those types of girls..." Shiori speaks up as Peri finishes the sentence without missing a beat.
"Do you only want people who aren't interested in you?" Peri asks as she laughs, and slaps her knee, "Geez Sis."
"Come on, we're moving. If you keep going that way you'll hit a dirt road that leads to a Wraith roadblock. Have fun." She moves to stomp past the camp no longer worried about protecting Peri from him, 'She already has to put up with Shiori's so-called affection she can handle some wannabe prince charming.'
"Oh, damn? Real bandits? Why aren't ya'll fighting em?" He asks as Kumiko turns on her heel all the while Shiori and Peri are looking at her not moving an inch.
"Yeah, Kumiko... Why don't we just fight the bandits?" Peri grins as she seems to realize she's struck gold.
"... Because it's an unnecessary risk? Because I don't want to fight... ? You lead us this way!" Kumiko says as she blinks a few times to make sure she's not going crazy.
"Only because you have an extreme adversity to fighting." Peri laughs as the supposed Godhand plays with his symbol.
".. Shit." Kumiko starts to say as she runs forwards, and a burst of radiant energy fires out of the pendant and barely misses Peri.
"A demonkind lover? No wonder you threw such a fit!" He starts enchanting his small dagger with holy energy as he starts to look smug, "And ya refuse to fight so... Looks like my redemption story starts here!"
"Peri get out of here. Holy light and you don't get along." She turns into a black vague mist as she turns into her wildcat form, and starts to stalk away on her own little mission. Shiori loads up a crossbow on her wrist as Kumiko sighs, and draws her sword.
'Seek? You didn't wanna fight... So go?' After getting no response Kumiko looks to Shiori, "I'll cover you, but I can't fight back. You know me and my promises."
"Shut the fuck up! Dumb ass demon lover." The Godhand barks as he slashes his dagger wildly at Kumiko as she fights to just deflect his blows. She can see her sword chipping under the difference in magical power. It becomes harder and harder to deflect blows without bearing enough force to seriously harm. Shiori tries to circle her back with a knife in one hand, and a crossbow on her wrist.
Much to her chagrin, the dropout failure manages to keep himself between the two, but Kumiko isn't without her own magic as the tip of her index and middle finger glow. Her fingers trace a symbol for infinity by her head as time starts to move slower for her. Her body has to exert twice the effort to move, but now deflecting his blows is that much easier.
Thanks to time moving slower all of his attempts to yell at her for her perceived failings just comes out as guttural groans. Shiori's voice comes out too distorted to understand as well, but in a few blows, she manages to wedge him between the two fighters as he holds up his holy symbol and puts up a shield in Shiori's direction out of breath.
'I know what you're thinking... I'm not dangerous so it's just a matter of keeping Shiori blocked out.' Kumiko ponders to herself as she feels a burning presence in her head.
'Ooh, this is interesting... What will you do?'
'... Seek... If you don't leave I'm just going to hit him with my sword.'
'That would be interesting.' He says simply and coldly as Kumiko feels her heartbeat in her chest as her body starts to feel cold.
'... You don't mean that.' However, she is met with silence, and seeming to in this time dilated moment given to herself that the self-described Godhand realizes her lapse in concentration. He has his glowing knife in his hand as he swipes underhandedly from her stomach up to her face. She barely falls away from it as she can see the glowing trail of light that comes off the blade. She swings her blade around as she rolls down a hill and clips him in the shoulder causing him to fall with her.
She can see a few bolts fly and deflect against his shield. He manages to catch himself as he fires a hail of light arrows at her, 'What the fuck? He was in my damn class!'
'He's channeling a holy spirit.' Seek notes from her mind, 'He's like us, but a follower of a human god.'
'Like us? You haven't given me any inclination of what -we- are even supposed to be!' Kumiko all but yells in her head as she picks up a rock, 'Then can we do what he does? Can we fight back at all on his level?'
'... He isn't exactly making me feel wrong about fighting since he's not cowering.' Seek says rather plainly as Kumiko feels her body start to quake, and her heart start to pound, 'Before I was letting you do what you wanted... But you seem to care more about winning, right? So give in to me for just a moment.'
'What...?' She feels herself fall asleep on her feet. Her feet start moving almost as if she's dancing, her head lulling around as if she's only barely conscious on her feet. The strange effect of her magic fading as she prepares for nausea to hit. Instead, her body moves in a twirling fashion, 'Seek... What... are you doing.. ?'
'Your body is paying its tax for using time magic on yourself. I'm avoiding the consequence.' He says rather simply as she feels his low hum in her head, and she sees the rain of light arrows landing at her feet, whizzing past her head, and she can see the panic in her enemy's eyes, 'His god is from outside of this forest... I am a member of this forest.'
She hears Seek start to almost singing in her head as her body charges at him. Shiori is unable to get close enough to even cause his shield to flicker. With a sweep of their hand, a stairway of light appears almost as if it's suspended on fallen leaves and flower petals.
"The hell? What are you?!" He yells in a panic as it takes only takes three bounds up the steps of light for the two of them in one to close the distance and tackle him out of the sky. The two of them dive and crash into a tree with Kumiko the only one conscious... In a manner of speaking.
She still has a sensation like her head is a balloon filled with air moving along with an invisible force that makes it feel like she has to dance to even move. With a flick of her hand, the tree leans and deposits the man on the ground, "Well... I'm alive and awake, only one of those is true for you." She takes his holy symbol and snaps it in half out of spite before she stomps off, leaving behind her severely damaged sword, and replaces it with his dagger.
"He alive?" Shiori asks as she slides the rest of the way down the hill, and half-hides herself behind a tree. Even though she was showing the most confidence earlier her hands are shaking, "Please tell me you didn't leave him alive..."
"I snapped his holy symbol and took his dagger. If he lives or dies it's up to him." She has an intense look in her eyes.
"... Look I don't know what's going on with you either, but can you chill with the glowing red eyes for a bit?" She asks as she backs away from Kumiko.
"... Guess that's fair. I'm not exactly myself right now but I would never hurt you or my sister, Shiori." Her voice comes out in a strange cadence, "But I am afraid that Seek and I aren't sure if we're safe yet. So we remain as we are."
".. You and Seek?" She asks as she didn't see what happened in the city, "When Peri said you two combined I thought she meant a werewolf or something..."
"Shiori now is a bad time for this..." She sighs as she hears scraping on the tree above her before Peri falls down beside her.
"Hate to agree with the spoil sport... But we're absolutely surrounded."