Venture the forgotten Village; Raku and Ashida

Today was the big day; Hyde gets to finally spend some time with his new buddies. He was even going to show them around the old abandoned treehouse village that Hyde uses to hang around. There was a time that he considered living there before the school offered him a place to stay at the dorms, so there are plenty of cool areas that Hyde could show them. After checking his cellphone, Hyde decides to hide around the area quietly. He put his phone on silent so the guys wouldn’t hear it when it goes off. Raku and Akishida should be there shortly, I should give them something of a surprise or something. “If there was one thing Hyde was good at, it was ironically hiding. Even his breathing was lowered to avoid detection, it’s a skill that definitely reflected on the life he had years ago.While waiting at the entrance, Hyde wondered if they would even show up.

strength

Spoiler:

For the love of god, this place could be so annoying. Sharaku was definitely questioning his sanity right now. Just why did he agree to this? Natural areas were never his forte, and even though he could get through without an accident, it was unbelievebly irritating. But, sadly, he was a man of his word, and since he already said he would accompany them, there was no backing out. He could surely picture a better way to spend this day, and he was hoping that it would at least go smoothly if nothing else.


Sighing lightly, he would continue walking towards his destination, taking the time to light a cigarette on the way. 'This is going to be a long one...' At least he hadn't come in his trademark suit this time. That would be a pain in this kind of area. Still he was getting a bit annoyed by the hair falling into his eyes. 'Maybe I should have kept that pulled up...'

Either way, he would eventually make his way to where he was supposed to be, looking around the entrance sceptically. He wasn't paying enough attention to notice Hyde doing his hiding business though. ''Quite the place indeed...'', he would mutter under his breath, puffing out a bit of smoke.

| Wait.... is this the place? | Akashida was looking around for the village, following what seems to be an old path that seem to lead into a village in the distance. Akashida was happily strolling along with his Navy-camo sackpack that had some supplies in it. He was thinking about the friends he'd made. It was interesting according to Akashida. | I'd never thought that Sharaku and I would be friends, and I would hopefully bond more with Hyde in school. | He was thinking of all sorts of new things they could find.

| Wait... is that? | He found a very familiar, similarily tall, tan man walking in the distance. Akashida yelled out "Hey Sharaku! Over Here!" Akashida then waved while jogging over to the entrance. Akashida was kinda disapointed. He was hoping that he was first. But at the same time, he didn't want to be at the wrong place.

While going over there, he tried to remember what he had brought. It wasn't much. |First-aid kit, check. Head-lamp, check.  2 gallon water bottle, check. And I have my watch with a compass and my multitool in my right pocket. My phone! Gah! I almost forgot that... |

“Tada! I was here the whole entire time.” Hyde jumps out of his hiding spot and waves at his two friends. “A little proof that I know this area a little better than most, but anyone would if they been around here long enough. But I did notice a few things….” Hyde had his usual happy go lucky smile as he walked towards the two others. “ Raku chan does this thing with his hair, I think it’s his signature pose or something. I knew it! He was a French super model! But I could be wrong, anyway…. I’m glad you guys came. I seem you’re pretty prepared as well, Ashida chan!” Hyde checks a little bit of his gear, it wasn’t really that much to be honest. “ I only brought a little bit of things, but we wouldn’t have to worry about the food aspect of things too much. The fruit trees are all around, even the berries are pretty good. So at the very most, I brought a few bottles of fresh water. It’s not good to have too much gear that adds on to your weight. , not unless you can brave the hard part. “Hyde then walks over to one of the vine ropes and tugs really hard. After testing its sturdiness, he wraps it around his waist and gets himself ready. “The cooler stuff is usually in the larger tree houses, this one is the shortest. Its only ten feet above ground, I’m sure we will be fine. “With a little bit of silence, Hyde looks back at his friends once more. “You ready guys?”

Hearing someone call out to him, Sharaku would turn his head around to locate the source. It turned out to be Akashida, who was running towards him, complete with packed stuff and all. 'He looks eager indeed.' Surely, with Hyde himself, those two would have enough enthusiasm for the whole of Azores. ''Hello, Akashida. It's a pleasure to see you again'', he would greet in his usual way, although the lack of proper attire and the added effect of a cigarette didn't exactly compliment the style. Before he could say anything more, Hyde decided to interrupt, jumping outta...somewhere. 'Hmm...' Sharaku was pondering over commenting on hiding being a bit childish, but got distracted by what Hyde said next.

He would give Hyde a blank look for a moment, trying to figure out just where that came from. Speaking of which, his hair was currently bothering him a little, but he would ignore that for the time being. ''I don't think I want to know where that one came from. But, speaking of that, I'm not French anyway. Just saying, meu querido amigo.'' At first, he was planning on saying something more sarcastic, but he couldn't think of anything suitable in such a short lapse of time, so the boy was getting off easy this time. When Hyde explained about gear, Sharaku would remain mostly quiet, not having anything to add. Well, it wasn't like they were going for a month long trip, so he doubted it mattered that heavily. However, he did tune in a bit more, when weight was mentioned. Why would that be...Oh. Following the vine with his gaze, he would look upwards, taking note of Hyde saying ten feet. By normal standards, that WAS quite a bit, wasn't it now? For a short moment, he wondered what would the teen do if one of them was either afraid of heights or couldn't climb. This wasn't an everyday activity. Not everyone was comfortable with that, or could even do it properly for that matter.

He himself was just fine with this, and not even the weight problem would bother him. After all, in addition to how tall he was, he was also thin as rake, so that would be a moot point. He could actually use gaining some weight. ''Only ten feet, hm? Very well, let's humor this.'', he would shrug, slightly sceptical about this ridiculousness. Still, he would walk over, examining the vines himself, however he would not do the same as Hyde, and simply grip onto the vine. No way he was getting that near his shirt. If anything, he was planning on keeping it white, and tying vines around himself didn't sound like the brightest way to do it. 'I wonder if this is how monkeys feel...'

Akashida was surprised. He didn't expect Hyde to be hiding from nowhere. It almost reminded him of the times before he... | No, me. I'm not thinking about that right now. Even though Hyde reminds me of HIM... | Akashida could already tell that this would be a hard day mentally already.  

| French? | Akashida made a wry smile. | Yeah. definitely reminds me of him. | Still though, Akashida already liked this guy in a sort of younger brother type of way. He made a mental note to try and not to associate Hyde and him anymore. | Weight?....hard part? | Akashida looked at Hyde, dumbstruck.| Oh boy. Good thing I worked out between the cafe and now... | Still, Akashida was really unhealthy when it comes to things like Strrength and Stamina (Thanks to his Hikkomori lifestyle) However, he's starting to get better now.

| Wait...that height...| "It looks like I can jump it..." Akashida said. He waited for Hyde to get up there.[/color]

“Alright, let’s get started then. And Raku chan, you should really quit smoking. I’m not going to be judgmental about your current lifestyle, but I would want you to live a very long life. That and your lung capacity is very crucial for this exercise, have to regulate your breathing. But, we all don’t need health ed lessons, last thing I need to think about is school. And…..here we go… “ Hyde started to climb as if he was part monkey, there was a specific technique that he had when it came to climbing trees. It was almost comedic, but it seemed as if Hyde has done this plenty of times before. “Hey, Raku… Ashida…. If you ever start to have trouble, just remember gym class when we all had to do that rope climbing exercise. I mea..” There was a little bit more climbing, Hyde was halfway there.” I can’t speak for you Raku chan, I’ not sure if your gym class had rope climbing or rock climbing… but the Zela gym has them. Good cardio, keeps you shape. “He also took the time to engage in conversation with Ashida as well, wondering how his friend was doing. “Hey, Ashida! How you feeling? Remember those old indiana jones movies? Does this remind you of it a little?” Hyde was almost there; his good cardio supplied him with enough sufficient stamina to keep up with this ordeal. In sense, it was exactly like gym class. When Hyde got to the top first, he stood attentively towards the two ropes. “ If you need any support guys, just let me know! Ill start pulling if you need it!” Hyde was really enthusiastic, but he was honestly having a good time with his friends

'Too bad I probably wouldn't get away with setting someone on fire....' Sharaku had no idea whether Hyde was simply naive, or was actually saying these things on purpose. Because at that moment, he would have gladly introduced the redhead to the burning end of his cigarette if he could. If there was one thing he disliked with passion, it was being berated about his smoking habits. He knew all the stuff Hyde talked about. Number of fucks given? Zero. There was no way he was willing to even argue on that subject. ''You should worry about your own health first. Leave me out of this.'', he would say in a clipped tone, a slight frown on his face, as he watched Hyde climb up. The cigarette, would of course stay where it was, unless Hyde gave it a reason to meet with some part of him in the future.

When the talk shifted to climbing again, he would just keep staring, not really interested in the point. He barely remembered school anyway, who cared about P.E.. ''You talk as if climbing was hard to do. I don't need gym class for that.'' Besides, when did school teach anything useful for real life. With a sigh, he would follow after Hyde at last, climbing up swiftly enough. This sort of movement was not much of a bother to him. While he might not have extreme strength, he had enough grace with his movements to find a way up there that didn't require too much wasted energy. ''Thanks, but I can do this myself.'', he would mutter, when Hyde offered to help them. Besides, he probably wouldn't have accepted even if he was struggling, just because. Hyde knew how to get on his nerves after all.

Making his way through the rest of the distance, he would brace himself on the edges of the top, before hoisting himself up, and doing a front flip before landing in a crouch. Normally, he wasn't all for fanciness, but he was in a grumpy enough mood to show off a bit at the moment. Standing up, he would look towards Hyde, puffing out some more smoke from his cigarette, before questioning calmly. ''Well...?'' Hopefully, Akashida wasn't going to have much of a problem with this. Because if Hyde started rambling about stuff he shouldn't before the other got there, he wasn't going to guarantee the redhead's safety. Sharaku was not the violent type outwardly, but sometimes, those you wouldn't expect bite worse than those actually known for it.

Strength/Weakness:

Well, Akashida was surprised amazed by this guy. He tried to converse while climbing, managed to climb like a monkey, and (Noticing the attitude that Sharaku had after Hyde mentioned Health and Cigarettes) managed to piss off someone all in one huge go. "Dude, I think I'll be fine! Don't worry about me!" Akashida yelled out to Hyde. | Well... I said I think. Meh.... I'll be fine... |

Akashida was quiet when Hyde mentioned school. He'd never was that good at P.E. classes before he was a Hikkomori. However, he was trying to improve his body bit by bit. Of course, he would be the limiting factor between the 3 of them. However, after he hit the gym a couple of times, Akashida felt like he could climb 3 or 4 10 ft. houses before being tired. | Nah, I better not jump. I better save my energy... |

{OOC: Edit now in place:}

Akashida grabbed on the rope of the vines. | Oh god. I'm not ready for this. | It was hard even though he got practice climbing ropes at the gym a few times. | Oh lord. Jesus. | Akashida felt like letting go. But the good thing is that he was halfway there.

A few moments later, akashida got up. He needed a breather but he'll be alright. "Wow. Hard stuff... Phew!" Akashida muttered to himself. He took out his water bottle and he drank from it.

“Hmm? Excited? Let’s just wait for Ashida to catch up, and then I’ll show you around inside. This one especially has some relevance to the adventure.  I assure you it’s not a waste of your time Raku chan.  “With a playful smile, Hyde would proceed to wait for Ash to meet them up top.He was basically cheering ash on as he continued to climb, giving him sound motivation . “Wow… did you see that Raku? He's alot more in shape than he lets on.” Hyde whistled as he continued to comment on Ash’s fancy trick. “You should definitely try out for the track team if you have that kind of motivation, pushing yourself to the limits gives the best results. But even then…. Ehh… I guess everyone is blessed with their own sort of talents. Raku has good looks, you have strong a strong will…. I just need to find mine.” After that short little spat, Hyde would proceed to walk into the tree house.

“Watch out for the cobwebs. There is plenty of wooden furniture; everything seems to be hand crafted. It’s an anti-capitalist kind of lifestyle, when you consider all of the things these people had access to for free. The River supplies fresh water to bathe in and drink, the fruits are safe to eat. Also, we really can’t count on the monkeys to be the natural predators of these parts. Haven’t really run into a dangerous animal yet, insect’s maybe.   Feel free to look around…” Hyde then picks up a small doll and shows it to Raku and Ash, it seemed to be pretty old school. Moreso the old dolls that people use to make. “I guess you can count this as one of the treasures, there were kids around as well.  I guess for every little thing you find, it tells a story. Much like an assumption as to what went down here for each particular person, which is more important than the information that we already know, like why they left. “ Hyde then puts the doll down and looks over to the side of the tree-house, there were two bridges that looked like they would be ok to traverse to the next set of houses. They were somewhat going upward because each tree-house only got even higher. The third bridge was down, and the way to get over that tree-house was an old school way of swinging with the vine like Tarzan.  However, Hyde wasn’t going to rush it. Maybe they wouldn’t think of this trip as interesting. “Found anything cool guys?”

Picture of the doll

Spoiler:

((OoC: You could reduce the height if needed, I suppose. But, well. A character gains their human skill along with awakening to their Persona, even if it's not directly tied to it. So, technically, you shouldn't have been able to use it yet, since no one has Personas at the moment. Just for future reference >.> >.>))

Sharaku would simply sigh as Hyde talked his head off. In all honesty, he was not particularly interested, or in the mood to make small talk with the redhead. It was a waste of precious time anyway, as Hyde seemed to only listen to whatever interested him, and sift through the rest flawlessly. 'I think I should already start fearing for my sanity....' They only started recently, and he was beginning to have enough, mainly of stuff that concerned a certain redhead. He was seriously considering getting himself headphones or something of the like, if only for the sole purpose of drowning out those endless monologues.

Akashida provided a well enough distraction with his climbing skills, even though that only prompted Hyde to spew more random stuff. ''Hm...'', he would give only a noncomittal response, not paying much attention to what Hyde was going on about. Although, he was somewhat amused by the comment on good looks. Well, to each their own. Following the teen inside after Akashida made his way up, he would look around a bit, far from being as eager as the redhead though. ''Right...'', he would mutter, at least attempting to sound like he was into it. To say the truth, the outside view caught his attention more than the insides. While he was never the nature type, right now it seemed much more appealing. Perhaps spending the day hanging on vines wouldn't be that bad of an idea.

{OOC: Oh whoops.... Gomenosai!  (.w.) I'll just remind myself not to use it anymore. Also, screw finals, projects, and laziness.... -_- Again, Gomenosai.}

Akashida looked around, listening to Hyde's talk. "Well... my Mom's American." Akashida turned to Sharaku and said "She's the reason why I came to Portugal, Sharaku. And the reason why I have an unusual body for a Japanese kid..." Akashida thought about what Hyde said, something about having our own sets of skills.

He then rummaged around for anything cool. There were a few pieces here and there. Akashida found old toys and... "Oh?" It was a book. He went through it. | It's.... paintings. | Looking though it, it was painted with colors of the herbs, plants, and even charcoal from the area around here. "Well... I found a book filled with paint. Looks like it was drawn by a child. It could be the same girl." He cleared a place to set down the book and he put it down.

Akashida also found 2 wooden spikes in a corner. | Interesting... | Looking around for more things, Akashida asked "Are you sure there are NO predators here?" He then pointed at the spikes with a slightly worried look.

“Hmm?” Hyde walked over to the spears that Ash was talking about and picked it up. He felt all of the memories of practicing with the spear before, it definitely felt like old times. “Well….” Hyde spun the spear all around his body and then held it at a peculiar ready position, the Shoan spear technique that Hyde has been practically practicing his entire life. “I guess we can throw them at the monkeys or something…”After staring at the spear for a few seconds, Hyde puts it back and puts his hands in his pockets. “If anything like that does happen, I guess ill have to take responsibility and hold it off for you guys to make a break for it. Don’t worry about it, were safe. “ Worst case scenario, Hyde would have to try fighting again. The air around Hyde seemed a little toned down a bit, the memories of the Tokonosu region was definitely something left him to be a little bit emotional. “Though the paintings you found were definitely something Ash. “Hyde then turns over to Raku and make a small hand gesture as towards the next area.

“This bridge is pretty shaky, try to watch your step on this one. It’s kind of funny; I seem to trust the vines more. But maybe there’s something in the next area if you guys are still up for it, doesn’t seem that Raku found anything interesting yet, unless this jungle like view itself is a treasure? Anyway, ill start on first. This will be the first time I crossed this one actually. We can take a break once we get across if you want.“ Mother Nature definitely has its beautiful moments, and yet she can be so cruel. “Hyde’s mind was pretty stable, but the complexity of his emotions was similar to a light switch. “Woah…” Hyde was carefully watching his step as he was making his way towards the treehouse that resides on the other side.

Weakness

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Strength

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''Is that so? Well, at least you probably had an interesting childhood....'' Sharaku would say, glancing over at Akashida when the teen spoke about his nationality and such. He would sort of pay attention when the other two kept exploring, although he was still not enormously interested. Akashida seemed to have found some book with paintings, which to him wasn't that big of a deal. The weapons sounded a bit better, and he would smile a little in amusement when Akashida inquired about predators. 'Is he scared..?' Well, either way, Sharaku wasn't really worried himself. He seriously doubted anything way too dangerous lived there, and even if, Hyde would probably give chase, with how he was showing off.

''I don't think we'll get in that much danger anyway. A couple of animals shouldn't be a big deal.'' Shrugging a bit, he would turn around to look at the bridge that connected to the next area. ''Very well.'', he would say simply, following after Hyde calmly. For some reason, he didn't feel like talking much at the moment. Maybe it was because Hyde was already talking enough for all three of them. He was usually more outspoken than that, but it just didn't feel right so far.

{OOC: Hyde, can I get a reference on the special way you held the spear? I want to see what irl martial art Hyde learned. Also, sorry for not saying much. No creative juices flowing right now...}

"Well, alright then." Akashida made a small relieved sigh. Hyde, with his special way he held the spear, looked like he was competent with Staff based weapons. And Sharaku. He just made it sound like no big deal. He made a mental note to trust these guys more often. He also decided to get out his multi-tool in case anything happened.

After looking around, Akashida saw Hyde gesturing to Sharaku that we should go to the next area.
He went out and he saw an old rickety bridge leading to the next house.

Akashida cautiously followed Hyde and Sharaku, saying "Wow. This is pretty nice, isn't it? The plantlife looks like they're taking back their 'land' slowly." to take away attention that Akashida is on an old bridge.