Yokoshima Village

The women bowed and picked up her basket of fungi.
"You're welcome, I just hope that if you make it you'll at some point come back here and tell us the story." she said and smiled and waved her hand dismissively. "The necklace is yours now, just make sure to pass it on someday to someone who you feel deserves it, Mitsuki-san." the woman said and carried on with her business.

As Mitsuki would eventually choose to start making her way up the mountain she would at first walk along a relatively narrow path - a path which had some places been overgrown with vines and roots though she could follow the path most of the way. However as she got higher up the visible path would vanish, though she would instead notice several broken branches and steps of what looked like large feet in the undergrowth.

If she so chose to follow these steps she would later reach a point where an eerie sound or perhaps even voice was carried through the wind. Deep and dark like the night itself and yet hoarse and rumbling like thunder it was penetrating the air along with a foul odor. Perhaps the spirit already knew her coming and teased her by making its position known? Or maybe the spirit was preparing to launch an attack on the village it supposedly held a grudge against? The possibilities were many even if it was unaware of Mitsuki, she would now be very aware of the direction she would have to take to find the malign spirit. But what would her approach be?

Mitsuki had set off for the mountain with what would have seemed to be plenty of daylight left to search for her 'evil spirit', but the trees of the densely wooded mountainside blocked much of the late day sun making it appear a bit darker than it would have otherwise been. Wuppo was busying himself with something of a meal and some late afternoon entertainment. Sitting next to a nearby stream, Wuppo had a small pile of leaves, wild berries and grass, along with a couple of rocks. The sound Mitsuki heard was Wuppo's voice growling through the trees as he did something that could have been mistaken for singing, but was much closer to yelling.

"Wuppo smack da rock! Wuppo has da tea!" Wuppo's voice echoed off of the trees, further distorting his gravely scream-sing. He kept a slow rhythm with the rocks, clacking them together in his hands. "Wuppo smack da rock! A'den.. Wuppo.. Smack da rock more!" Wuppo improvised a song for himself, and then began chuckling at his lyrical ability.

Laying down the rock in his right hand, Wuppo stuffed a fistful of grass, leaves, sticks, and berries into his mouth. It wasn't his favorite meal, and there wasn't much flavor in the foliage he was able to forage for himself, but it was far and away more preferable to eating nothing. Wuppo ate very well when he was in the company of his friend Kojuro (and on a few other occasions), but on a regular basis Wuppo's diet consisted of whatever he could find or hunt for on the mountain and surrounding unpopulated areas. Today had been a rather lean day given his newest project.

It was a favorable wind that kept Mitsuki's scent out of Wuppo's nostrils, and his own roaring drowned out her footfalls from his ears. It was only when the soft melody of her bamboo flute came wafting through the trees that the ogre was alerted to the woman’s presence. Wuppo stopped chewing, and looked around. It was not at all the norm for someone from the village to be so far up the mountain, especially not so late in the day. He looked around again, and swallowed the mostly chewed ball of greenery in his mouth. Wuppo got to his feet, and began walking towards the sound.

Wuppo approached the source of the sound cautiously, stopping every few meters to look around again. Finally, Wuppo was able to find the source; a woman dressed in bright pink, sitting on the ground where he’d come up the mountain not very long before. He sniffed the air. Wuppo was not in the habit of approaching people if there was no underlying reason for him to do so. Wuppo watched from a short distance away, listening to the sweet and soothing music coming up the slope to him. It was very different from the amelodic howling he’d been doing for himself. Odd, very odd Wuppo thought to himself. And beautiful.

Without realizing it, Wuppo’s attraction to the music had pulled him into clear view between the trees. Mitsuki would be able to see the giant, partially covered in mud like he’d been playing in a giant dirt pile in the rain. He took another few steps and stopped.

As Mitsuki played, Wuppo continued to inch forward. The woman didn't appear to be in possession of the 'pointy bits' he'd developed a distaste for, and furthermore she had with her something that looked familiar; an offering not unlike the ones the villagers from below used to leave for Wuppo. It had been a long time since anyone had brought a treat up the mountain for Wuppo, and he approached. Wuppo walked to the basket and bent to pick it up, still watching Mitsuki who was a couple meters away, and had by that time stopped playing. Now holding the basket, he looked down into the container and used the large, banana-like finger of his right hand to push the contents around. He immediately spotted the apples under the flowers, and the metal coins jingled around a bit in the bottom of the basket. The ogre gave the basket a sniff.

"Dem nice smell dainty bits." he stated, and used his finger to push the flowers to one side. This allowed him to use his thumb and forefinger to pull out one of the delicious and perfectly ripe red apples - perfectly shaped. Wuppo opened his mouth and threw the whole apple in, and chomped it between his back teeth. This caused a tiny crunch, and a burst of sweet flavor to fill the back of the ogre's mouth.

Wuppo quickly dug the other two apples out of the basket, and put the basket with the rest of its contents back on the ground where he'd found it. "Wuppo not help you." he said, a bit quieter than his normal booming and gravely speaking voice. "Wuppo.. just Wuppo."

His words almost sounded like he was admitting something, almost as if taking Mitsuki's apples was done under false pretenses. The people from the village that made offerings wanted things like protection and good fortune, but of course Wuppo was never in a position to provide anything they expected in return for their produce and prayers. Mitsuki had made no such demands, but it seemed important to not make the same series of mistakes again.