Does Siberia Get Summer? (KE Hunt; Arc & Lani)

Present day/time
Users: Arc, Lani
Characters: Takumi, Rin

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Perhaps they could have selected a better location for their first mission. Actually, that was a lie; Rin knew that they could have picked a better place. She was shaking and trembling, freezing with every stepped as they made their way through the snow and the cold. Nevada had gotten her used to the hot weather, and not even the layers of coats and clothes seemed to be doing much good against the chill.

"How are you faring, Takumi?" She asked him, biting back the chattering of her teeth long enough to speak.

"Why did we pick this, again?" Takumi asked after momentarily pulling down the various layers of material that were shielding nose and mouth from the frigid temperatures. He was bundled up in as much clothing as he could be without it hindering his movement, so much so that he had no space to pack his white hat underneath all of it. Between that and the cold, trudging through the snow was a miserable affair.

"Soul count, I guess." It was her best answer, and she didn't feel like spending forever trying to come up with some other explanation. They'd been walking for too long already, but at least they were nearing their destination... if their GPS was to be relied on.

"You can turn into your weapon form, soon!" She shouted back to him; honestly, she wasn't sure why he hadn't done so, already. Either way, the indoors would provide at least a mild break from the cold. That would be something.

"Can't wait!" Takumi shouted back at her in turn as he started to stomp through the deep snow somewhat faster than before. He almost fell over a few times, but not quite.

Rin kept her mouth shut after that, moving to take the longer way around to the building that held their targets. She was almost entirely clad in white, but she took what she could of the environment's terrain to hide them from anyone that may be inside. She blinked a few times, activating her Perception to try to get a tally of the opponents inside; it was looking like eight.

As soon as Rin was scoping out the place, Takumi transformed into his weapon form, making sure to be out of sight to at least somewhat hide the glow in case anyone was watching.

She held him behind the layers of sleeves she wore. Rin didn't see anyone specifically posted outside, with or without Perception active. The assumption was that, perhaps, they relied on seclusion and thought that patrols would just draw unnecessary attention. It was a reasonable line of thinking, if that were the case. Stooping low, she began walking along the side of the building, dodging the windows carefully while she searched for the least populated room.

If Takumi indeed possessed a heart in his weapon form, he knew it would be beating rather heavily and quickly. "Maybe draw a weapon before you go in?" He suggested quietly.

She offered a curt nod, speaking to him with her mind, to minimize the sound that she made, "What do you suggest?" The woman said, peering into the building with her Perception and easing her way over to the clearest room.

"A sword or bow something, I don't know!" Takumi responded in a slight panic. He didn't know what she could and couldn't use well, not yet.

"You don't want to watch me aim." She thought back, thankful for the heat the blush the words brought on lended her. Testing the window nearest her, she managed to finangle the frozen locks enough to break them off entirely. Freezing for a moment, she looked around to make sure that no one reacted to it. Apparently, she was successful. Shoving the window up enough to climb in --- of course, it would be the bathroom that was unoccupied --- she slid inside. Immediately closing the window behind her, she snuck to the door, Locking it before looking for a closet as she began stripping down to her bandages. Rin knew of only one weapon that she was confident enough to wield, and there were a multitude of reasons. Holding Takumi, she wrote out kusarigama in Japanese on her arm.

The characters on her arm began to glow and multiply, arranging themselves in the shape of the weapon specified. Interlinking characters made the chain and an almost scribbled looking bundle of them as the weight.

The Toromaki smirked, admiring the weapon they'd brought to life. It was unlike any that she had trained with in the past, but it suited her better, she thought. Besides, it wasn't truly metal, was it? If not, then it would certainly be far quieter than a real one. It would allow for stealth. Stashing her clothing, she took a look around the area again before smirking. Someone was coming near the bathroom, which opened inwards. Unlocking the door, she snuck over so that she would be behind it when it was opened.

When the door opened, Takumi thought that he might end up dead simply from the mixture of nerves and fear that he was experiencing. Even though he was in weapon form, he felt like he would be holding his breath.

The door hardly closed before Rin leapt. She weighed almost nothing, and she was more than a little trained in combative measures. Wrapping the chain around the man's neck, she sent her bandages to cover his mouth and nose, effectively eliminating any chance of him breathing. Other bandages stretched out from her waist to pin his arms. As he began to fall, she allowed her bandages to drop towards the floor, creating a floating mat that eased him down as she forced the life from him. Her arms trembled as she fought to hold him, fought to end him, holding Takumi with a bandage from her arm.

Ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgod Was all that went through Takumi's head as Rin strangled the man that had unwittingly walked into his doom. He knew it was a murderous Kishin Egg and all, but did she really have to strangle him? The weapon they JUST MADE had a BLADE!

As they man dropped, soul popping forth, Rin caught it, pulling her bandages free and rewrapping herself with them. "Eat up," she told her partner, tossing both the soul and the weapon form, aiming to catch him in her hand before hiding the body and continuing through the building. There were at least seven more targets.

While in the air, Takumi changed back into a partial human form just long enough to grab the soul and eat it, turning back fully once he did so. "I'm not sure if I like that..." He said in their minds.

"It's that or you go dark weapon." She reminded him tenderly; she didn't want to bring up monster souls. What a single one had done to her cousin was enough of a shock to her that she didn't want to mutate her own weapon. Grabbing him in the air, she moved the body away, the kusarigama's chain wrapped around her, the weight at one hip and the blade at the other. "Do you want to pick them off one by one or should we step out there?"

"No, no, no, no, no!" He definitely didn't like the sound of becoming like the people that they were hunting right now. No way. "It was just weird going down." He clarified then. "Do what you think best. I am no fighter."

"Breathe, Takumi-san." Looking around, she tried to find somewhere that there weren't many people. Down the hall, two people were in a room, but she'd have to get through the hallway, first. Pursing her lips, she unwound the weapon before taking Takumi out and attempting another 'spell;' Cloak.

Once more the writing glowed and multiplied, though this time over the entirety of Rin's body. When looked at, the tightly packed characters changed in colour to create a painted image of what was on the other side of whatever was being seen. It wasn't perfect by any means, but it was certainly better than not having it.

Rin took a look at her arm, surprised that the writing had worked as she'd intended it. Nodding, she unlocked the door, closing it behind her and sneaking her way along the wall. She didn't know how long the cloak would last, or if it would work like some spells in games where interacting with something would remove the effect --- then again, messing with the door would have done that, right? She kept her eyes focused on the two corrupted souls in the room she was approaching.