Post by Koichi on Sept 19, 2016 8:08:34 GMT -5
The crunch of stone and dirt under your shoe could become rather monotonous. Especially if it was the only sound you'd listened to for the past three hours. The birds changed their tune as you walked, some even halting it completely as you passed. The insects chittered and chirped a million patterns, any one of which could be focused on and picked apart to try and figure out just what it was supposed to mean. Occasionally, a plane flew overhead, dragging it's droning, whining screech some seconds behind as evidence light wins the race over sound. Sometimes the young man even imagined he was nearby a road, and the light, breathy sounds of lighter cars driving about this early in the morning raced from his mind, into the air, and back into his ear. All varied, all unique, all worth listening to.
Still, the crunch of dirt and stone would always be there.
And Koichi was quite possibly lost.
The young man lifted his eyes from the ground to get a better look at his surroundings. Trees, trees, and more trees. The ground beneath his feet still looked like a well worn enough path. Just a lesser one to the stone he'd followed three hours ago. A path less taken for a shrine that interested him? "Apparently not." Gold hovered around his fist as he turned to strike a nearby tree. Not enough force to try and break it, and enough protection to keep his hand from being scarred up again. He took another swing and deliberately missed, annoyance vented just as quickly as it was generated. He turned his eyes first up the path, then back down it. It looked like he was reaching the top of something, and he could probably get back to the stone much faster than he got off it if he cheated a little.
Minutes later, Koichi looked down from the mountaintop, severely annoyed at himself again. From the looks of it, the stone went right to the shrine, while his path existed for the sole purpose of reaching this spot. No trees were sacrificed. Instead Koichi pulled together an oblong reishi platform and stepped onto it. He looked down his path, visually and mentally plotting it several times before he finally sent a reishi road racing down the mountain with himself close behind. Out in the country, he'd loved to do this to get from place to place quickly, and from the ever widening grin on his face, that love had yet to die. A real pity everything was so modernized and crowded in the city that he'd never have a chance to try this there.
He was right though. His path down was several degrees faster than his trip up, and several degrees more dangerous. A few trees that once offered solace from the rising sun were more than happy to take swipes at his head, or drag on the hood of his jacket as he skirted too close for their liking and his own. "Come on! The sleeves already got ripped off. Don't you think I deserve a break?" A face of leaves was probably a no. By the time he could see again, he was racing towards a rock he should have read three hours ago. 'Mountaintop Path'.
The Koichi that stumbled through the front gate of the maneki neko shrine he'd been searching for was much younger than the one that left the stone path. Or at the very least he felt it. Face scratched up, hair in a mess, small bits of dirt on his clothes and a back that was certainly gonna be bruised come the morning if he hadn't managed to get his blut up in time. The grin from his race down the mountain hadn't faded, now accompanied by the sort of mad laughter normally evoked when a child had a brush with death while doing something stupid.
He raised his fists to the air for his victory shout. "Made it!"
Word Count: 666
Still, the crunch of dirt and stone would always be there.
And Koichi was quite possibly lost.
The young man lifted his eyes from the ground to get a better look at his surroundings. Trees, trees, and more trees. The ground beneath his feet still looked like a well worn enough path. Just a lesser one to the stone he'd followed three hours ago. A path less taken for a shrine that interested him? "Apparently not." Gold hovered around his fist as he turned to strike a nearby tree. Not enough force to try and break it, and enough protection to keep his hand from being scarred up again. He took another swing and deliberately missed, annoyance vented just as quickly as it was generated. He turned his eyes first up the path, then back down it. It looked like he was reaching the top of something, and he could probably get back to the stone much faster than he got off it if he cheated a little.
Minutes later, Koichi looked down from the mountaintop, severely annoyed at himself again. From the looks of it, the stone went right to the shrine, while his path existed for the sole purpose of reaching this spot. No trees were sacrificed. Instead Koichi pulled together an oblong reishi platform and stepped onto it. He looked down his path, visually and mentally plotting it several times before he finally sent a reishi road racing down the mountain with himself close behind. Out in the country, he'd loved to do this to get from place to place quickly, and from the ever widening grin on his face, that love had yet to die. A real pity everything was so modernized and crowded in the city that he'd never have a chance to try this there.
He was right though. His path down was several degrees faster than his trip up, and several degrees more dangerous. A few trees that once offered solace from the rising sun were more than happy to take swipes at his head, or drag on the hood of his jacket as he skirted too close for their liking and his own. "Come on! The sleeves already got ripped off. Don't you think I deserve a break?" A face of leaves was probably a no. By the time he could see again, he was racing towards a rock he should have read three hours ago. 'Mountaintop Path'.
The Koichi that stumbled through the front gate of the maneki neko shrine he'd been searching for was much younger than the one that left the stone path. Or at the very least he felt it. Face scratched up, hair in a mess, small bits of dirt on his clothes and a back that was certainly gonna be bruised come the morning if he hadn't managed to get his blut up in time. The grin from his race down the mountain hadn't faded, now accompanied by the sort of mad laughter normally evoked when a child had a brush with death while doing something stupid.
He raised his fists to the air for his victory shout. "Made it!"
Word Count: 666