Board Thread:What Would You Do?/@comment-27303410-20181223053114/@comment-30014014-20190105213319

"Sure thing, dear".

Gaedon turns to the furthest room clad in silver painting. His voice bounces in a placid calm "Little bro, you may want to follow me".

"Follow you? Well, sure, but where--

His voice is cut short by the inhuman dexterity Gaedon displays merged with upper arm strength, to tower and flip his body in a backflip, only to land on behind the sofa. His agility kicks in as Jason watches his older sibling turned to nothing but a blur flinging across the room "What--how?---where--

"You should follow him, dear" speaks the soft-voiced Melissa, a tone as welcoming as she can muster as she swathes her sunset hair in a ponytail "My husband, your brother...he will shelter you in a spot she cannot grasp you while we sort this error of judgment".

Her eyes flicker with hostility, though it is evident she does not speak in this tone to him, but to the intruder to come. Sill, wanting to avoid the flaring glare her eyes are permeated, Jason sprints as fast as he can.

He opens the famous silver door, confronted with nothing but cleaning tools. Detergents, mops, brooms, supplies and the more, anything and everything to give the feather-armed monster maiden a run for her money.

"Huh? I swore I saw him run in" he whispers to himself. A slight draft of wind washes near him, prompting Jason to turn back eye to eye with an armored individual. From head-to-toe, he is garnished in ninja wear. A suit concealing his body, adorned with ornamental guards of metal.

"Took you long enough" an electronic voice soothes out of the being to Jason's awe.

"Gaedon? Bro, what are you--

"No time, man. Come, I have much to prepare".

"Ok, sure, but where are we goiiiaaahhh!!!" Gaedon firmly places his palms of his young brother's shoulders, pushing him backward as he plunges forward. The room glistens with manifestations of illuminated sigils, all purple. The floor that lays in the janitor closet fades away, leaving the two in a free fall.

"Gaedon! What the--

"Don't worry about it bro, just give me your hand" He speaks in a placid voice, clearly confident in their free fall.

His little brother isn't of the same nonchalance "Hold hands?! Lame! How is that supposed to break our fall?!"

"Just do it".

"No! It's dumb! That ain't gonna stop this pitfall-- Gaedon wastes no time listening to his brother's aversion to holding hands as he hastily grabs one of his palms. only to be further berated for the act, his hand moving in such a way as to have his blood-related clinging to his back.

He stops his word assault, prying about his impromptu shift "What the...? Why am I playing piggyback with you right now?"

"You'll see..."

The kunoichi's half makes a singular sign coupling his two principal fingers straight up, the rest curled in a ball. A whoosh flows through the brothers from downward, characterized by a draft of violet wind tethering to the ninja man. The flow of fall is very swiftly reduced, to Jason's astonishment "What wait? We're flying?"

"Not flying, gliding".

"Gliding--

"Hold on, little bro" Gaedon lands as quickly as he utters his command, a knee, a foot, and a hand slamming on the bare floor, a metal origin. This quick succession of event wobbles Jason as he moves from his older brother, unable to stand up as his mind struggles to endure the rapid change of velocity. He falls...on a chair slid to the optimal position by Gaedon. The soft silk and wood both do wonders to aid in his recovery.

"Phew...sheesh...never do that again, you hear me?"

"You're welcomed". The older sibling claps his hands twice, prompting a series of tiles from the upper darkness to appear overhead. They flare up in a second of bright flash before receding to more comfortable lighting.

Many things are revealed to Jason in this illumination. Weapons, from the feudal Nippon era with a modern twist to them, filled with gadgetry. Sets of outwears and armors, male and female worn by mannequins with two surprisingly devoid of cloth.

"Hum...bro? What's with the place?" His curiosity is piqued, especially by the nonchalant attitude Gaedon has in the whole affair.

"This place? A little thing Melissa and I whipped together. A safe room, so to say".

"Ok...what about the innumerable monitors in front of me? They point at everywhere inside, including her still on the phone".

"Surveillance for intruders".

"Ok...what about the weapons stacked beside me? It looks like you're going to war with that amount of weaponry".

"Nah, don't worry. This stuff is all defense and dissuasion. Although they tend to break rather quickly when one such as the woman with the 'assassination mark' on you comes along. Color me surprised, trying to block a water snake with a piece of metal or jagged ice picks".

"Ok, and what about the bed behind me?" Jason's voice further reveals his total darkness in the affair he is dunked into.

"Well, if you need a place to seclude yourself in, a room full of weaponry and armor is a solid spot to collect oneself".

"Oh, yea? Is that why it has a note on it with the words 'Happy birthday, my snuggly bear' on it?"

"Oh, that?" Gaedon looks back at Jason's insistent look, not too sure what that was about amidst this whole incomprehension. He remains silent, a set of clothes in his arms. Then, a blinding rush of smoke forcing Jason's eyes shut "Dude! What the---

The smoke disappears pretty quickly, leaving his free in sight. But Gaedon was no longer present, leaving Jason to gaze at the monitors present. A sight, in particular, catches his eye "Huh?"

A trap door under the tiles of the first floor opens, his brother popping out head first. He winces his eyes "Gaedon?".

He reels back as the figure of his brother turns directly to the camera, a single finger to his mask, a  teasing demand to silence as he rises from the hidden door, hands filled with a set of clothes. Weapons soon follow imbued in a gleaming violet aura, walking as if they were actually sentient individuals. They move quickly and precisely to hidden spots throughout the room as Gaedon wanders off to his wife, Melissa, since then away from the phone.

She looks back as he talks about indiscernible matters with a thumb pointed to the previous chamber. The kunoichi makes a sign with her hands and her clothes are changed. From a casual housewife to a stalker of the night, she wraps her hands behind Gaedon with the speed of a ninjutsu mistress, a fair kiss shared between the shinobi couple, her crimson lips muttering a 'thank you'.

Soon enough, her man fades in a purple whirlwind from her arms, leaving her to prepare. Jason's eyes are cut from the shot by the sound of landing boots nearby. He turns, a bit relieved to see his hosts over arming themselves for this endeavor with a farce scheming grin "Ohh, so THIS is what that note was about. Aww, I didn't think you were that kind of man. Such a tender one..."

Jason continues his parade of leering tone, all under Gaedon's silent gaze. One that doesn't bother him that much "Laugh all you can, little bro. It'll be fun to see the same happen to you soon enough".

"Huh? But you're actively stopping her, are you not? That woman who made the hit manifest?"

Gaedon nudges slightly, his gaze refusing to relent "Tell me, Jason, you remember Melissa's younger sister, Miranda?"

"Hum..." Jason scratches his head, a noticeable blush on his quiet face behind his diverted eyes. One that Gaedon is quick to notice "So you do, huh? Little baby brother has a girlfriend, huh? And, hearing from Melissa, you're just as lovey-dovey as I am, aren't you?".

"It's not the same". Jason spits, trying to defend himself from the undefendable. Two sisters, two brothers, both entwined in one another. The elders are married, the young ones aren't yet.

"Ohh, don't worry about that, little brother" Gaedon takes on a more brotherly tone, placing a hand on his shoulder "This is exactly why Melissa is taking this as seriously as I".

Jason's eyes turn to his brother's metal mask, the eyes behind conveying a hidden truth "What do you mean by that--Ohh?!"

His eyes are distracted by the familiar dagger of a kunoichi. One he had seen many times before, mostly in dates "Yea...turns out her sister as much encroached with you as her older sis is with me. It was supposed to be a surprise and you know this is a way of proposing".

"Ohh...I...I didn't know. Of course! Of course, I'd take her in a heartbeat, bro! You know us, don't you?"

"Yea, I do. The one who threw her own hit only seeks to undermine that. Apparently, this feud goes back a long time. But this whole 'assassination' on a man already marked? Not happenin'. A universal rule they have written somewhere".

"Really? So she's breaking the rules..."

"Yep, which is why Melissa was on the phone with her mother. Someone somewhere is getting here this moment to have this sorted out. But, you know them, it's more likely that whoever has a hit on you will be getting here--

A massive crashing sound erupts t the front door. The door used to welcome people in and out now lies in pieces inside the kitchen, the majority of its wooden flesh frozen in place here and here.

Melissa sits in a wariza position well aware of the blatant intrusion. Jason, meanwhile, is in complete disarray, shaking and throbbing in panic leaving Gaedon to just now end his sentence "...sooner..."

he moves to the control Jason only just now notices, the interactive mechanisms featuring hard light mimics of buttons "Ok, I see you two went for the sci-fi theme, but whatever, you're going for the frontal camera, right?"

"Nah, it's just a distraction. She's going for the spot where you're supposed to be".

Jason's voice stutters in panic "Wait, what?! No, no, no! I don't want to be hitched to some random interloper!!"

"Relax, she's not. Melissa went on to make sure to 'hint' at your presence in the guest room, where she's sitting by, littered with weapons I've hidden. You know, the same weapons that walked off their own like I was that beauty from 'Beauty and the beast'".

"Ohh...alright. But, what happens now?"

The monitors all pool as one to give off a clear feed to the designated room with the house mistress waiting, fully dressed in a war panoply custom-made for a kunoichi with a few differences. Having found her own man to 'mark' at the local shrine and 'assassinate' later on in a secluded wilderness under the night stars had found no further desire to feed the lecherous eyes of other men present, and it reflects in her attire. Seemingly baggy, an illusion cast in the fiber with a sigil hidden under to make it so.

All the contrary to the intruding kunoichi dropping from the vent, with two daggers seeking Melissa sheathed in icy cold metal. The shine of metal chords behind her, a fresh blade running through the two frozen assailants. The melt in instantaneous, leaving the deceased projectiles to bubble in the heat before Melissa as she rises to her feet, her eyes shut "I assume you are of that blue lotus assailant going for my brother-in-law".

The intruder lands in the opposite spot of the house mistress, a kunoichi uniform tailored more for seduction than much else, as it is the true variant in every female ninja active. An open gown, black leggings reaching up to her thighs, a generous form, her feminine parts emphasized, all followed with a voice meant to drive anyone in a sultry drive "Am I? I must be considering my mark is here, hidden, judging by his disappearance. You know interfering with a woman's mark, regardless of your marital stature is against the honor rules, right?"

Jason gulps as Gaedon approaches, his face turned to his younger sibling "We watch. By 'we', I mean 'you'. You watch comfortably on this chair. Consumables are on the mini-fridge on your left".

"Wait, what? What about--

"You kidding me, bro? Some all-nonsense intruder went to plant her butt home. Our home. You think I'm just about to leave my wife to deal with this? And the potential collateral damage? Nah, housemaster duty...and supplier".

"Supplier?--

"Catch you later!" A vortex swirls midway inside Gaedon's torso, robbing him of the same place as Jason, left to deal with the erupting smoke seeking the air "Gah, stop doing that!"

"You speak of the honor rules when you went to mark a man already targeted by another? I simply do right by that fellow kunoichi who just happens to be my sister. Taking that rivalry so far to simply break the rules. How bold of you to come to my domain with accusations of me dishonoring our elder pacts".

"Tsk, it matters little who marks first. If I get him, I get him. I simply need to wring the answer out of you" The intruder swathes her hands forward in a blocking stance, with one pressing on the surface of her padded arm. Frozen picks appear from them, wrapped in cold air. The process follows through her other arms, crafting about eight frozen projectiles.

"That's assuming you get halfway through me, let alone utterly" Melissa comment, her face clad in receding metal sheltering her visage.

The intruder swings her arms around, allowing the daggers to float, linked by a chilled wire. She brings her arms up and down, leading the chorus of falling knives directed at Melissa...instantly burned by a flaming breath irradiating heat, to leave even more bubbling water.

Amidst the coiling water, the blue lotus member rushes forward, weaving hand signs as to halt the water from its stationary puddle, to rise once in frozen tendrils seeking to burrow in Melissa.

The fiery Melissa wastes no time weaving her own signs before coiling her hands near her and spreading them outward. With an eruption of heat and sparks, flame taking on the shape of feathers smear in exact numbers, tearing the tentacles apart mid burns.

She braces herself, her own flame-based sword out to intercept the blue lotus's signature twin daggers, much more meticulously crafted to endure elemental attacks.

They clash, expending bits of flame and water and truly induce the other in combat. Conflicting clans, conflicting elements, conflicting blades, it all erupts in the darkness of the night.

Their eyes flash in opposing colors, fueled by their elements. Every clash sees them pushed away from the other as a result of the tide of ice trying to flood the searing coast of flame. Through the constant confrontations, it was becoming obvious to Melissa that her opponent had not come alone in this endeavor, as the time before their blades sought the other, she was, in a time lapse, making a subtle gesture across her hands.

Melissa smirks under her metallic mask, only briefly, promoting a change in her eyes in the same time span. "What are you wincing about, hot head? Troubled at my inevitable victory?"

The swing of her searing blade prompts the blue lotus kunoichi to backstep. A prime moment within Melissa's swing showcasing a vulnerable stance for an outside force to strike. One that never comes. Its blue shadow, robbed of its opportunity.

"Afraid of my heat?" Melissa taunts with a forward jump, pushing the ambient heat at the lotus opponent, scratching a bite of her attire as she strafes left to avoid the most of the horizontal swing.

"Don't kind yourself!" rebuts the dodging woman, her icy irises looking upward to see another shadow of blue color dropping, two small daggers awaiting to weaken the Phoenix kunoichi. Yet again, it fades with sudden momentum.

Were she to give another second to rekindle her eyes on Melissa, her neck would be assailed by flames of incapacitations and a searing spirit Demon energy hemorrhage. Instead, one of her ponytails it cut from the whole of her hair and set ablaze.

Anger pours from her eyes "You harlot! How dare you slash away at my hair in such a manner!" She weaves some signs and collides her palms together with the fingers separated. A jagged whirlwind of ice springs forth from the crevasse of her palms, gnawing straight for Melissa.

The Phoenix woman drops her weapon, leaving it to hover around her as a sentry as she weaves a different set of signs, imbuing her hands with a reflective flame. They extend as hexagonal walls which she slams together as two massive doors. Solid flame braces for the frozen typhoon clashing against it.

Shards of ice spurn a well as scraps of heat. Melissa's glare is locked at her opponent, waiting for any alteration of the jutsu as the Blue Lotus clan is known for. It comes rather quickly with her hands erupting from each other, resulting in the typhoon's divide in two. They circle behind Melissa, seemingly guided by unseen hands, seeking to crash on her back with all the weight of their very existence. And they do.

But not completely. Much of the typhoons meltdown under Melissa's gathered heat now enveloping her very body. Eyes still on the Blue Lotus enemy, a subtle glance at her right see her nod. One her nemesis notices "Ohh? What are you looking at, sunshine?"

"A grave mistake you have made attacking me in our domain, Blue Lotus".

"Ehh? 'Our'? I don't recall seeing another one of your kind--

A shadow spurns from where she glanced at. A shiny item seeps forth from under a tile. A dagger inscribed with parchment about the same size. It springs using the wall behind the Blue Lotus. "Ehh? An ambusher?"

She had seen it, though she couldn't recall, seeing the velocity it went about. The initiate sister that sought to lunge at Melissa's flank, the brown one had rebutted with a shiny weapon gleaming in purple. The other initiate going for a downward ambush, the same entity had repelled with twin metal in its hands, again warped in a violet shade.

And now, there it was, going for Melissa, the latter bracing her shoulders to boost its jump as it hurls a dagger at a certain direction. One the Blue Lotus sees with fright "Watch out! Incoming unknown at your four!" Too late, the projectile pierces the shadow at the ceiling, revealed to be yet another initiate. The weapon does not bring harm to her, but instead wraps the parchment around, dividing itself in many, all glowing with a ninja insignia. One robbing her strength, eroding the ability to cling to the ceiling. She falls, wrapped like a sausage on the tiles.

The shadow had already lunged to the second initiate, the other responsible for aiding in the redirection of the typhoon at Melissa. A single swath sees her bleeding demonic energy, falling to the floor as the first one. A dagger lands beside her head, spreading the same sealing parchment gluing her to the very spot.

It lands behind Melissa, the momentum of its run halted. Here, the Blue Lotus can see the shape of a man clad in brown. The hands he brings to her side are ripe with swelling energy rushing to his palms. Miniature sigils orbit around them. Sigils she can recognize "Sealing symbols? Then this one is no ambusher?!"

"My husband, yes" replies Melissa as she regains hold of her blazing blade "You have heard of the men who are wed to us, have you not? My father is such a man. Fuinjutsu wielder, behold to the title of housemaster. The man who stands behind me is such a man as well, trained by the hand of our elders".

"Tsk, I was told your kind had given up on that procedure. What made you rescind those decrees?" The Blue Lotus had ceased the channel of the typhoon as Gaedon produced a ward rebuking the frozen might of their grasp.

"We never really left that endeavor. You are free to gloat about this statement, but your words do hold true about our clan. We can be 'hotheads' at times and act with rash judgment. Which is why someone with the ability to simmer our flames is a very valued ally. And who better to play the part than the men whose arms we dive in?"

"Hold on, hold on. The way you tailor your sentence makes it seem like every husband you have under your grasp has the knowledge of fuinjutsu. It cannot be as such".

"It is." Melissa points her blade at the Blue Lotus "You have seen it for yourself, the men can be trained to be just as competent as we are. The only reason you have failed to consider one at your side is the hubris that blinds you as it did us before. They were never to be barred from the walking the path at our side, their alignment was simply different than us. And I now see why you see to marry my brother-in-law. Well, you shall not. I refuse to have my sister robbed of her 'mark' as a cheap shortcut".

"And indeed, he will not" a voice reverberates outside of the domain. The building starts unmaking itself, disassembled and left to hover in the air, with Gaedon panicking under handsigns "No, I know this! Wait, our stuff!!!"

He spreads a wall of energy encasing their valuable items. Fridge, tables, chairs, anything, and everything is sealed in a protective manifestation of an aura.

"Come now, have you no faith in our intervention?" calls the voice once more. An elder voice affiliated to an elderly woman dressed in white. His face and extremities of his attire are masked by a gilded filament. She is flanked by two more on each side, one bearing the colors of red and blue, respectively.

Melissa can see her mother and father standing on one side of the line, where the red representative of the Scroll Wardens is, to act as a link to the two. The Blue Lotus members stand on the right, although devoid of any male counterparts. Instead, many more of them stand in line to the blue representative.

The opposing clans stare at each other with a hostile look in their eyes, with the Phoenix shinobi placing a hand on their counterparts' shoulders. A call to simmer, as they were the most likely to pounce in provoked.

"Last time you did this, I had to refurbish the entirely of our furniture". Gaedon recalls, seeing the bill imprinted on the receipt. He weeps softly as the mass of furniture he has under his control all come to stack in perfect order "I'd rather not have to cut a hole in my purse once more".

"Oh, come now. You know how old I happen to be. Surely you can forgive an elderly. But we'll speak of this later..." she turns his mask to the Blue Lotus, a much more stern voice "Now, we have been told that you went and marked a man already targeted by another. You know this goes against our laws..."

"What?! No! I've marked him first, she just came in and did it afterward!" protests the Blue Lotus kunoichi.

"Is that so?" The elder woman once again turns to Gaedon, the most likely responsible for sheltering his brother away "Would you be a dear and bring the subject before me? I need to verify her claims".

"Sure..." He disappears in a vortex, one left swirling as Jason comes out, fazed and confused "Wait, so did you beat her?"

"Nah, things are deescalating right now. We have visitors" states Gaedon, a hand on his brother's shoulder".

"Hum...ok?" Jason stops, seeing the lines of red and blue, all of them turning their eyes to him, including the matron of the Scroll Wardens.

"Come to me, dear child, don't be shy" she beckons of her old woman voice, sliding a giggle or two "This one looks pretty lively".

Jason quietly and worryingly wanders to the center, ever the spotlight. "Now sonny..." asks the old woman, gesturing to his hands "Your palms. Turn them up, my dear".

"Sure?" He does so, feeling her wrinkled hands touching them. Two distinct sigils appear on the surface. One red and the other, blue. Gradually, the sigils become more complete until they stop developing. To her and the two accompanying representants, it was glaringly obvious the red one had a much more complex sigil, a measure of time passed the moment it was marked on the individual.

The old woman turns to the Blue Lotus with a doubting eye "Hmm...first marked you said? This seems to speak the opposite".

"No, no! I'm serious, I was the first---

A bonk strikes her noggin, causing to wince in pain "Kyyee! Mother!"

"Don't you 'Mother!' me, young lady! What did I say about the rules?!" An older kunoichi of the Blue Lotus rattles under her smoldering fist, her eyes closed in outrage.

"But--but---

"And you went to convince your sisters to partake in the hit as well?! "

"You always said I needed to help them practice once in a while!!" shouts the young woman, still caressing her head in pain.

"Ohh, so they're sisters then! Should have known..." Gaedon massages his head, a bit surprised at how inexperienced the added assailants went against Melissa. He makes a single sign and the seals dissipate from them, leaving the trio to flock to their mother.

The one that fiercely picks her oldest by the ear "Ow, ow, ow! Mother, that is painful!!"

"You three! Go back home. I have much to instruct you about certain rules. You, however, we are not done! You have a stern talking to look forward to!"

The old woman watches the youngling being tempered, a slight smile behind her filament "I don't suppose the Phoenix clan will exact retribution?"

"No, no need. This is enough reprival" states Melissa's mother, more than happy to see one of her daughters' usurper being caught a hand in the cookie jar.

"Then this little session is fulfilled". Every individual that traveled in haste to this location jump out in the darkness, including the ambushing kunoichi, leaving the tiles of Gaedon and Melissa's home to reform.

Jason, on the other hand, is relieved. He sits by the couch, sighing all the more as he takes the remote to turn the television on...only to have it turned on "Huh??"

He sees Melissa and Gaedon both standing by his side with his brother handing him a few items. A ring, a set of clothes and a few drinks. Hosltaur drinks "Huh??? What is--

"Did you forget?" Melissa speaks with a grin on her face "My sister still has her mark on you! There's no doubt she'll be sneaking around to 'assassinate' you tonight. So you best prepare yourself, a kunoichi prowling for a mate can be quite feisty at first".

"Huh????"

"Ohh, and don't worry about the bed. We've become experienced at 'cleaning up' an afterglow if you get my drift, bro. Focus on your incoming assailant...and the training afterward" Gaedon joins in the grin, his arm on Melissa's shoulder.

"Huh? Huh????? What--

"Now go on...or not, she'll find you regardless" concludes the Phoenix woman, grabbing a bag of snacks by the kitchen "As for us, we'll be down, to let you lovebirds have your fun. Try not to stain the bed too much, alright~

Before he could say anything, they disappeared, leaving Jason utterly alone inside their home. Not that he was afraid of his sweetheart, but what man wouldn't be a bit paranoiac about a woman stalking them as their nature? Speaking of which, his thoughts were cut short as his ears had picked up the distinct sound of an opening...somewhere...