the corpse corps

Independent naruto oc tracking 'thecorpsecarrier' accepting threads

[thecorpsecarrier]

[gonna take a quick break from writing, probably for a week or so! work is especially busy right now, and i won’t have a ton of time. see y’all in a bit!]

[nomenu]

[who-am-i-lovely]

I understand. I understand why people hold hands. I’d always thought it was about possessiveness, saying ‘This is mine.’ But it’s about maintaining contact. It’s about speaking without words. It’s about I want you with me and don’t go.

(via who-am-i-lovely)

[avenger-hawk]

naruto詰め by azkn on pixiv posted with the artist’s permission. don’t remove the source. Reblog, don’t repost.

[thecorpsecarrier]

ketsuekki‌:

Jun’s gratefulness came as an unwelcome surprise. Minami remained still, tense and patient for whatever presumed agony awaited her, but her eyes told another story. She stared at Jun, the darkness beneath her gaze doing nothing but accentuating the confusion that laid within. ‘Thank you?’ ‘Thank you’ for what? For being a burden? For ruining yer night? For fucking things up like always?

There were so many, many things Minami wished to ask — to scream — but she decided to stay quiet. Jun had done enough already; she didn’t have to deal with Minami’s ugly thoughts on top of the rest of her shit.

“Yer kind are rare, ya know. Back home. In Kiri. I’ve never seen anybody heal before. It’s weird! Wait, no, uh, n-not weird! Cool! It’s cool.”

Word slipped out from between her teeth, rambled and desperate in their making. She wanted Jun to like her. She needed Jun to like her. Minami just didn’t know how, filling the silence with half-formed compliments in a last attempt to compensate for… For her disappointments.

Green flame flickers into being in the palms of Jun’s hands, sending soft watery light spilling out into the space between them, dancing in the reflections on the tile. There’s a moment where she slips out of being, dipping below into the meditative place at the center of two ecosystems meeting, merging, flourishing; deep-earth-quiet and stormy-sea-rage.

There’s always something thrilling about reaching out and touching Minami’s chakra. It’s the only way she ever gets to, she cannot find it with her eyes like others can, but she is not touch-blind to the energy of others. Minami’s feels like breathing in the air before a hurricane, thick with static and the promise of destruction.

“Thank you,” she murmurs, only half aware of the words leaving her, mind focused on coaxing new-pink skin to bloom under her fingertips. Idle thoughts gather in the wake of Minami’s words, musing at the truth of the statement - knowing Kiri, it’s terribly likely they nurtured few healers, unwilling or unable to teach the exhausting, time-consuming art of mending wounds to children unlikely to survive their own graduation. But even with attention split, she can feel Minami’s restless mind pacing.

“I could teach you, if you wanted.”

[thecorpsecarrier]

jakkuusagi‌:

        Saburo hesitates. There isn’t anything that she needs to do yet. His request is an eventuality. He doesn’t even know if it’s worth it to ask. The mission he’d just returned from had struck him like the very lightning of his chakra. He had faced death plenty of times before and had committed murder now more times than he could count. But something about this mission had tore at his carefully constructed apathy.  

          It was that horrible feeling that when all was said and done, his remains would be a pile of ash in the end. There would be no body to bury. What would he leave behind? What legacy would he have? He wasn’t even sure what spurred the thoughts, only that they were there. 

           Maybe he’s ignoring the real issue at hand, but it gave him something to do now, didn’t it? Saburo removes a thick chain necklace from the pouch at his side. He wears it on his belt, usually, but they’re not meant to have any identifiers while in their ANBU uniform. So he hides it away instead; a black metal chain with acrylic red leaves in between each black bead. 

                           “I don’t. It’s just a request. An eventual favor.” Saburo holds out the chain. “One day, you or someone, will find I died. If, in that near or far future, you find this… could you give it to a friend for me?”

The wariness that threads between her bones eases, and settles into the quiet background thrum of her senses. 

This too, was unexpected, but in the kind of way that settles the heavy mantle of sorrow over her shoulders. It’s not uncommon for things like this to be asked of her. Many such treasures have found their way into her hands, given by faces she both knows and doesn’t, passed to her with words spoken in quiet resignation and in the gasping, rattling breaths of a soul slipping away into the dark.

Jun wonders what it was that brought him to seek her out. But there are things in his eyes she cannot decipher and dried blood flecking his skin, and those are threads enough to weave together. Something must have unsettled him, some brush with death, close enough to hear it whisper you cannot run forever - but it is not her place to ask what it was.

“Of course,” she tells him, careful neutrality softened at the edges. It’s a pretty thing he offers her, nondescript in the way that the things with the most meaning tend to be, and she holds out her hand to accept it. “May I have their name? And if possible, their last known location?”

[thecorpsecarrier]

kusunokihime‌:

     “I think I should be able to find one…” Ryū nibbles her lip in thought. She knows it’s a hard place to find, between the terrain and her clan being reclusive. But surely it has to exist somewhere…at the very least, the jōnin who followed the smoke to find her should know, right? If…any of them are still alive at this point. That was eight years ago, after all…and a lot can change in eight years.

     But, at the very least, surely a mission report was made…maybe she can check the records department? Either way, she will find it! She’s too determined not to!

     At Jun’s offer to handle all the packing, Ryū almost makes to protest - she needs to chip in, too! But…well, she hasn’t ever gone on a long trip before…she’s barely even allowed out of the village. So odds are, Jun will know what to take better than she. And she’ll definitely carry her weight when the time comes to leave! There will be a few things she herself will need, like extra clothes and the like anyway. So, instead, she gives a curt nod. “Okay!”

     Glancing to a window, there’s a small jolt as she realizes how much time has passed. She’s been so engrossed in her new friend, she didn’t realize the time! By now she’s surely encroaching on Jun’s day…she shrinks a bit sheepishly. It’s a bit late to start looking for what she needs now: she’ll have to try tomorrow. “So…i-is it okay if - if I come back sometime? Though, uh…” The little medic itches at her neck sheepishly. “I’ll try not to just…barge in again.” Sure, she was invited in eventually, but…after she went poking around. “If you’re ever in Konoha for any reason, maybe…maybe we could meet up, ne? I mean…my place isn’t very…nice -” (it’s a tiny cramped apartment, after all ) “- but you’re always welcome to drop by!”

“You can come back if you want to.” There’s a key hidden in the chimney that the crows could fetch, if the girl comes back. “I don’t mind.”

Is this... what having a friend is like? She’s never been invited over to someone’s house before. It makes something warm curl up in her chest, soft and tentative.

“Thank you,” she says softly, and means it. But something tugs at her thoughts, some creeping doubt that pulls the corners of her mouth into a soft frown.

"... shinobi from Iwa came over the mountains, and... well, it’s all gone now.” The little town must be just over the border from Rock country, then.

She’s not been across the Iwa border, not ever; she knows better than to try and sneak anything but the tiniest of glances at the vast rocky crags of the mountains that cradle Rock country’s hidden village. She knows better because she’s seen what they do to Konoha shinobi that stray too close - or rather, she’s seen what little is left behind. She knows because she’s brushed a little too close to them before, and she’s slipped away from them with nothing more than luck and cowardice, but she knows very well how easily she could have been just another casualty in the snapping, snarling teeth of the grudge between their villages.

“Ryū,” she says to the girl. “If you want to go, it’s.... it might be very dangerous. We can be very careful and we can prepare really well, but -” but luck is a fickle creature “- but there’s still a chance we could get hurt.”

[ghoststrikes]

Harold

[thecorpsecarrier]

ketsuekki‌:

In hindsight, Minami shouldn’t have yielded her trust so easily; stories of infant rot in the gutters were ones she heard a hundred times over, chanted till her head rang with the warnings — but, even in a place without an ounce of nurture to spare, Minami was still a child, too little and too naive to resist the comfort Jun brought…

And she was also really, really hungry.

“Yeah!!” Minami rolled back and forth on her heels, unable to hide the excitement that threatened to burst from her skin. She never had breakfast before, but oh, she’d dreamt of it, filling her false belly with all the cereals and pastries and milk that the ladies on the radio mentioned. Morning meals were nothing but a silly wish of hers… And if that wish was being granted, that meant…That meant Jun must be a fairy!! Like the ones who gave favours for bones!

(Crow lady big cool!!)

She tugged Jun’s hoodie to get her attention. The older woman never said anything about paying, so they were going to steal — or, at least, that was what Minami’s child-logic declared. They needed to make a plan then, like proper shinobi!

“I’m gurh—good at steal. Quiet. Got rocks. Birbl—birdies fight?”

In an instant, the snarled threats and the flash of baby fangs evaporate, and there is only a child left behind. The enthusiasm in her little voice splits Jun’s heart - half bolstered by relief for having paved the start of the path forward with good intentions, and half shrinking in despair for the starving, desperate trust won so easily with a meal offered in a stranger’s hands.

The drag of swirling thoughts pulls her focus away, and the present takes a few moments to catch up to her.

“Hm? Oh, no, we don’t like to fight unless we have to.” She glances up at the Flock for approval, and they cluck and bob in agreement. “I’m sure you’re very good at whatever you put your mind to, but I don’t think we’ll be needing to steal. I have enough for both of us, I think.”

That might be a bit of an understatement; she has enough food to last both herself and the girl-child several weeks, carefully hidden away from prying eyes. While the market docks and the border towns are largely safe enough to drop a coin or two in, the inner sanctum of Kirigakure is not somewhere one wants to be seen with money - so a small stockpile of prepared supplies must travel with her. She dips her fingers into her pockets, finding the seals stitched into the lining and tugging them open with a soft touch of chakra to retrieve their contents.

Sweet-smoke venison jerky, dried apples, a few tasteless ration bars, some lukewarm honey oyaku - it’s not great food, by any means, but it’s hearty and it keeps well.

“Here,” Jun beckons, holding out a canteen. “Wash your hands, and then you can have what you like.”

[thecorpsecarrier]

For a long moment, Reiji stares at this woman with wide, round eyes. Tugging on his mother's coat, he points. "Hey, that's the lady! The lady from my dream! Y'know, the one where tōchan's swirlies gave me superpowers? She's the one who told me it would work!" (cuz those asks still crack me up xD)

This is not the first time she’s met Ryū’s child, but the last time had been quite some time ago, and the first meeting had been met by the owlish stare of perpetual bafflement that all babies seem to share. This time it’s a bit different. “...Pardon?” Traipsing about the world of dreams is not a power Jun possesses, and even if she did, that would hardly make her qualified to dole out advice regarding ‘superpowers’. She spares a mystified glance at a grinning Ryū to ensure that she had, in fact, heard correctly, and finds only confirmation. “That... must have been quite the dream.”

[thecorpsecarrier]

ketsuekki‌:

The Mist had a habit of swallowing voices, muffling the cries of the outside till her children heard nothing echoes, warped versions of the truth that laid just beyond their reach. Information was liquid gold in such a place, and Minami knew only the taste of poverty.

“It must be loud,” she whispered, excitement warbling her words. Big. Big! Minami had gathered that Kirigakure was small in comparison to others, judging from years of rumours and overheard drunks, but she never dared ask a teacher if that was the case. Such a question might cause offence, might arise suspicions of loyalty, and Yagura’s reign had no room for anything less than devotion. So Minami kept her mouth shut — and now here she was, talking to a Konohan! A Konohan talking about Konoha!

“We don’t…” Minami hesitated. Theirs was a dangerous game, one that would prove fatal if anyone from home ever found out. The smarter, better side of her begged for her to kill this nonsense in its cradle… And perhaps, if it was any other girl who waited for a reply, Minami would have obeyed her logic. 

( Jun’s special. )

“We don’t, uhmm, really have forn—foreigners in Kiri, not anymore. Lord Fourth killed them all. He said we can only trust our comrades. Our… Kin? Whatever that means.”

“It is,” Jun tells her, because it’s true. Konoha proper is a solid wall of sensory information - a thousand different sounds, sights, and smells, all wrapped together, a bombardment of life from every angle. Even far from the bustle of the streets, the forest sings, always. Day-creatures sing until the night-creatures eclipse them, humming and howling to the stars. She’s heard foreign shinobi call it ‘unnerving’, to be surrounded at all times by a tapestry of noise, to place such a constant burden on the senses, but Konoha shinobi have always seemed to take such eccentricities into stride.

We can only trust our comrades.

That feels like a stone she ought not turn over.

It’s something she’s heard the older shinobi speak of, always hushed and always laced with something sitting just under the surface of their words - contempt, often, but sometimes pity. They might actually be a problem for the rest of us if they could stop killing themselves first. 

Words sit heavy on her tongue, ones she ought not say. It means they want you to kill the people who don’t talk like you or think like you, she wants to tell this girl, wrapped in moonlight and carefully leashed bloodlust. People like me.

“It must be very quiet where you live,” she replies instead, voice subdued and weighted by heavy thoughts. “Do you...” like it there? But that’s another stone best left untouched, she thinks. “Do you get to travel a lot?”

[doggzone]

feels like summer

[thecorpsecarrier]

ketsuekki‌:

“Dun…Dunno…” Minami spoke slowly, thoughtfully, quietly wishing Kiseki were here. It wasn’t a terrible deal — directions in exchange for victory — but, even if Minami wanted to say yes, what if it was the wrong decision? A stupid, fatal decision? When children went missing in this neighbourhood, which was too often for any sense of safety, it didn’t take very long for their corpses to be found. This woman was a stranger, full of unknowns and danger and hardly trustworthy… But Jun had a gentleness about her, and that counted for much more in Water than it did in Fire.

She could end up dead today. Kiseki could have to carry her home in pieces, forced to set her limbs alight in a pile.

She could end up a winner today. She could probably wheedle a breakfast for her and Kiseki out this lady-of-crows too.

There was no time to waste. With determination wrapped round frail shoulders, Minami tried her best to look like the adult she dreamt of being; fearless, confident, and intelligent, all steeled shoulders and straightened spines as she held out a roughened hand for Jun to shake.

“Okie!! Bye — but ya got… Gotta prommm — promise — ! Gotta promise be nice.”

What a cold place this is.

The sea air strips the warmth away from the land like flesh from old bones, the clinging fog making the inner workings of Kirigakure a damp maze of frigid concrete, making warm and dry things one must fight tooth and nail for - but a flickering flame dances before her. She offers Jun a hand with determination a size too big for her skinny frame, burning brightly against the backdrop of the endless clouds, eyes filled with desperate, hungry courage.

Something mournful rises in the back of her throat and lingers there, bitter as bile, and she wonders how long it will be before this girl is as cold and gray as the flint-dark sea.

“I promise,” Jun murmurs, and means it. The offered hand is accepted and given a firm shake - and with that, their bargain has been made. The crows hum and cluck approvingly, whispering quietly to their girl about the empty streets and the position of the sun where it’s hidden behind the thick clouds. They’re got time yet before Jun’s expected anywhere, and she has a kid to take care of.

God, she has a kid to take care of. 

“Well,” she says, sitting back against the rough timber. “How about some breakfast first? Since you’re helping me, you’re a part of my team, and it’s important to take care of your teammates.”

[365filmsbyauroranocte]

[zetsumesu-blog]

Very strong woman!

Girls run the world!

[artbyalexis]

“thank god you runts got my good looks, huh?”

great nar-clan….or greatest nar-clan

[leechbitch]

Sweetmeat

[thecorpsecarrier]

leechbitch‌:

starter for @thecorpsecarrier !!

Sosho didn’t like women. In fact, Sosho didn’t like any human at all; they were too small, too fragile, and all too easy to kill by accident. The Leech Bitch was one of the few they were willing to tolerate, the only they were willing to obey, and now…

“I’m hungry,” they complained, “lemme have a few of them fucking crows!”

And now they had been ordered to look after this small, fragile, killable woman. If Minami had been a kinder mistress, one averse to killing her own summons, Sosho would have screamed. What did look after even mean?! Minami’s orders had been vague and hurried (which was unusual, considering the tight grip she usually had on them). Then she had the gall to just run off! As if she hadn’t just made Sosho a practical mother to this pink mess of a brood!

The summon writhed, its quiet squeals making their unhappiness clear to ‘Jun’. Minami’s decision was sensible, they knew, as Sosho was the smallest of the triplets — being a metre tall and a pitiful, dwarfish, four metres long. None of the others could perform this duty; their siblings were large, clumsy and nothing even close to ‘discreet’. Taberu would have either eaten Jun or abandoned their duty in search of another meal. Fuhai would have alerted any would-be enemies simply by existing. It was Sosho — and Sosho alone — who Minami could depend upon right now…

Although that didn’t help them feel any less bitter about the whole thing.

“You’re being selfish!”

The woods are still and silent in the wake of the rush of motion and noise that had swept Minami away, leaving behind hushed words spoken with something tense and vicious. So Jun does what she does best: she sits quietly, and waits. But this time, she has company aside from her ever-present flock, and it’s - well. It’s throwing a rather impressive tantrum.

It’s a bit of a blessing, the bind she’s in, for it draws the attention of the Many Eyes. If not for the threat to their girl, they certainly would have had some words for the creature demanding their blood, and they would not be very nice ones. It’s human hands that hold their tongues - not Minami’s, of course. Her disapproval would be hard to buy with violence, she’d likely only laugh if they turned their ire on her summoned beast. It’s Jun that would disapprove, and it’s Jun that they care about, she is theirs and theirs alone. Theirs is a crows-and-deer-and-girl flock, and no creature beyond that has any right to demand anything of their girl, especially not this... thing.

The crows say nothing, but Jun can feel their disdain like fine sandpaper rasping over her skin, their silence only making the pitiful squeals if the leech seem louder.

“I’m sorry,” Jun tells it, because she is a little bit sorry. “I’d offer you what I have, but I - I’m afraid I’d make a rather poor meal.”