Mountainside Camping [closed]

[Ram]

The next morning, Mika laid sprawled out as she did the evening before. A daze and tired yet somehow before her own alarm. Ise made sure their stewards work early. She rolled over and felt around for what seemed real. The room felt about as wooden and filled with morning chill with her hand patting the tatami flooring. Her futon being a tantalizing reminder to always sleep in. However, the shrine isn’t going to magically fix itself for gaining one miko. She sat up and got her robes on and made up another pot pf rice porridge for the morning.

At the table she got out the notebook she asked Orochi to collect some names for her. Only two people didn’t give many options but at least there were a local or two around to talk to for any more insight. A secondary or third opinion than Orochi’s alone was an improvement. Upon the next page over Mika jotted down some notes of how to improve the shrine. Lighting, comforts, charms for patrons. “I’ll likely need my own supplies to perform rituals.” Mika noted and set her pen down on another problem. She has been driven to the shrine twice now and mostly spent her time walking. Even if she were to find these people would it be a matter of where they were leading back to Orochi.

“Why does that previous keeper trust him so much?” Mika sighed aloud. That undead, bandaged mountain creature. If only he didn’t have that air about him that kept her on edge. He mentions that the previous miko also thought Mika needed help. She would have liked to have known this ahead of time to have met him sooner. Or some better introduction at least. She shook her head and had to accept that for reasons, he’s still on these grounds. Mika tried to recall what exactly for but that comment escaped her.

“He has to be lurking around somewhere.” Finishing her meal and putting a cover over the rest, another large batch made for later, she finished washing up. Heading out in the morning mist, the shrine had a loght fog on the lake’s surface and on the trails. Clouds hanging lower enough to touch the trees. Mika looked around for anything out of the ordinary but so far, it looked relatively peaceful. She made her wsy to the storage shed and rummage around. Boxes were set aside of who knows what but the largest thing that caught her attention was a bicycle. An old fashioned type with the wide curved handle bars and a curvy frame. The back side had a metal frame bed to carry strapped loads. This how the miko did it?

“Never rode one before. Every seems to so… can’t be that hard,” Mika told herself as she attempted to wheel it out of the shed and clean it up a bit. Wheels looked plump enough. Climbing up on the seat, she wobbled for a moment and promptly fell over on the dirt path.

[gman]

The dim morning light was not enough to pierce through the tent Eiji was currently sleeping in flopping over  in his hanging tent. Nestled among the canopy it was hard to see him up there. After leaving the shrine and finding no sources of entertainment he just called it. Waking up slowly he quickly snapped awake and zipped open the tent in a flurry. In the chaos of nestling blankets and movement he managed to slither out of the tent, though not by grabbing a branch and pulling himself out, but rather simply falling out onto the ground. "renjiro!" Eiji called out. Like the days before no response. Guess he still wasn't back. Oh well.  Scanning his small camp he couldn't see any trace of his father. The mist rolled around on the ground, as if the breeze was playing with it. He debated just climbing his ass back up the tree and going to bed but the fall shook him awake. A near by branch was a stand in for a hat rack as his newly acquired hat rested on a branch. Lots of other '''acquired''' items where strewn across the forest floor near his sleeping tree. Broken electronics mostly. Anything he could feasibly haul off from the nearby town with his two arms he often stole. He wasn't even sure why he did it in most cases. If it looked like it wasn't getting any use he simply took it. 
 Reaching into a nearby tree he retrieved his cigarettes and lighter. Always had to have a morning smoke. Lying up against the same tree he took a seat  and thought of a game plan. Probably should wait a few more hours for the Miko to wake up. Judging by the leftovers for him she ate last night so it would be a late breakfast as well. Let the waiting game begin. 

[Ram]

A minor set back. The miko dusted her clothes and tried again, climbing on the bike and tried to move once more. Her slow movements in getting the pedals to turn had her fall over on her other side after mounting the seat. How do people balance on these so easily?! Another try! Mika got up determined to make progress. As she remembered seeing people passing by, they sat upright and moved their legs. The bike gliding with them. Maybe the bike has to be moving so maybe it needs more of a push. Figuring that could be the case, the miko stepped on a peddle and pushed off. The bicycle moving forward with light clicks of the gears turning.

The girl hobbled and wobbled as the motion ended but it did get her a few feet further. Thinking that may be part of the technique, she began pushing off once more. Treating the bicycle more like a scooter than properly riding it. She went up the path to the gazebo and then up towards the pagoda. Nothing around but light smoke trails from the stove keeping the shrine house warm. Good ole nature but not much else.

“He won’t be somewhere obvious.” Or else she’d spot him immediately. In circumstances like this, some basic divining is in order. Normally this would require a tool of some kind like a staff, bamboo leave fans, or an engraved star board but nope. Mika had none of that with her. To make do, she elected the help of a stick in the grass. In the dirt she drew a circle and set a bead in the center. Using the stick he pressed the bead down and held the tip of the stick lightly. Using her sensory skills with the bead, she should gauge a direction of spiritual energy where-so the stick falls. The second she let go, the stick stool upright and began to tilt to and fro ever slightly on the marble. The miko hunched up with the bicycle in hand to see where it would fall.

The stick continued to tilt left and right and continued to. A slight breeze giving it a nudge but continued to stay upright for the general part of the divination. “What does that even mean..?” Mika wondered. Not understanding why the stick hasn’t fallen over yet. “Was I too vague?” She wondered and tried to more directly envision that wrapped up face of his. Maybe that’s it? His face is wrapped up that she couldn’t ‘see’ who he was?! She vexed at this and shifted to most so his terrible aura. The stick wiggling and making a clatter as it finally fell over away from the pond to the forest.

“Finally.” She sighed. Picking up the stick and giving it a shake before tossing it back into the brush as though it were a little bit broken. “Took awhile. Now let’s see about some clues,” she strolled away from the circle, not noticing how much the bead has cracked during her scrying attempt. The bicycle and girl following what seemed like an animal trail in the forest in hopes of seeing where that Orochi had gone to.

[gman]

The whistling breeze blew threw the branches as he sat there waiting. Waiting and waiting, it just about all he did anymore. He couldn't remember just how long he had been camping here. Nine months? About a year? Its been a while thats for sure. No matter. Renjiro would be back any time now, all he had to do was wait it out and keep himself fed. Wonder how many stories dear old dad would have when he got back from his errands. Probably a lot, not that he would get into the nitty gritty of em, he rarely did, and even more rarely did Eiji ever completely follow what was being told to him. His stomach growled. Hungry again. The cigarettes helped with the appetite. He took a long drag off of his cigarette and exhaled. The smoke mingling with the fog in the forest. He was out of food as it stood now. Might wait till night time and see if he can't take a few bags of something out of that convivence store  unnoticed again.  Granny kept him fed for the most part when he'd ask for it. Now Eiji worried about food more seriously now. Maybe get in good with that Miko like he did granny, though he couldn't get a read on this new one. On one hand she wandered out and got herself attacked, and put him in a cage for awhile. On the other she did share her food twice. 
Maybe she was just feeding him to get him away from her. He could work with that, though the rations wouldn't be as good. He also didn't like the idea of jumping through hoops and doing tasks for his meals. It was unbecoming of him. He was special, least dad said so. 

All of these thoughts and more wandered through his head as time ticked by.  

[Ram]

Into the forest she rolled the bike after the animal trails. It seemed slow going so she attempted to mount the bicycle again using the trees as support to work on pedaling and steering when balance failed. Getting used to moving her legs a bit wide stance to avoid getting her pant legs tangled up in the gears with each turn. The stick divined this direction of thicket yet the trail may have her wander. She did catch traces of his aura so this had to be the right way. The path had low traces of morning fog on the ground as she stalked by.

Eventually something stood out in the odd fog. About person shaped in height. Mika paused for a moment to see if it’ll move or not before drawing closer. The odd figure came to view out of the morning fog in a way that left her in silence. Something definitely not nature related but garbage. The coloring and shapes clashed with the flora of the mountain as she stared at one of these strange totems. Some kind of rusted wheel and hubcap with colored plastic bags and wine tried to keep it steady. Mika squinted her eyes at it and looked beyond the figure to discover more of these like it and then some.

“What in the world…?” A homeless…trash art? Collection? Mika stayed on the bike to avoid wading through the junk when taking more cautious steps into the amassed mess of trash. Rolling of wrinkled bags and aluminum cans. “This’ll take forever to sort though,” she groaned in disgust and prayed how easier it would be to burn the heap away. She couldn’t tell if this was some tribe of trash hoarders or a dumping ground but stuck to the latter. Guess this did mean she was getting closer.

[gman]

Cracks of sticks and a faint voice tore Eiji out of thought as he whipped his head around. Someone was nearby, and in his territory no less. Maybe it was a Yokai. A nice morning workout would be just the thing to kickstart his day. 
Standing up and putting his hat back on straight he held his sword close to his hip as he walked towards what he thought was the direction of the sound. It was faint but unmistakably a sound foreign to woodlands. The fog was as thick as ever as he took his steps closer and closer to his destination. He began to whistle as he came across his 'creations' cobbled together messes of trash he put up to kill some time, and to make the place feel a bit more lived in. He was sure it was just a silhouette in the distance but it moved. He began to whistle as he walked slowly towards it before it hit him. 
"Miko is that you? All the way out here? Why the hell are you up so early?" He asked half unsure if it was her or something playing a trick on his eyes 

[Ram]

Further in and more signs of junk was all she could see. Disgusted that someone would treat the mountainside as their own personal landfill. Mika hobbled with the bike to try avoid running into post of these objects. Worn, rusted, coated in morning dew; was enough to want to turn around and file another complaint to Ise for this shrine. How could she even consider waundering campers as visitors if they ever stumbled across this?! The rice porridge in her stomach began to churn at her displeasure.

“What good is this. How do I even move this?” Mika dreaded to have to carry these by hand and risk infected cuts. Suddenly something whistled in the mist. At first she wondered if some stray yokai was making noises to distract her or mess around with the collective junk piles. The curious ones do tend to gravitate to loose objects and then some. It wasn’t till the voice called out to her more directly that it was Orochi. Sounded like him anyway along with that dark haze in the mist that aeemed to look like a growing ink stain the closer it drew.

“Orochi? You—“ Mika started before grating her target for exactly what she wanted to ask him. “What is all this junk and why is it here? Are the locals throwing their trash out here?”

[gman]

"Locals? He asked earnestly. He was really the only one you could call local here and it really wasn't his stuff. Wait maybe she was giving him a test. Most of the crap here wasn't his truthfully. But the townsfolk kept throwing this stuff out and just leaving it in the trash. Who could blame him for taking it and doing what ever he wanted with it?  But even if she wanted to talk to him about the finer points of kleptomania Was she gonna do anything about it? 
"Its not junk. Sometimes i get ideas for stuff i see and i take it. Eiji said as he motioned over to what could only be a scarecrow made out of tin cans. "What are you doing all the way out here? You get lost or something?" 
Around this time Mika's Miko sense would start to tingle. Strange auras just inside her reading range would crop up. Not people but Yokai. They where not moving though almost as if they were watching the pair. 
The morning fog began to wear down as the two stared at each other.  "Oh or where you patrolling around with uh. That." Eiji called attention to the bike she was riding. 

[Ram]

Out from the fog strolled Orochi and his aura of gossiping dark wisps that looked like snakes under her gaze. She still hated the way they moved and waved about him in a mocking manner. Her brow twitched when staring at the bandaged man then quickly at the piles of cans. “You foraged for these to make this?” Mika’s tone skeptical at how true this was. Clearly he had no real income or money to speak of but must he create these piles? The miko felt to avoid ever touching these things all together and had to devise a way to keep this area off limits for the safety of future patrons.

To be asked why she was doing out her, Mika snapped the second he thought her lost. “I most certainly am not! I..ah, sensed something off this direction and came to investigate!” The girl’s arm making a grand gesture to the trash piles. “And look what I happen to fine. All this.. and that! And those hazardous materials too!” Why tell him that she was actually looking for him at all? He’ll just get the wrong idea and be dumb about it. Not that Mika had an excuse to need him just yet for anything, and even then, she didn’t want him! A homeless on the mountain shrine area as roving collateral damage. If she could figure a way to deal with him then the better the shrine can be. The previous miko should understand the necessity of this.

Though she didn’t plan on actually getting a feel for something out here than following the trace of Orochi’s aura. The area shifted oddly but Mika couldn’t tell what than what was before her. Was it Orochi playing mind games? So far it only looked like the two of them and a tin man. She’ll track that down next. The miko held onto the bike and picked up where he left off to question about the very vehicle she found. “This? I found it in the storage shed when taking inventory on supplies for the shrine. I’m certain the previous miko will understand using it for transport. But that’s besides the point, these materials laying around would be dangerous if people come wandering through here. Let alone a fire hazard if the weather becomes a lightning storm.”

[gman]

" I guess foraged is the right word for it, but yeah i built em." Eiji gave a pat to his tin scarecrow, as he did the left arm fell off of him. Scrambling Eiji quickly put the arm back on. It seemed like all of his creations were held together by toothpicks and gum. Though he had to raise an eyebrow at her. She sensed something was off here. Huh. could be, the yokai, maybe that or she was up too no good. "You sensed it yeah? What exactly did you sense? not me i hope. That might make me feel like i have a target on me, and that was Granny's bike. You had better take care of it."  Getting a better look at the bike it seemed to have scuff marks on it. Well it was an old bike after all. "Hazardous materials?" Eiji shot that word back at her, He wasn't really sure what that meant but it sounded bad, and his little art projects were anything but bad. "Lighting isnt gonna hit em at all. They aint hazardous at all, if anything they make the mountainside look better!" 

[Ram]

Watching him make the slight touch on his ‘art work’ was enough to have Mika look away and roll her eyes. “Look at it. A typhoon will shred them to pieces and then it’d be blown about garbage in the wind.” Or whatever he insists on calling this trash as art or whatever he claims to be, Mika continued to downplay the real investigative reason for tracking him to put the conversation in a less interrogative frame.

“Of course I’ll take care of it!” The bike was an important boon to find. Once mastering the pedal movement then it’ll be a right useful transportation. She climbed back into the seat to pedal a brief rotation and hopped off before ever giving the notion of falling. “It’d be shameful to not take care of other items on the grounds.” And Orochi’s art shouldn’t count. Her head went back to eyeing the foliage and the fog that seemed to gradually pass by. More space given way to see as she checked the grounds to the tree line.

“No, not you,” the miko continued to deny. “I sense… maybe small yokai watching us. From the trees maybe. Or willy tanuki to help with your trash diving.” Her head craned to find anything and strained her ears to hear any chittering. “And what of you? Strolling around your veritable garden of cans and bottles for morning admiration? Awfully early.”

[gman]

"Yeah but what are the chances of a typhoon coming around this time of year huh?" The amount of confidence Eiji exuded with that last sentence was astounding. One could be forgiven for not knowing that he was talking out of his ass. Again. He watched her try to get onto the bike and she looked like she was gonna fall over. "I don't think there are any yokai around here. Not anymore at least. or recently. They tend to stay away from here. and no im not strolling. I just woke up. I live out here remember?" Eiji pointed out into the fog. In the distance Mika would be able to spy a tent hanging from a branch of a large tree. "You look like you're having trouble riding that thing. Youre not gonna fall are you?" 

[Ram]

"It's seasonal so, twice a year is often." Mika felt a need to remind him of this which also left her wondering what would he do. Go back out recollecting the trash again? Let them scatter and call it a day? Mika didn't want to find the answer to this. Another reason to get angry at him when they both arrive at that point. "If you don't believe there are yokai then what is around here sides you and...these." All the more troubling to hear there were fewer yokai around and the only real culprit was Orochi. She wobbled a bit and set her foot down for support to show that no, she wasn't going to just fall over like the last few times on the shrine path. "You'd enjoy watching me fall." He seemed to be asking if she was out of interest rather than concern. Mika turned to scan for the large tent hanging in the air.

"You sleep up there?" Mika peddled and wobbled the bike towards the tree where the sack hung. The forest floor made it more difficult than the relatively flat walkways as the front tire crashed into the tree. The girl jolted and grabbed the tree for support clumsily. Shakily she balanced there for a moment and turned her head upwards once more. Having never seen a hanging tent before, Mika took a few mental stabs on what and why. "You sleep in a trap net? Food bag?" The fact it was a tent wasn't recognizable. "Living out here besides, something else is out here. You saw all those yokai the other night. There's more out here on this mountain than yourself and I."

[gman]

"Maybe just a little." Eiji said as she bumped into the tree holding up his little sleeping bag he called a tent. Closer inspection of the hanging tent on Mika's part would reveal some brand names strewn across the side. Some hiking company made these. Not that Eiji would know as Renjiro just gave it to him a long time ago. "Yeah. You just climb up and then into the tent. Fun to sleep in when its windy and you get swung around. Other than that it keeps you away from the bugs on the ground. Oh and most people don't notice it." Walking up beside her bike he put his hand on it. "I think you should get some pointers on riding this thing. You may hurt yourself." He said in a very condescending tone. It was funny to see her pedal her way through the rough forest ground. Eiji shook his head when she brought up yokai again. "Im sure there's some that wander back and forth but the ones that like to pick fights dont typically show up. Around here anyway. Can't say the same for deeper in." 
As the sun rose higher in the sky the fog was all but gone and it was clear what was picking up Mika's attention with her sense. Different kinds of Yokai were strewn across the Permenter. The closest example was a gaki with a large metal rod sticking out of its chest. It looked like it had been nailed to the tree intentionally. Other Yokai in various states of decay where also displayed in such fashion. The view of such a thing made the creepy metal scarecrows and other art projects look quaint by comparison. 

[Ram]

The thought of Orochi skittering up the tree like a bug was the only way Mika could envision the method to enter that sleeping bag. Nothing else but that. She did squint her eyes a bit at the logos. He steal that too? Or who would throw something like that out. Camping gear is expensive. Though her eyes went to glare at him for his condescending tone. “It can’t be that hard if other people can. If you’re so sure about that then how about you demonstrate.” Her tone just as much as barring her teeth at him for saying that.

“Why do you keep doubting me? No sense in letting one’s guard down.” Mika tried to argue but Orochi continued to play it off. Mentioning the other yokai around the mountain didn’t phase him. When thinking about it, why was he so relaxed? Does nothing here pose a threat? Weirdo. So he lives out here among the junk in a little bag up in the trees. Weirdo. “You shouldn’t be so relaxed. Living out here like it’s nothing,” Mika began to carry on her point as the morning fog gradually eased up during her lecture. “Further more, you saw how large those were! How can that not register? Do you have some pact with the local yokai or something? And living in a tent up there, how do you even get down and in?” Her hand pointed back up at the tent in hopes that he wasn’t actually going to crawl up there but instead her finger pointed out a twitching gaki in the tree. The sight of it made her eyes widen in realization. Not one but several of these yokai were in the trees! Each one oddly pinned there from the puncture wounds on their chests and abdomen. Her hand went from pointing to grabbing Orochi’s jacket and yanking him.

“What the hell is this?! Explain yourself!” The miko demanded at his bandaged face to glare at him. Baring that sinister aura. Forget the trash sculptures but what the hell is this?!The area now beginning to take on the appearance of the entrance of a goma den she’s read about! “This is how you sleep?! That one is even still moving a little!”