Recent Posts

I won't keep you or anyone else waiting much longer. >_> Sorry about that, by the way.

Back. Kicked the GED's ass, particularly with a 188/200 in Reasoning Through Language Arts, which is a 99 percentile, apparently. I'm quite content with this. Also took an extra day to get back because I had started my Pathfinder game yesterday, and I'd already had to skip the last two weeks for different reasons.

Kenji saw the giant's hand moving, then reach for him. This gave him an idea. He took a breath and tilted his head in time for his neck to be taken, nodachi held tightly in one hand as his head was pulled closer to Brandt's own, which begun to rear back. Having been on both ends of such a maneuver before, Kenji knew what was coming, and responded in kind, dipping his head back before making to slam it against the foreigner's oncoming headbutt.

For someone of lesser strength or constitution, this would be a bad idea.

The mutual impact certainly hurt Kenji, threatening to split his forehead, but it could've been a lot worse. He heard something moving beneath him, and swiveled around in the giant's grip to narrowly avoid receiving a knee to the stomach. In response, the shugyosha turned the nodachi in his hand and made to punch the pommel solidly into Brandt's ribcage. If successful, he'd pull his neck from the man's hand and step back to put distance between the two.

(( Note: I'm taking the EXP for this. I've got enough money (for the moment), so what I really need are stat ups. :3 ))

Sometime during his years spent away from his familial home in Harima, Kenji served for a short stint on a vessel owned by the Amako clan. For six weeks, he worked various roles across the ship as needed, often filling in for ill sailors. Their purpose was to patrol the sea stretching between the bulk of Amako territory - namely Izumo and Hoki - and the isles of Oki. It was a fairly simple, if physically tedious job.

When the storm came, Kenji had been cooking for the seamen downstairs. He'd heard the rumbling and felt the ship rocking for a while, but hadn't expected the lightning bolt smashing through the hull. They took on water quickly, and he, realizing the situation, dropped what he was doing to help his associates to the deck, whereupon they boarded the rowboats. Kenji was to board himself before the ship violently rocked to one side, releasing the last boat and hurling him off the other end.

The rest of the night was a blur. Kenji found himself hanging onto a piece of debris in the early hours, his hair matted to his head. All he could do until morning was float about aimlessly, unable to make anything significant out aside from other portions of the vessel. When light did come, he spied a meager mass of land across the way: an island. It was far and away smaller than Oki, and could not compare to the coastline of Amako territory, let alone any territory in his country, but it mattered not. Using his shoddy floatation device, the merc paddled toward land.

During the first day of his arrival, Kenji made it a goal to find shelter. He had no weapons or tools, save for a tanto he used to keep strapped to his ankle back then - a contingency, in the event he was disarmed - and his own body, so while he was not completely helpless, he would indeed be alone. Kenji used his knife to cut asunder bamboo trees and trim the ends down to make poles, using fibres to create a crude but usable rope. Given his miniscule weapon, this was not a task that'd be accomplished quickly, but he performed diligently, ignoring the growing fatigue in his body and the rumbling that occasionally disturbed his stomach. By day's end, the shugyosha had managed to assemble enough bamboo and rope to construct a lean-to, using a great boulder within the island's forest as a base. Shielded moderately from the elements, Kenji finished up by making himself a fire, then passed out quite tired.

As he had no clear idea when or if he would be liberated from this island, Kenji devoted the second to fifth days to fashioning tools from the local resources, and feeding himself. From what remained of his bamboo poles, he trimmed and carved one into a viable polearm shaft, then broke and sharpened a stone to create a spearhead. Some of his fibre ropes were then utilized to tie off the head to the shaft, creating a spear that was crude, but viable for killing, as Kenji discovered by tracking and slaying a hare. With his new hunting weapon, Kenji would have food to eat - roasted over an open fire, of course - over the days.

On the sixth and seventh days, the mercenary spent time crafting and testing a bow. This was more difficult, as he first had to assemble more bamboo poles, then spent time crafting and bending each one into a bow shape, using a more thin yet still strong rope as a bowstring. He went through a fair few poles and a good amount of string doing this. At the end of the seventh day, though, Kenji finally made a usable bow. Though its range was not as impressive as a standard yumi, it had enough power to fell creatures that weren't too far off. Further than the spear's reach, anyway.

Kenji's routine settled down for seven days after the creation of his bow. He discovered that the island beheld deer in addition to rabbits, and through patience and tracking brought down a stubborn stag. Compared to his diet of hares, the deer gave him greater energy, and thus he made it a point to search for stags and fruit daily, only defaulting to hares if he could find nothing else.

The fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth days were devoted to the expansion of Kenji's shelter. A lean-to was alright, but a hut would be better. So it came to pass that he once more took blade to bamboo, but this time, though his tool was the same as when he arrived, Kenji was stronger from both the physical labor and his meals of deer. The work was comparatively easier, and in two days, he'd amassed enough of a stockpile of poles and rope - the latter of which had improved in quality from working so frequently with it. Throughout the seventeenth day, only stopping to hunt and dine twice, Kenji disassembled his lean-to and erected a hut just outside of the forest. At the end of the day, he used his remaining energy to sharpen his dulling knife on stones, and cleaned it diligently.

From the eighteenth day all the way to the twenty-third, things once more settled down, though Kenji did try his hand at fishing. Specifically, in stalking the fish whilst naked and spearing them dead. With his mixed diet of stag, seafood, rabbit, and occasional berries and bamboo shoots, his energy was at its highest since arrival, and his strength was full once again. Incidentally, his brain also functioned at its best now that it had a constant supply of nourishment. It functioned well enough that it began plotting.

From the twenty-fourth day onward, Kenji devoted time to finding ways of attracting a rescue vessel. He had seen ships since the third day passing every few days or so, but not close enough to notice him from afar. During the daylight, he'd collect burnables from around the island, as well as performing his daily ritual of hunting and stockpiling food for later. When evening began to close in, he'd arrange his combustables in an organized yet large bonfire on the beach, close to the forest to be away from the water, but not close enough to risk setting it aflame. Kenji would tend to this fire until late into the night, at which point he'd take a portion of it to give himself a small campfire to sleep by, and put out the rest.

Though wise, this method attracted no help for the days in which he used it.

Not for the twenty-fifth...

Nor the twenty-sixth...

Nor the twenty-seventh...

Nor the twenty-eighth...

On the twenty-ninth day, Kenji had an epiphany. A bright fire at night was a good idea, but if a ship was not sailing by in the dark, no one would be there to see his flame. However, a great cloud of smoke during the daylight hours might interest someone more.

So he spent the day as he'd spent the previous five, collecting firewood and other combustables, hunting, and eating. In the evening, he once more assembled his bonfire, but at night, did not light it. By the dawn of the thirtieth day, Kenji finally lit the flames, but kept them down, intentionally smoldering them to produce greater levels of smoke, during which he ripped up part of his already-weathered haori to serve as a mask for his nose and mouth, lest he inhale the noxious fumes.

It wasn't until the sun was high in the sky that Kenji not only saw a ship on the horizon, but saw it begin to sail in his direction. It was flying the mon of the Amako.

In short order, the vessel sent out a rowboat, whose inhabitants verified Kenji's identity and contract with the Amako sailors. When told that he held out for a full thirty days, the men were suitably impressed, explaining that they'd only found three other survivors, and those were shortly after the incident. The lifeboats had, by their accounts, overturned during the storm and sacrificed most of the crew to the sea. Kenji was the lucky fourth survivor, the one who never got to board.

A great relief washed over the shugyosha when his body hit the cot on the ship that afternoon. He was going back to land... After close to a dozen prayers to Amaterasu and Susano'o.

Each.

As the dust and bodies settled where they were, Kenji took a moment to wipe the blood off of his swords from earlier, then resheathe the two of them. He noted Takehiro's presence, and that he was the one whom had spawned - and now produced more of - the darkness. So the daimyo of Totomi was gifted with such powers... The merc was grateful that his ruling acquaintance was a man of justice, or that would be a troubling power to go up against with none of his own to counter.

Unfortunately, this was no time to stop and say hi. There was already one bandit attack; who's to say more weren't coming? Perhaps even those who might be impervious or resilient against Takehiro's darkness. Kenji maintained alertness, watching all sides - even to the sky - for enemies.

Kenji's first response to being targeted with arrows was to roll out of the way. When he did, however, he found that there were no arrows scattered around the roof, but instead a shroud of darkness... Curious, but there was no time to explain, nor time to complain if it had protected him. Instead, the shugyosha decided to use his newfound cover to his advantage, carefully approaching the edge of the roof and making sure he didn't just walk off of it, then lowered himself down and climbed to the ground. Once he touched base, Kenji's next objective was to silently draw swords and approach the archers - conveniently at the same time they were being assaulted by Takehiro's tendrils - in order to ambush them from within this awfully convenient blanket of darkness.

Kenji said nothing of Takehiro's praise, for he was not the type to let his ego be inflated by such words. He kept a level head. That said, he stroked his chin and listened to the Totomi lord tell of a Nordic warrior... He'd heard of Norsemen from some of his Western acquaintances before, and they sounded like respectable fighters, but to take on a warlord and his forces to liberate one person? Now that was both impressive and heroic.

"I'll drink to that statement, Takehiro-san. I'd like to meet that man one day. I'm sure he would have more tales to tell than that act of heroism." To punctuate his claim, Kenji did indeed throw back his current cup of sake, then left it empty while he resumed eating to avoid letting his food go cold. For the moment, he had no other ideas of what to talk about, wondering if the daimyo before him did.

(( OOC: As a note, the nodachi's power is cutting anything that doesn't explicitly have Unbreakable/Unpiercable as a power, but I'm going to argue that Kenji and wielders of similar weapons can control when this is in effect. I'm not going to break that big damn sword in a friendly scrap. :3 ))

As the giant approached and settled into a stance with that huge cleaver of his, Kenji too moved away from Aozaki, in order to not accidentally hit her. When the two of them were just within range, and the great man paused, the merc took his nodachi into both hands, holding the blade at his side, its length trailing behind him, the edge glimmering in the midday sun.

When the foreigner offered his request for the gods to smile upon the two duelists, Kenji smiled. "I bet you have some interesting gods watching you," he commented, wondering indeed what kind of pantheon the man worshipped. Silently, he wondered if Amaterasu were observing him right now... Nah, that'd be too egotistical of an expectation.

Not that he couldn't hope, anyway.

His mind steeled for the fight ahead, Kenji made the first move. In one fluid, swift motion, he took a lunging step toward Brandt whilst swiping his lengthy sword up. The blades of grass beneath its path were kicked up into the air, its refined steel intending to contact with the giant's own weapon. Were his first contact successful, he'd follow through by deliberately bouncing the nodachi off and coming around for a second strike, bringing it down in an overhead swing for the giant's center using the earlier momentum.

Sure, let's do a thread together. Would you prefer RPing with Mana or Kenji?

When the man drew back his hood, Kenji noted - even from this distance - the extent of his facial scarring. It made him wonder just how many there were on his body in total. Not to mention the bandaging... He must had been in combat very recently. Certainly, this giant was a practiced, well-fought warrior.

Also foreign, judging by his accent, were his face not enough.

Not exactly the worst accent that Kenji had heard. Far from it, infact; the merc could rattle off names of western men and women whose accents were the stuff of legend, in the worst sense of the phrase.

This was hardly the time to recollect on such things, of course. Kenji nodded in response to the stranger's inquiry, turning to gesture to Aozaki as he spoke, "I do. Infact, I'm returning home after having spent time in Owari, and on great Kyushu to the west." He paused to turn back to Brandt. "What of yourself? You travel by foot, so I must guess that you either prefer walking, or that horses are not your strong suit."

(( OOC: Takes place chronologically before my thread with Naotora. ))

Passing through the lands of Kofu, home to the Takeda and their fearsome cavalry, was always an exciting ride for Kenji. He could expect to see the famed horsemen running drills on the open plains at least three times during his trek, depending on how much of the clan's lands he wandered through at the time. In this particular case, he'd witnessed two already, and he hadn't even gotten halfway through the Shinano fief. He pondered if they were going to war soon for training so much, or if he'd simply been lucky enough to catch them early on.

It was in one of these great, grassy, open plains as far as the eye could see that Kenji decided to take a break, dismounting from his reliable mount, Aozaki, and tying her to a fallen tree. Reaching behind him, he pulled his nodachi, scabbard and all, off and set it against the same tree, taking the opportunity to stretch freely. Relief... His mare snorted as he settled back down, prompting a chuckle from Kenji. "Alright, alright, I've got it right here..." From within his sash, he drew out a ripe apple, acquired from the last town he passed through, and offered it to Aozaki as he stroked her mane.

It didn't take long for Kenji to arrive back in town, the merc already sifting through his recent memory for where he might locate a jeweler. It took a bit of wandering, and flagging down a local for directions, but he managed to find what he was looking for. Walking up the road, he spotted the shop in question, also noting a blacksmith across the way. Kenji mused that it'd be worth a look to see what wares they had... He did have a habit of replacing his weapons, though his most recent acquisitions, he felt, were too valuable for such a thing.

So into the jeweler he wandered, promptly looking for the proprieter, whom luckily was free at her desk toward the back of the main room. Kenji walked up, bowing his head and smiling to the owner before speaking, "Excuse me. May I ask you to look at something for me?" The woman returned his smile with a nod, sitting upright. "Of course." With that, the shugyosha offered his hand to the lady, pointing out the new ring on his finger.

The proprieter mouthed an 'ooh' out of interest, feeling the ring over. "Jade, huh... Someone must have saved up for a while for this," she commented. Kenji chuckled somewhat nervously, wondering if that was the case. Given the apparent stalker habits of his 'object of affection,' he sincerely hoped it was a legitimate purchase. "Ahaha, I wonder... The problem is that it's too tight for my finger. I can't get it off." Curious to his claim, the woman attempted to pull the ring off herself, to no avail. She yanked a few times, during which Kenji maintained a poker face through the ensuing discomfort, masking it with another nervous laugh. "See what I mean?" The owner in turn let go of his finger and laughed herself, shaking her head. "I do. You might be able to get it off with some lubrication. Would you wait here?" With a confirmatory nod from the merc, she stood and headed off behind a sliding door, apparently to look for lubrication.

Now, it was just Kenji and the mystery lady within the shop, whom he'd had yet to take notice of.