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Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2017 0:16:39 GMT -5
oh, honey don't do anything rash It's midnight on a Tuesday, and a there's half-written lab report on her desk at home. She should be working, or at least sleeping. As one can tell, though, she's doing neither. Instead she's walking down a lonely footpath in Shiba Park, three empty Mason jars clinking together in the depths of her leather knapsack. The moonlight is butter-colored, casting her skin in a creamy glow. A pair of lovers approach, sharing a scarf and whispering of marriage. It's a good sign, she believes, though of what she doesn't know. She drifts to the side to let them pass and thinks of rose quartz and juniper berries. There are so many spells for the heartsick, for the lovestruck. She isn't sure she ever wants to use one. But she isn't here for aphrodisiacs and love potions. She's here for crossroads. In the past, the Christian church urged people to avoid crossroads, especially at night. They were said to be the stomping grounds of the devil, a perhaps somewhat legitimate claim. For crossroads (and cemeteries, for that matter), where roads converge and separate, are sacred to witches. They are the altars of gods, the locations of gallows, the burial sites of suicides. There, time and space meet and become one. There, opposites are balanced. Even now, with the cherry blossoms swaying above, she can feel a numbness in her fingertips—a sure sign of beckoning, as if a guardian spirit is taking her by the hand. She comes across a fork in the footpath and catches her breath. She stands where three separate paths fan before her, lightly dusted with cherry blossoms. One leads towards the Tokyo Tower for a better view, one towards the Galleria, and one, seemingly, towards nowhere in particular. Or perhaps they lead away rather than towards. It's all a matter of perspective, when it comes to crossroads. No one is watching or approaching, it seems. She has to do this quick. Her hands fumble with the flap of her knapsack, reaching within and grasping the cool glass of a Mason jar. Violet eyes fluttering to and fro, she kneels down on the grass at the side of the path and sets the jar to the side. And with her bare hands, she begins to dig. The chill of the spring night seems through the flimsy fabric of her school uniform. A shiver arches up her spine as the dew of the tall grass dresses her hands in a gown of shimmering drops. The ground is harder than she thought it would be, but it's not as if she can go home and bring back a shovel. She'll make do. Slowly but surely, she creates a small depression in the ground. Her fingernails, clumsily painted with alternating red and blue for magical protection, are caked with damp dirt. She shifts small handfuls of earth into the jar by her side, cluttered with grassroots and pebbles and dew of March nights. Her hands feel hallowed. There is a shift in the corner of her peripheral vision, though she can't tell if it's in front of her or behind. She stills, suddenly feeling silly kneeling by the side of the footpath with her hands sunken deep into the ground. " Is someone there?" she calls, her voice raw in the stillness of the night. She assures herself that what she's doing isn't illegal, only strange. Witchcraft is an uncommon art. She expects few these days to understand the symbolism of the crossroads. KAIL LANGE rushed, sorry!
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The man who wonders what the fluttering thing in his chest is all about. |
PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Jikano
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Post by KAIL LANGE on Mar 19, 2017 19:19:39 GMT -5
[attr="class","screamylyrics"]GIVE ME SOMETHING TO BELIEVE
[attr="class","screamybod"]It was one of his safe houses, the storage shed in the park on the far side. He'd stayed there with a lantern sharpening his knives, doing his classwork before sneaking into a camp shower to clean off for the next day. But today on his way back he'd been blessed not to be followed. He watched a pair of lovers drift by, stuffing his hands in his pocket and paying them no heed. They felt empty to him, likely because he couldn't sense... happiness...
The air has a chill to it he feels against his neck. He fastens his jacket and stares at the rustling of blossoms and the unfurled on branches of nearby trees. The sky would be filled with only the brightest stars soon, something you could blame the city on. It was barren of stars because it was so bright, the irony not lost on him. Artificiality competing for truth. The giggle of another pair made him blank out as he carried his body onward, the backpack hanging on one shoulder.
He sees someone in the grasses. She's sitting and doing something with the earth itself. He narrows his eyes, slowing his steps, quieting them so she can't tell where he is if she senses him. The muscles in his legs strain artfully as he moved closer, and closer. What exactly was she doing..? There was something off about the atmosphere, it reminded him of when he'd encountered others like himself in the past. What if this was prey? His hand over his pendant, ready to defend himself against an aggressor.
'Is someone there?'
"I am here..." he answered bluntly, able to tell now she was just a regular human. Or so he thought. She was nervous. Maybe she was doing something illegal, hiding something she didn't want anyone to see. He raised a brow, standing over her, letting his hands slide back down into his pockets as he watched the normally laconic girl.
"I think the question is, what have you been doing out here burying your secrets girl..." he cocked his head, more curious than threatening. He crouched down, meeting her almost at eye-level were it not for his advantage in over-all height. "It's not safe being out this late. You might find a strange man in the park," he added, a slight upturn at the corner of his mouth as his eyes slitted.
@kanon Kai is amused...
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Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2017 20:19:40 GMT -5
oh, honey don't do anything rash A response. Her expression affects nonchalance, though a seed of anxiety blooms in her throat and unfurls in the back of her mouth. She brushes her hands together to remove excess dirt, though her pale hands are still smeared with earth. When she looks up, she sees the stranger who had spoken ambling towards her, his hands in his pockets. How long had he been standing nearby, watching her? It's strange that she hadn't heard a sound until only a moment ago. Uncomfortable with his electric gaze, her dull violet eyes flicker down towards the ground. He's close, too close for her liking. But she doesn't dare to move away. " I'm not burying anything," she mumbles, her arms reflexively crossing across her chest in a defensive posture. Her voice is hushed as if she is speaking to a ghost. And who knows? She might be. Interrealm communication is possible on the crossroads, where the veil that divides the realms of the living and dead is at its most permeable. Such is the possibility of the manifold paths. " I'm gathering something. Crossroads dirt. See," she says, gesturing to the half-full Mason jar by her side. Still avoiding his eyes, her wide-eyed gaze travels over his body, searching for distinguishing features. She sees nothing particularly striking, but she can't shake the feeling that something is off. Perhaps that's only her midnight paranoia speaking. " That sounds like a threat," she points out as he warns her of the dangers of staying out this late at night. She had been tired minutes before, but this chance encounter sets her nerves on edge. She's alert now, pondering. She doesn't believe in coincidences. That a stranger would approach her in such a hallowed place as the crossroads must mean something. There are spiritual entities that preside over crossroads, road-openers who can be petitioned for knowledge and a change in destiny. They control thresholds and roads, and determine who has free access and who finds roads barred, who will choose the right fork in the road and who will wander, hopelessly lost, forever. Perhaps he is one. Perhaps it's a far reach, but there's something not entirely human about this stranger. When she finally summons the courage to look him in the eye, she sees the cold of a long, long winter. She has invoked the presence of angels and played games with malevolent spirits in the past. Call her superstitious, but she knows an anomaly when she sees one. " You're not human, are you?" KAIL LANGE #exposed
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The man who wonders what the fluttering thing in his chest is all about. |
PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Jikano
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Post by KAIL LANGE on Mar 19, 2017 22:23:38 GMT -5
[attr="class","screamylyrics"]GIVE ME SOMETHING TO BELIEVE
[attr="class","screamybod"]'I'm gathering something. Crossroads dirt. See.'
It seemed to be the truth as she was actually handling the earth at the time. Humans are strange creatures... Why would she want it unless? Maybe those myths about sacred earth actually won heart in certain individuals. And here she was. He wouldn't be able to hide away until she was gone so maybe he'd entertain her a while. He was tired and feeling curious at the same time. His stare seemed to bother her but she didn't back away.
'That sounds like a threat.'
"It was, you're very astute you know," he continued to meet her eyes whenever permitted. If she were able to sense anything was off about him, it would be the pendant around his neck. The stone itself seemed to be holding something, focusing something. She seemed convinced about something important here enough to risk staying despite his words.
He waits, convinced she'll either bolt or find the police, his eyes hazing over slightly in boredom. He reaches up, pulling back some of his hair from his eyes before adjusting one of the black gloves he was wearing, the leather chipping and old. He casts her a sidelong glance, his eyes widening at the appearance of the next question.
'You're not human, are you?'
He quickly buries his surprise and stays with the amused tone, yes, that was suitable for now. He stands up, offering his hand in a friendly gesture, completely disregarding how she'd reacted to him until this point.
"I've been called inhuman before, but I doubt that's what you're asking. Maybe another question is in order for you," he had no idea why he even asked the next bit.
"What would you do to prove such a thing?" his expression went neutral, though there was something of mirth in his eyes. I am no Rumpelstiltskin girl, get in too deep and no one will save you.
@kanon NOTES: Kai is willing to play the game
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2017 1:10:01 GMT -5
oh, honey don't do anything rash Is he mocking her? It sounds like he might be mocking her, though it's hard to tell. She often finds herself unable to differentiate between sarcasm and literal speech, which is an endless source of amusement for her classmates. " Thanks," she says to his maybe-compliment, wariness tugging the corners of her mouth down. Noticing that he's trying to meet her eyes, she glance down at his neck, which she finds to be encircled with a black cord. The stone hanging upon it piques her attention. It's blue. Blue for water, blue for west. Blue for tranquility and understanding, for astral projection and for wisdom. She has colors and their associations memorized perfectly, but she can't identify the stone from sight alone. Agate, maybe? Opal? Perhaps she'll ask later. Stones are important; they hold power. She would know that better than anyone. She isn't a very socially cognizant person, but his suddenly friendly reaction to her accusation is enough to make her certain in her claim. She doesn't accept his hand; she knows better than to acknowledge the gesture of a potentially malevolent being. His question causes her to jolt somewhat, and her gaze snaps up to meet his tempered, world-weary eyes once more. She is afraid. She would be foolish not to be. But overshadowing her fear is, strangely, inexplicably, a faint sense of excitement. It's a challenge. She raises her arms, her slender fingers encircling his wrist and gently tugging to invite him to sit by her side. " Help me with this. I have two and and a half more jars to fill, and I wanna get home soon." Removing her hand from his wrist, she turns to her knapsack and withdraws another Mason jar from within, setting it on the grass next to the other jar. " I mean, if you're okay with getting your hands kinda dirty." Returning to her original task, she begins scooping earth from the tiny pit she had made in the ground into the half-full jar. After a heavy pause, she admits, " I don't know. I can summon things and banish things, but I've never--how do I say it--exposed anything before." Her fingers sink into the cold ground, numb with strain. " I guess I'll do research. Trial and error." Her skin begins to crawl, as if ridden with insects. She can't tell if it's from the oppressive cold or from the thrill of accepting a dare. KAIL LANGE rushed since i'm about to go to bed, sorry! things r getting spicy here...
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The man who wonders what the fluttering thing in his chest is all about. |
PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Jikano
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Post by KAIL LANGE on Mar 23, 2017 0:32:06 GMT -5
[attr="class","screamylyrics"]GIVE ME SOMETHING TO BELIEVE
[attr="class","screamybod"]You don't take my hand and yet here you are, pulling mine...
He fights the desire to smirk at her, entertained by her shift as she moves him, willingly toward her side. She can't harm him. She's just a human. He follows along because she's a sheep pretending to be a wolf for him. She asks him to help her gather this somehow cosmic dust. He shrugs and pulls up a handful, letting it waste between his fingers, down into the jar. Most of it misses. He grasps another fist full and lets it slide off more evenly staring at the girl the entire time instead of the soil she so dearly wished for.
"I can't remember the last time dirty hands were a problem..." he spoke darkly, his lips drawn to a neutral line before he cocked his head and gave her a practiced smile. If he'd had that when he first arrived perhaps it could have seemed real, but right now it was just a way of showing her he was playing with her. Just as quickly it drained off his face, a channel changed.
"Oh? So I am a mystery to be solved? You may be disappointed," he asked, vaguely interested. Maybe some of these things she dealt with weren't simply imaginings after all. He would have to keep an eye on her. If there were a way he could truly be discovered. A feeling of elation ran down his spine, pooling in his legs. Cold, but it lacked the calculation of a killer. Was he feeling... mischief?
I guess I'll do research. Trial and error.
He could see the way the skin pricked on her neck. Fear, anxiety, he could taste them on those around him. More when he was close by. It gave him a dark sense of entitlement over his power. She was brave but she was still prey. He nudged the jar he filled over to her, letting it skim along the ground, rustling the grasses.
"You are an odd one, but... if you can find me, I promise that for now I won't try to stop you," he spoke firmly, his voice deep. He wanted to make sure she knew this was on his terms. At least he thought it was.
"Shouldn't you be getting home? Little Red," he couldn't help but see a correlation between the girl with her baskets, going through the woods only to chance upon a wolf. What if the wolf and the huntsman were the same man all along?
@kanon ; NOTES: Kai may know too many fairy tales
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2017 15:39:26 GMT -5
oh, honey don't do anything rash It's true—she's only human. Born to a human man and a human woman, raised as human flesh in a human home. And yet she has often been ethereal, cradling the boundary between the familiar and the strange. She is an oracle and witch and a vessel of all things strange. It is times like this she feels as unearthly as ever, kneeling at the crossroads with her hands in the soil and a specter by her side. Perhaps these are truths. Perhaps these are only delusions of grandeur, born from a human's desire to transcend. " Do you get your hands dirty a lot? With what?" she inquires in response to his morbid comment, her gaze sifting over to the soil trailing from his fingers and the fox-like smile hovering upon his lips. She's hardly in any position to be interrogating a potentially deadly creature, but she's slow to grasp the concept of danger. At any rate, he seems inclined to stick around. He won't be trying to hurt her, at least not yet. If anything, it seems he wants to play. " I don't think I'll be disappointed," she says, her voice clipped yet decisive. He hasn't outright stated that he isn't human, and she doesn't think he plans to. But he's certainly hinting at it. Even without his confirmation, there's a light fluttering on her skin, like will-o-wisps dancing across an open plain. A ghostly sensation. He isn't human, isn't human at all, and she'd be damned if she isn't going to figure out what he is instead. She accepts the filled jar he pushes towards her with a nod of appreciation, screwing the lid tightly back on. She feels his gaze on her, heavy and laden with mirth. It's deep into midnight but she is awake with the collision of fate. The path of someone mortal and the path of someone not, differing in velocity and direction, have somehow intersected here. Such is the power of the crossroads. Once fates have intertwined, it's hard for them to separate. " For now," she echoes as she finishes filling the last jar. How ominous. She should know better than to play games with dangerous spirits by now; the last two times she had done so still leaves a foul taste in her mouth and a twilight in her house. It's fine if she's the only one involved, but she has to keep her mother safe too. But the spirits of the crossroads are impatient. They have opened a window for opportunity for her, and they will seal it forevermore if she casts it away. She doesn't have the liberty to be picky here, and she's in far too deep as it is. " Yes," she says as he mentions coming home, her voice almost lilting into a question at the nickname. Little Red. Red for the ribbon in her hair, for the trim of her skirt. Red for the cloak of a little girl lost in the woods. But this isn't a fairy tale, and she isn't a fairy tale girl. " I'll go, but I need your contact info." She can't depend on fate to bring him to her all the time, after all. She wipes her hands on her legs, traces of soil smearing her pale skin. Shuffling through her bag, she withdraws her smartphone and unlocks it with a few simple swipes, pulling open a new contact window. She hands her phone to him, the garnet shards in the tiny bottle charm tethered to it glimmering in the yellowing moonlight. " It's okay if you don't have a phone, but I at least need your name. Maybe your address." Though perhaps's she's going a bit far with that request. KAIL LANGE
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The man who wonders what the fluttering thing in his chest is all about. |
PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Jikano
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Post by KAIL LANGE on Mar 25, 2017 21:05:15 GMT -5
[attr="class","screamylyrics"]GIVE ME SOMETHING TO BELIEVE
[attr="class","screamybod"]'Do you get your hands dirty a lot? With what?'
"Yes... If the pay is good," he didn't exactly answer what, leaving it to her to surmise the details of her inquisition. He watched her with a detached nonchalance, itching the back of his scalp. When he saw her looking too closely at his face he forced a disarmingly sincere smile for her.
'I don't think I'll be disappointed'
"That's nice..." he shrugs and looks back, gauging just how empty this park is. Other than the sounds of her gathering her things he can only guess no one else is lurking this late. She's a strange one and he wonders if she really can sense the presence of those not kin to mundane, normal humans. Maybe he can use her later. All he can do is sense his own kind. And pull the anxieties out of his prey. This one seems far too intrigued to display the proper respect for a potential hazard.
Have to appreciate your bravery Little Red...
'Yes.'
Brave or not, you can still end up lost in those woods...
'I'll go, but I need your contact info.'
He folds his arms, leaning against a tree as she cleans off and retrieves her phone. He had one somewhere. Usually for the map features. His contact list is startlingly void. He notices she isn't the type to care that she's still stained with soil.
"Hmmmm?" he raises a brow. She's that sure of herself that she can get what she wants he almost wants to reward her for her boldness. Like a mouse that doesn't know it's a mouse. He stares at the phone placed in his hand, it's little charms not exactly potent against him. Though maybe against something. He didn't believe in ghosts.
'It's okay if you don't have a phone, but I at least need your name. Maybe your address.'
He looks down at the panels for entering his information. He furrows and ponders it quietly for a moment before raising his finger over the name box and enters a single letter.
K
Underneath it he adds his phone number, humoring the girl. He had no fixed address to give her, though he did bring it up with a grin, knowing she'd never take the bait.
"Outside the city in the woods, I could take you there sometime. It's rather dark and there aren't many pathways in or out but there's a cabin I use sometimes," he itched the side of his nose. "Now if that's everything..."
@kanon ; NOTES: Wanna go to the skeevy shack?
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