The decision no one likes making [Open]

[Hoshiko Gin]

Hoshiko Gin, she led a rather simple life despite being a member of the ANBU, and had yet again shrunk into the shadows. What could you expect, as the daughter of merchants (not always profitable ones at that), living in poverty for so long humbled a person. Growing up a shy child, it seemed she had reverted back into her old ways again; well it seemed, maybe.... even perhaps she had isolated herself. It was not that she was a timid person, but rather, a very disinterested person. She had no desire to seek people out. There was a time where she had acquired so many good friends, and now it was as if they had either vanished, or forgotten her existence. Her blond hair fell loosely over her exposed shoulders, and she shrugged.

Walking down the path, passing every person without a second thought, her stomach grumbled loudly. That is what had awoken her today. My poor tummy...' The kunoichi whimpered as she looked up and down the streets of the plaza, it all smelled wonderful, and you could certainly tell Gin thought so. Her nose lifted into the air and she took a great inhale through the nose. How could anyone ever make such a decision? Maybe she had gotten used to eating the instant ramen that had become her daily regiment. Today for some reason, 'I feel like I want something better... and I don't want to eat alone.' Have you ever actually seen a person, sitting alone at a restaurant? There was something very odd about it, perhaps they didn't have friends. Perhaps, they were a bad tipper; or even worse, maybe they chewed with their mouth gaping open. Yuck!

Her stomach growled even louder this time; "Why can't I make a simple decision like this...?"

She began convincing herself that sometimes the simplest decisions were the hardest ones to make. Yes, she concluded, that seemed like a logical explanation.

 

[Takaki Saeko]

Girl we need some action, if we're gonna make it like a true survivor... We need some action, if we wanna take our love away from here...

Kumo in the twilight hours is nothing like what was promised in my video games and cartoons. In fiction, that tenebrous transition between light and dark is a danger zone of the utmost excitement. The Night Watch kills the wrong vampire and sets off the end of the world. Portals open straight to hell and vomit out literal Nazi zombies, forcing us to fight them back just so the sun can rise next morning. Dinosaurs with mounted machineguns ridden by the 'Hoff. But the reality of the situation is that literally everyone just wants to get out of work and go home to their families. Fascist undead aren't an issue unless they're preventing you from getting a cold one. So learns every academy student who pretends to be a witcher on the prowl.

Last time I was on the roofs overhead was when I was a fresh grad, although even in those days I think that running like an idiot on the rooftops was just an excuse to find a nice place to smoke, drink, and hook up. We didn't actually expect anything bad to happen. It was fun while it lasted, but eventually sour kisses in the shade of chimneys got boring, too. And for the last decade, at least, i've taken the streets. After all, the twilight is the time when some good deals can be found at the open-air stalls closing up for the night. I know, because I've managed to score a gigantic leek. I'm gonna make you into so much stew, buddy!

So it happens that I'm walking along, twirling my leek and humming a tune, when I hear it: the sound of a hellportal being opened around the corner. Instantly, I draw my leek into a defensive fencing stance and my eyes dart around to find the nearest sources of cover. If I'm lucky, maybe Demon Invasion: Part Deux will actually happen right now. I can be a hero and a sheepdog n' shit, because I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord... And I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord...

(Yes, most of this is simply me being a gigantic 'sperg, but when you have a job as boring as my day to day existence, you have to let me blow off steam once in a while.)

I can hear a demon rounding the bend. How, do you ask? That hellportal growling sound grows with every step, that's how! But I've got the drop on this one. I'm gonna get me a Hayata Medal of Valor (which is a silver medallion depicting the late Raikage holding a lobster and giving off the world's best shit-eating grin). As he/she/zhe/xir/it/bun/(gotta watch the pronouns in this day and age) rounds the corner, I swing my leek at full force to smack his/her/their/zheir/its/bun gob. Social JUUUUUSSSSTICE!!!!