Mission 17 (Yenn)

Mission Name: Safe
Mission Type: Rescue
Mission Rank: B
Mission Goal: Rescue Simon and River (again), don’t injure the locals.
Description: Simon and River have gotten themselves into trouble again, this time River is being accused of being a witch. A small town of ‘naturalists’ has become unsettled by the younger girl's abilities and is intent on burning her at the stake. Infiltrate the town and rescue them without hurting the townsfolk, and return the siblings to Malcom Reynolds.
Payment: 25,000 ryo
Requirements: C-Class, Completed ‘Shindig’

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Lord have mercy, can Simon and River go a week without getting into trouble again? Still Tamwyn supposed it wasn’t their fault. To be honest, the Capt. could probably make sure they weren’t left without a combatant around to protect them so often. For now though they were traveling to get them back from a crazy town of crazy people. The worst part was the people were just doing what they thought best and they hadn’t broken any laws or really hurt anyone. So hurting them was out of the question. Still, Tamwyn had a plan to get Simon and River out safe and sound. They had already scouted the town and it wasn’t particularly well fortified, or even well guarded. The simple ‘prison’ would be enough to keep someone in if they weren’t trained, which of course neither Simon or River were, but they would be simple enough to subvert. All Tamwyn would do was make two shadow clones, have them transform into Simon and River, and do a swap. The clones could only stick around until Tamwyn got about a kilometer away from them. However with the speed they’d be forced to move to accommodate Simon and River that would take some time in the wooded area.

So the clones would last long enough to get them safely away and if they tried to ‘burn River at the stake’ before the clones dispelled, well. They would get a bit of a surprise wouldn’t they? Tamwyn didn’t really feel bad about that sort of thing. For now though, he was still inching his way closer to the jailhouse, Yenn nearby him keeping a watch out for trouble.

[Tam 1]

“This is one of the dumber things we’ve had to do so far. And that’s saying something.” Yenn wasn’t surprised that they had to go rescue Simon and River again. The siblings seemed incapable of staying out of trouble. They at least had the decency of getting into trouble together, it would be so much harder to rescue them simultaneously if they separated from each other. Turns out that River’s ‘abilities’ were a bit much for this backwoods town to process, and they were intent on purifying her soul or something. With fire. Because fire was the purifier, or some such nonsense. After having a taste of ending people’s lives a tiny part of her now gnawed at her, telling her that it was the easiest way to solve problems. She pushed the voice away, even if it was correct, it wasn’t right.

Tamwyn had a plan to pull a switch with some clones and hopefully they’d be long gone before anyone was the wiser. It would probably work seeing as the townsfolk were dumb enough to believe that River was a ‘witch’. And that way they wouldn’t have to hurt anyone, let alone kill them. As they inched closer to the jailhouse Yenn saw an opening to approach the back door while no one was around. It was surprisingly unlocked, for a jailhouse it wasn’t exactly secure, but then again these people also thought chakra based abilities were witchcraft so she wasn’t putting too much stock into their reasoning skills. Crouching down and opening the door an inch she peeked inside the house and seeing only Simon and River she would look back and motion for Tamwyn to come closer as she slipped inside and stood guard at the front door.

Once Yenn got to the door and checked it out she would motion for Tamwyn to come forward. He would do so, silent as the grave. When he reached the door he would slip inside and let Yenn guard the door as he moved to the cell and picked the lock. Then he would create two shadow clones and each would perform the transformation technique to transform into Simon and River before Tamwyn silently closed the cell door again and locked it. Then they would quietly sneak back out of the jailhouse and close the door behind them. Afterwards they would move quietly, but quickly for a time before Tamwyn called for a slowdown to allow for River and Simon to move at a better pace for themselves. “We’re outside of their scouts now. So now we can just walk back to camp.” He would say as he moved at a much more maintainable pace for the two non-combatants.

Eventually he would get the memories of the clones and laugh. “They were about to burn the clone when we got out of range. It appears as if she just literally disappeared into a smoke cloud. Oh that’s comical.” He would say as he began to laugh. Simon would look at him as if he were crazy and River would laugh with him. Eventually they would return to camp and everyone would be safe and sound. Simon and River rescued again. That night, Tamwyn would make a mark next to his bunk. It was a counter for how many times they’d had to rescue those two in particular. He figured it might be amusing to point out one day when they left.

[Tam 2]


Exit

One day Yenn was going to have to ask Tamwyn how he got so good at lock picking. It was a pretty niche skill and not one that she had been taught at the Academy. But regardless of how he’d acquired it, he was able to easily let the real Simon and River out of the jail cell before making some clones and locking the fake ones inside. She guarded the door to make sure they weren’t interrupted, but no one came looking and the four of them were able to escape out the back door unaccosted. They walked more slowly than she would have liked, and she started to finally understand what it must feel like for Tamwyn to have to wait for her. Once Tamwyn stated that they were outside the town’s scouting range they slowed down even more, since apparently what they had been doing before was too fast. She’d done almost all of her scouting and sneaking around with Tamwyn, so she had no real measure for speed other than him. And he just zipped around like a flash, so the comparison wasn’t even realistic.

She saw Tamwyn laugh and she smiled along with him, she realized he must have just received the memories of his clones and the thought of a clone ‘poofing’ in a puff of smoke when the crazy townsfolk were so sure she was a witch was definitely funny. Seeing the confusion on Simon’s face she tried her best to explain but gave up when she saw River laughing along with Tamwyn. It was funnier that Simon didn’t understand, and she just chuckled along. River’s reaction was mildly concerning, since Yenn wasn’t sure if River understood what had happened and found it genuinely funny, or if there was some other madness at play. Either way the four of them made it back to camp and no one was burned at the stake. Not even the clones. Lying with Tamwyn that night she saw him make a mark on his bunk and just shrugged and curled up contentedly. He had some weird habits, but then again so did she.

{Exit Thread}