legacy of the desert.

[KEITH]

Time of Day: Noon.
Weather: Cloudy, signs of a windstorm on it's way. A bit windy than it normally is.
Location: You can start off anywhere within the village you would like.

You guys already know the rules of the event, but I will reinforce this now. You only have 24 IC limit, so try not to miss it. It's okay if you can only post once or twice a day, as long as you meet what is required to stay in the event. I am letting you guys post first, so you can just right into the action on your following posts and deal with the threat right away. I want to make this thread last to at least three or four pages. If you guys do really well, I might try to get the rewards up'd to an even higher amount than they already are. The main objective of this event is to find and defeat the one causing all of the destruction to the village to end the mayhem. Don't worry about the village, this damage will not affect the village ICly, and will not cause any financial problems, just have fun.

EVENT START

P.S. Outsiders, just do your travel threads to Kaze no Kuni
and wait for my permission posts within your travel threads
to enter into Suna.

[KID GAMBINO.]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,420,true] ¤ THE HUMAN SANDSTORM OF SUNAGAKURE! ¤ The sands of time was causing the meaning of life to become a great burden for me, the passive relationships that bonded the distant villages with feeble regulations forcing my mind to question what importance I could bring to the name 'Rokuto of the Kekkai Clan'. Of course, the thought of ascending the ranks and being recognized as a prestigious man with the classification as proof was inspiring, but there was an undying lust for thrill within me that couldn't be detained. Whether it was testing the might of the sand element against a worthy opponent or venturing deep into untamed environments for the sake of revealing the unknown, the adrenaline rush and feeling of success was the only rewards that I sought. Progressively, the duties entitled to me as a Chunin was becoming burdening as those that monitored my movements often came to find me traveling outside the village limits, while those who questioned my whereabouts were only being informed of 'he's on another one of those wacky adventures'. "Le sigh, parents just don't understand..." And by 'parents', I meant those empty shells of retired shinobi that had zero taste for what true excitement meant. Now, that wasn't a direct insult toward actual parents, but toward those with high seniority and prestige in society who felt they had the authority to declare what was 'left' and what was 'right', but they didn't understand that uniformity was the plague of this world. Absolute chaos was never a good idea, but the expectation that everyone had to be bound by infinite consistency was just as foolish. Whether it concerned the idea of peace or the ambition of becoming mindless cretins, I pledged to never lose sight of what truly motivated me from within, and although I proudly bore allegiance to this village and the country that hosted it, the cravings of the Human Sandstorm would not yield. Outside the confines of Sunagakure, in the ends of the world, there were treasures and rarities that each held values that couldn't be measured as anything less than godly and infamous for their price. Through the excavation of these items, I envisioned becoming even more renown and idolized than what a plain ol' shinobi could offer, hoping the spoils of the richest men would inevitably become mine to claim. This was truly what I desired. Scrambling, concentrated introspection and random wandering was becoming a recurring event, the sound of moderate chatter suddenly snapping me from my meditation. Trailing into the marketplace of the village wasn't an uncommon occurrence of mine, and upon remembering the humans that captivated this town, I wondered if something interesting was going to happen today. The time was just about noon, and the mission compound was expecting my arrival, but aimlessly, I hesitated. A couple dozen citizens surrounded me, explosive battle gear straddling at the waist of my body as I endured the weight of the bottled sand on my back. As I came in any situation, during any time of day, regardless of the location, this was the attire I was comfortable with, and a wise man is always prepared. However, what exactly I would be prepared for only remain known by the deities that controlled our destinies, and as the crunch of the boots clashed with the sand-infested street, I steered astray of the bulky crowd, hating the constant bumping that came with it. Fidgety digits awaited, credulous and ingenious. ¤ smexy template made by renni of nrp ¤

[atrb=valign,top]

[Exar Kun]

With another dull thwack!, the boy's spirits sank just a little more.

He'd been trying to hit the target for the better part of an hour, but no matter how hard he concentrated, the arrow never managed to find its mark. He was beginning to give-up, and he said as much out loud.

Adrianna shook her head as she wrenched the arrow out of the sandbag's body with a violent twist of her hand. She examined the arrow for any damage to the head or the shaft. He'd broken three thus far. Her wishes aside, he really would have to give up, at least for the day, if they blew through all their practice arrows.

"You're not giving up. Everyone in this family learned to use a bow, you will too. Eventually." Content with the arrow's condition, she let it dangle at her side while she walked back to the mound. "Besides, I'm not dealing with Dad crawling up my ass because you don't want to learn how to do this."

The boy made a face somewhere between blowing a silent raspberry and a frown. Adrianna had always hated that look, mostly because she knew he'd gotten it from her. "I want to learn it, but it's too hard. Why can't I start a new family tradition? From now on we'll be famous for throwing spears or something." In his hand was a rickety oak short-bow. Adrianna herself had used it for many years while her Father had shown her the ropes of archery. The boy nonchalantly let it slide out of his hand onto the floor below, where it kicked up a small cloud of sand. "I bet I can beat you if we fought with spears."

It was Adrianna's turn to make the face. She was 90% sure that she had the most annoying kid brother on the face of the planet. When she reached him, she sighed and bent to pick up the bow. The bronze and leather parts of her armor rubbed together from the movement, creating a rustling sound in the air. "First off, you're ten, and not even a Genin yet. Second, no, I'd school you with a spear. And third..." Bow in hand, she thrust it at the boy's chest, forcing him to grasp it. "Even if you weren't ten, and even if you could beat me with a spear, I'd still school you, because I wouldn't use a spear in the first place. I'd use a bow. So while you're looking cool with your spear like Leonidas, I'll be down the block shooting holes in you with my bow, like Apollo. You don't want to embarrass the family by getting holes poked in you, do ya? So forget the spear stuff and focus."

The boy stuck out his lower lip and lowered his gaze to the ground. It was such a pathetic gesture that Adrianna's irritation was briefly replaced by sympathy. "At least I can hit something with a spear..." He muttered, shuffling hesitantly into the proper archery stance. Adrianna squinted at the practice dummy standing ten meters down the lane and sighed again. Frankly, the boy's complaints were unfounded. She'd painted a bullseye around the dummy's upper-chest area, indicating where he should be trying to hit. Small holes with sand gently cascading out of them littered the area around the outskirts of the bullseye, none by more than half an inch. One was even right on the part of the throat where the larynx was located; definitely a kill-shot. None of the shots were perfect, but he was better than she was at ten. She wondered where and when he'd picked up such a defeatist attitude.

She knelt down on one knee so that her face was level with his. Her armor squeaked in protest again.

"You're not that bad, Aeolin. You're really close to hitting the mark. You just need to practice more." He nodded sullenly, but avoided her gaze. "Nock an arrow."

Aeolin retrieved another arrow from the quiver on his back. With the deft fluidity of an action repeated to perfection, he placed the arrow by its nock on the bow and pulled until the cord was tight with tension. "Hold that pose." She said, her eyes glued to his wrists.

Aeolin nodded, but after a few seconds his hands began to shake from the effort.

"Fire." She said simply, and with a hitch of breath he let the arrow loose. It tore through the air swiftly, then thwacked! it's head deep into the soft sand-body of the dummy right below the sternum. Aeolin gritted his teeth in frustration and glanced down at his shoes, but to his credit he remained silent. Adrianna on the other hand simply shrugged. The shot had confirmed what she already knew.

"Your problem is that you're pulling back on the arrow too hard." She said, grabbing his wist and shaking it softly. "This causes your hands to shake, and when you let go of the arrow the tension in your hands gets released violently and you jerk the bow about an inch. That's why your aim is off by only a half-inch or so." She stood to her feet and backed up so that she was behind him. "Try not too pull back so hard."

"How am I supposed to put more strength into the shot and get the arrow to fly faster if I don't put tension on the wire?"

She was about to respond, but paused when she detected the sound of a faint clapping sound. She turned around to see one of the old white-haired stewards enter the training hall. The stewards' job was to supervise the hall and make sure no one did anything stupid or harmful; a rough job on the more busy days. He stopped in front of her.

"Adrianna," The steward said. His voice sounded raspy, like the kind you hear in your head when reading an old man's dialogue in a book. "Your father's outside, he'd like to talk to you." Adrianna nodded and turned to Aeolin.

"Keep practicing." She said. He scoffed in reply. "I'll be back in a minute."

"Don't hurry back!" He called after her as she made her way back to the training center's main lobby. She scowled, but decided to not dignify his comment with a reply. One day, she was going to kill that boy.

[Exar Kun]

+10 to Laz.