Late afternoon is time to make some breakfast, Himeno couldn’t but think how fucked her time schedule must seem… and probably is. Anyway, tea… well maybe a tuna riceball will do for food? There’s no salmon left and she’d rather not run to just buy some salmon.
Next up, checking reports but fortunately seems no demon has gone rampant today, yet. Maybe this will be a simple day (afternoon?) of just teaching the basics to green recruits, not that won’t stop them from running themselves into a blade anyway.
Himeno prepared and finished the simple ‘breakfast’ of green tea and a riceball, everything comfortably silent, better this way than having the meaningless dribble of TV, though probably she should find someone to spend a meal with sometimes. Next thing? Look at how much time you’ve got, enough for a shower.
The tiles were cold, the water of the shower even colder, still that’s what you need to stay functional this late.
Suddenly, the air got cold, and the water was almost frozen. T’was none other than her rogue student, Guen, who snuck into her old master’s residence. She didn't mean any harm but her actions say the other way around.
“I can stop pointing this sword, if you care for a little chat?” Guen said with no ill intent but anyone else, especially Himari, would not only be confused but offended with said remark.
What is her intention?
“Sure.” Himeno stepped out of the bathtub with seemingly little concern for the sword pointed at her. “Here to save me some time? No, I don’t think you’re here for some simple lesson.”
Himeno walked a bit, initially not looking at Guen and turning to face her only when she was done speaking.
Guen sighed and stripped and got inside to have a warm bath. “Alright, let's talk.” Guen was calm and her blush was subtle.
“Haven't seen you in 3 years, Master.”
“We sure haven’t.” Himeno replied with a sigh. “Still it’s not like you to stay still for long. Heard all the trouble you’ve started, do you have an idea how little your stunts actually helped?”
She then looked at how Guen lowered into the tub and the water was seemingly steaming hot. “Did you learn to reverse your cold? That water wasn’t warm in the first place.”
“I learned from the best. My son…he's nice with the sword and at 14, he's Kinoe-ranked, it's a bit endearing, he has yet to understand Cold Breathing, I decided to let Jae-Eun take care of him, I was gonna let you, but the boy can use a father figure.” Guen was nearly on the verge of tears.
“I did a lot of terrible things yet I'm closer and I just can't go back, I will avenge my husband, I'll be heading to a place, you know well. I'm just here to say you're not gonna stop me, but every time we talk like this, memories go back, you're not my mother yet we treated each other as parent and child, it's just a pain in the ass, when Kyoto Corps is on my trail, can't say I deserved it.” Guen was exhausted and trying to find comfort in the person she trusts most.
“No need to remind me of your reasons.” Himeno leans closer to the edge of the tub, swaying one hand in the water. “So have you stopped running now? That’s good, but you know well you can’t get your revenge on your own.”
“What do you mean?” Guen steeled herself for a bit. Has her master found out about her way inside the Blood Moons, with Reiha and Rikyo? She kept Reiha close to get closer to Rikyo, to make him a sword and only betray him later.
“You just said you are going to a place, even if you know it’s a bad idea. But you wouldn’t be here if you wanted to go alone. Or is this something else?” Himeno knew well she could follow Guen whether she accepted or not, but sometimes what her pupils needed was confirmation and open support.
Guen reached out to Himeno and hugged her, crying, she sobbed for a good 5 minutes.
Location - Hashira Meeting Feat - @xAlter, @King Kindred, @13org, @Lewascan2, @The Jest, @Kpopknower, @Thanatos 7, @Taka Himeno observed the ongoing meeting with detached interest, the Tokugawa Files were of course not to dismiss, but the unwillingness to disclose all of them was somewhat frustrating. Does Gin have an ulterior motive to keep 4 files hidden?
“This half-way cooperation doesn’t help your case, and the way you speak seems like you don’t expect many here to survive.” Himeno spoke with a calm tone, seemingly unbothered by everyone else getting worked up. ”Moreover, modernising has been a problem for the Corps, since how many centuries exactly? 8.” Himeno sarcastically stung at their reorganization. ”You’re either a hornet or have grown blasé of the same dance. Here's the rundown: getting neophytes don't necessarily help much, betting on the innovating commanders, fails, when they inevitably die trying to prove themselves to the rest of the Corps.”
Himeno glanced at Jae-eun’s resignation and sighed, then looked back at her eerie familiarity with Gin and strange intuition towards Jae-eun. ”Look, I don’t believe you’re really putting your eggs in just Oyakata-sama and the Honshu Banquet with all the support here, I won’t pry any further, as long as you don’t betray the Corps and point us at the Yatsuchizuki, Gin.”
Himeno let Kumori and Kōshin say their piece, some amount of amusement in her eyes as the mention of ignoring criminals and the Daikaku monk’s stern dedication to his ideals. They were a breath of fresh air at least, and Himeno could agree with their steel-like spirit in what they believe in. "This Cram Class will now focus on the 4th Tokugawa File, the stain of calamity of the Edo Corps, its rich history. All of you deserve to know the truth, and you shall be free..." Showa Secret: Honshu Banquet refers to all Corps in said region
Conference Room, City Hall, Municipality of Lubao, Pampanga Province, Philippines - 1/1/2023, 8:40 AM, UTC+8
Nil was admittedly asleep through the entire meeting, dreaming of beds, seas of saccharine stuff and the color blue… for some reason. Her companions probably believe anything could happen and she’d still be sleeping, well until someone literally crashed the meeting with an explosion (good thing she put her muffs on!). That did wake up Nil, just about.
She observed the entire situation initially with confusion, Task Force Obsidian was scrambling to fight or evacuate, Jin Li was shocked and here for some reason (Nil didn’t hear his speech) and some unknown girl with a big ass shield was standing there… menacingly.
To anyone observing Nil a little (Peony too if you want), they’d see her still groggily waking up and stretching with basically no awareness of the situation.
Peony cleared her throat. “…Um… There’s a lot of civilians around. To evacuate, I mean. W-We’ll need at least twenty.” She said in fluent Chinese.
“Myron, get on the airwaves, now,” Callie said at a volume only a few degrees from a shout. ”We can’t evacuate a municipality in ten minutes but we can get anyone moving who isn’t and keep it from turning to chaos. Someone else, I need everyone in the building who isn’t fighting – get them here in three minutes for evac.”
Callie turned to the rest of them. “A-Rank Arms Master. Highly resistant to physical and mental effects; uses small arms and agility as complements. Her shield stores people it touches to gain their knowledge and capabilities. No telling what the PRC’s armed her with, besides an unknown flight-adjacent power and some kind of meteor-calling. She has one suspended under her control over the Hall, half-molten, a dozen metres wide. There may be others.”
“Sergeant Janssens, you’re our best direct response to the target but we need to get you close fast enough so she can’t react with her shield or stolen powers. Preliminary proposal is you, Cristina, or me. Anything to slow or pin her would be an ideal accompaniment.” Callie clenched her jaw. “We also need someone who can neutralise the giant rock. I can shred it but that doesn’t solve the weight or the heat.”
At first Nil thought it was just that new girl on the other side of the crater that was saying meaningless words, then Callie started to talk and Nil completely lost track of it. She just stared blankly as if Callie was blabbering in ancient sumerian, so Nil decided to just walk away from this mess.
”We have this." Cristina spoke as the Mirage Space emerged and trapped the Boar with her and her allies.
And immediately an imaginary yet very solid wall appeared in front of Nil and she inadvertently smacked her head on it in a comical fashion. Guess she’s in here too.
A g e: 33 | R a n k: Hashira | Bloodtype: AB+ | Kiji: Tokochi | Ideal Voice:JPN
P e r s o n a l i t y : Although serious at first glance, Himeno is that of a burning candle, cordial and disciplined, Himeno seizes horizons as virally fervourous as possible. She won't settle for anything less, as she's a perfectionist, expressing things with fiery idiomatic lines & humsy tones. Beyond the surface, Himeno is a mysterious person, who values privacy, especially since her profession at night time is insidious.
S h o w a S e c r e t :
The Sagamiya is among the three founders of the Tokyo Demon Hunter Corps, at 1868, when Edo replaced Kyoto as the capital of Japan. Next to the Sagamiya, were the Tokito, & the Muramasa, to which two persevered in the passage of time; while the latter was scrutinized and forgotten by history. Her family was of Samurai descent, descended from Oda Nobunaga, the three of Tokyo's founders were known as children of devils, it's no wonder why Tokyo is controversial.
The Sagamiya served as Historians of the Tokyo Corps despite the natural talent for the sword, the Muramasa were Swordsmiths wile the Tokito is the face of the force due to their precious Tsugikuni, ancestry.
Himeno is the Head of The Hei, a title given to the Sagamiya chief, not clan leader but the PhD for Demonlore & History.
Himeno adhered to the teachings of the Tokyo DS Corps, by the time she's 11, she became a Hashira, after killing the Consort of Ryunoko Keodis. There's nothing edgy nor tragic about Himeno, the perfect summary to describe her, is being a caged bird, trapped by tradition, despite Tokyo, claiming to be contemporary. By the time she's 18, she was on duty on the Hokkaido Corps, from there she met the Tomioka Twins, one of them was Guen, she took both as her Tsuguko. She was once rivals with Soyama Kenzo.
Himeno is the resident Historian of Tokyo DS Corps, and now the current Vice Commander, a position next to Takaya.
She is the Orchid Hashira.
K o k u t e n : Himeno possesses a Muramasa variant, an Uchigatana of drive, meaning, it hurts humans and demons since it's a tainted Nichirin, it regenerates by cutting to dip in both human & demon blood, refined by the reforging, a common trait of the Muramasa blades.
B r e a t h i n g S o r c e r y : By virtue of her extensive research of TCB, her acquired Breathing Sorcery is called, "Hyakkaryouran", where she conjures many burning flowers, the effect of burnt victims are an increased sensation of pain through a tactile illusion. Like her late rival, Soyama Kenzo, who personalized Breathing Martial Arts through Soryu, Himeno is to Breathing Sorcery, a rare skill among the TCB trio. Just like Tsugikuni Yoriichi is to Breathing Swordplay, being the greatest Swordsman of History, the title currently goes to Kamado Ryunosuke, the greatest Swordsman of Today. Himeno is the first ever to become a Hashira without any Breathing Style.
Mankaryoran (Signature) — Himeno releases blue-flamed orchids with a sleep agent effect, the pollen from the burning flowers is what made it so. Victims will feel groggy/sleepy as the battle is prolonged, the sleepier they get, the burning sensation increases, it is a double edged sword, hence Himeno effectively uses this in short bursts. Too much stalling, weaknes the efficacy of sleeping.
Honoraishin (Secondary) - Himeno makes blazing portals, and it is a runic spell, she needs to touch the target and mark them with her seal. If marked, she can apparate to her targets and beat them down. The more marked targets, the lesser her control will be.
Nil splashed next to the now wreckage of an aircraft carrier, the metal giant slowly tumbled on its side and was dragged down into the abyss. If any unfortunate souls remained trapped and left to drown and get dragged down with their ship, well that could only be known after counting all the survivors and casualties.
Everyone was doing their best to stay afloat on the open seas, Nil was particularly struggling, flailing her arms and barely keeping the head above the water, at times hardly even that as she ended swallowing foam and saltwater. Her entire perspective was chaos, filled with the loud sounds of steel giants sinking, vision blocked by a layer of foam and the moving waves, and uneven footing in the water where the only solution was thrashing around (the more controlled form called swimming).
Luckily the first rescue teams arrived quickly and well-prepared. Had it taken longer the girl would have stayed panicked, barely staying afloat and eventually she would not.
Rescuers from the PLA Navy were intelligent enough to know she was an Arms Master from their enemy’s side, they had been informed about their own deployed Arms Masters and perhaps even Task Force Obsidian. Regardless, Nil didn’t look like a regular soldier, and she wasn’t one of their Arms Masters, that was all they needed to connect the dots.
Nil was picked up by a lifeboat, feeling being picked up and then immediately coughing up foam as she was on the boat. Just as she was relieved to have been rescued, the PLA rescue team injected her with a sedative, in case it wasn’t enough they prepared a tranquilizer gun as well, but they would not need to use it.
Nil was already feeling extremely meek, confused and pretty much deaf, she was easily constrained and barely put up resistance against the enemies… allies? She couldn’t even tell at this point, after a few minutes the tranquilizer would take effect and she was unconscious by the time she was put on one of the rescue helicopters and transported away.
The dose Nil received would be a little more than necessary, after all the PLA soldiers don’t know how much she weighs, plus she isn’t that heavy and had little energy left.
As something like that is dangerous and could potentially kill someone (sedatives are like that, you have to be careful) Nil is unconscious both cuz of the sedatives but also in ‘Arms Master Survival Mode’. for details look at the first OOC page and the hider Arms Master Survivability
It became increasingly difficult to orderly plan as a team amongst the chaos on the deck, Wu Shufen continued to hide in the smoke and the ever increasing fire. Nil couldn’t really acquire and shoot any targets behind Raja’s wall of fire, besides the monkey wouldn’t show his face so easily.
When the obstruction was gone (along with the two helicopters unfortunate enough to fly nearby), Raja and half of the allied Arms Masters rushed forward to try and catch Wu Shufen. Meanwhile Nil did a whole bunch of nothing, shifting a few steps back and failing to come up with a plan of action.
The best thing is to wait out the smoke… a terrible situation.
Next thing the aircraft carrier’s firefighting systems were activated to deal with the fire on-deck, plus send Nil and Mikey overboard (presumably because they stayed in the back).
The foam assaulted Nil just as the Monkey of the Zodiac had come back in sight and traded blows with Raja and Cristina, what terrible timing, the following water was indeed strong enough to flush out grown up sailors still on deck, surely it could flush out the not-that-heavy Nil. The girl blinked and coughed out as she was washed out by the foam and water, Stang and its copies flying around above her as she was fighting the water.
A smart Arms Master could have used Stang’s telekinesis to fix it in place or fly above the foam and water streams. Unfortunately Nil is not a smart Arms Master.
And if there was any possibility of resisting the water washing, Callie soon after made the entire deck even more unstable by annihilating the ship’s keel.
This sequence ends with Nil in the sea and struggling to stay afloat, to be fair she was doing a good job keeping her head above the water but she’s panicking the entire time.
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