A Broken Man's Chimera [Closed]

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Hound

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A Broken Man's Chimera [Closed] Oct 10, 2014 1:33:53 GMT -5

Post by Hound on Oct 10, 2014 1:33:53 GMT -5

It was a long and sleepless trip, around four hours thanks to traffic. He had been through worse or course. Flights from one end of the globe to the other, attempts to drive from city to cross country city during rush hour, this was not his first rodeo. Though this was his last hope. His time and efforts had been focused on more than just the company. Though he felt selfish in his endeavors he never stopped looking for a way to return himself to his former glory. During his search many different attempts had crossed his path from herbal teas, to “spiritual” artifacts. Even very specific aphrodisiacs had made there way into the remedy bin, a sign of just how desperate the man had gotten. Whatever the problem was it was leagues beyond simple meditation. With every attempt ending like the last, a replay of his time in the mountains.

Nightmares some had simply pegged them off to be, but the visions during meditation were far worse. To feel each wound reopened, each scar placed again. A sanctuary turned personal hell. The thought nearly brought him to tears. So this was his last hope, having avoided the religious route to a degree all this time, a Shinto priestess was his last hope and was said to be somewhere just outside of Nagano. With no hesitation tires burned across the pavement, until heavy traffic was met. Due to his weakened condition he was in no shape to drive, the doctor had asked him to take some time away from the work place as well. Though as they say idle hands are the devil's workshop, or so every member at the board meeting kept telling him. Working day and night was apparently the only way to appease everyone, so sleep was a thing of the past, catching maybe an hour or two here or there.

His body now taxed and withered, was easily a shadow of his former self, a sight that horrifies him almost as much as the nightmares. The attempts to keep his body in its prime proved fruitless, it was as if life itself was standing in his way. For every hour his muscles exhausted themselves to torn mush, the universe seemed to make sure he lost double the amount. Food wasn't even as appealing to him at this point, instead choosing to fiddle away with one bit of business after another. Then it happened, the entire reason to make this journey. Something he had read on the internet while checking his email, the statue of liberty had been destroyed. His fingers quickly raced to find the many cellphone videos of the occurrence, each proving the same thing the last had.

He could have done something...he might have been able to help if...he was useless. The way he was he was nothing but another fly waiting to get plucked out of the sky by the invisible chameleons lying in wait. He may have known the chameleons were there, but this changed nothing. Just because you know there is a sniper, doesn't mean you know where they are. The very thought of this both terrified and angered him. This was the final push that led him to the Shinto Priestess. Though the directions they'd received hadn't been the best it seemed to be only a matter of time before he'd find himself in the priestess' company, and at this point he was willing to do anything to regain what he had lost. If not for himself, then for those who are suffering due to their uncontrollable ignorance.

600.12

Kireon

Bye Felicia~

4,761 Posts

A Broken Man's Chimera [Closed] Oct 17, 2014 2:10:32 GMT -5

Post by Kireon on Oct 17, 2014 2:10:32 GMT -5

"So," Seiichiro eased himself into place next to the small woman currently on a break from tending to the small group of tourists who had ventured to see the shrine from overseas. "did you scare him off permanently with the rock thing?" The head priest was giving one of the lectures regarding the Fujimura family's history and information regarding the founding of the shrine proper hundreds of years ago.

Ten minutes for the busy miko to rest her body and as much of her mind as she could manage beneath the shadows of the sacred tree.

With red silk clad knees tucked up against her chest and her chin rested atop one, Sekai gave off the impression of being absurdly young for a woman more than old enough to have been married and then some besides. Brown eyes peered at the crowd from beneath long white hair refusing to be bound into place by the starched white ribbon that formed the throng at the base of her neck.

Hurt flashed across her expression for a brief moment, pain and guilt mingled within the softly colored eyes before she gave a small, helpless shrug in response to her cousin. "...don't know." She mumbled quietly, returning to her prior task at hand and people watched. None of them were spiritually gifted-- blessing and curse alike, as she would have liked to see... someone. Talk with someone else to see if they too had seen, witness (survived) Karakura and had any information for her about... about anything.

Potential survivors in need of help, more hostages taken and needing to be rescued... Something that would make her feel anything but like she was just one gigantic power tank full of failure and worthlessness attempting to live as normal a life as possible.

Admius' offer had come to mind several times, and there had been a time or two she had nearly caved in, had the phone against her ear and the number half punched in before she chickened out and hung up. Something, fear?, held her back from reaching out to those with the power to make a difference.

White haired and steely eyed, her cousin dropped next her and settled himself with a stiff, straight back against the rough hewn bark of the wisteria. His arm bumped against her own, touching enough for her to feel the faintest bit of heat beneath the layers of heavy silk kimono that they both wore as part of their shrine uniform. "You like 'im, don't you?" He asked wryly, a frown on his face as his grandfather's lecture was interrupted by someone asking an asinine question about the kind of wood the shrine was build from. "That why you're acting like someone my brother's age? Moping around and waiting for a call from the senpai who won't notice you?" A pause as he pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. A smirk. "Or rather, the kouhai who--"

"Do you think Sakuya would have approved?" She interrupted suddenly, quietly as she refused to look in his direction.

Maybe it was fear...

Snowy brows rose upward in surprise at the question. His attempt at teasing her for following in his cousin's notoriously large footsteps- the woman beside him had been nine years the deceased's junior- was quickly discarded in favor of analyzing the information present in her words and posture.

He went with a safer question than the one that sprang to mind immediately regarding her rather terrible taste in potential suitors. "Of you moving on, or of him?" It was the wrong question to ask-- or the right one, he couldn't be sure by the way she physically flinched at the words. Expression stricken, she quickly buried her face against the rough red silk of her hakama clad legs. She really needed to quit being so sensitive regarding his cousin... even if there was something she kept wanting to talk about and always backed away from at the last moment.

"...I don't know." Sekai mumbled into her knees. The warmth of her breath and body shielding her temporarily from the cool afternoon air. Twinging within her chest suggested she knew the answer-- both-- and just didn't want to, wasn't ready to confront the consequences of being forthright about it quite yet.

Uncomfortable silence fell between them, Seiichiro's hands shoving themselves into his sleeves as he glowered out at the shrine grounds. On one hand, her grief was genuine, and the pain unable to be feigned. He'd quietly kicked himself during the four months she'd disappeared for not being able to do more to help her, for not doing as Sakuya would have likely wanted him to do. Looking after someone who'd taken away his favorite playmate as a child had been... stupid. Childish. Pathetic. But seeing her stuck as she was, afraid to move forward irritated him. Set his teeth on edge and had him yelling at her, berating her when he really wanted to tell her just to hurry up and move on, to do what Sakuya would have wanted her to do and live her life the way they would have together as time went on.

Maybe he should put it to her that way instead of being more like an instructor to her... Sakuya would be absolutely disgusted by you right now, you know that? Honestly, if your positions would have been reversed, she'd already be with someone else by now, would have mourned you for a year, maybe two, and given her respects... maybe, at Obon each year and that's it. She'd be focused on living, not dwelling in the pain and grief that you seem to love so m- Wow, yeah, no. That sounded assholish even to him, and he didn't even consider half the things he'd said to her anywhere close to abrasive as they supposedly came off.

Her head snapped up, a flutter of white hair in the air as she stood quickly with her gaze on the entry way to the shrine grounds and the many winding stairways that led up the mountain and to the tucked away buildings themselves.

He watched her hand reach up instinctively, grasping for the slim pendant she never seemed to be without. Her fingers wrapped around it hard enough her knuckles turned white with tension and her expression suggested someone, or something, unexpected was on its way. "...what is it?" He asked, warily, already eying the practice hall where the weapons he was trained to use were stored and guessing how long it would take him to be there and back before trouble could come up their front door.

Her eyes remained focused on the top of the stairway, though her sight was elsewhere, deep beneath the earth as her power manifested, slid down and out in wider, wider, wider arcs until the echo of footsteps outlined themselves, branching upward to give her an idea of what- Mortal- she was looking at. Average height, male, hair on the short side... worryingly thin and with lines to his mouth and eyes she didn't particularly care for. Lines that she'd worried in a moment of vanity she herself might have if matters continued to go as they had the last several months.

More worrisome was the strange feel to what should have been a fairly easy to read reiatsu signature. There and then not again.

"Sekai?" His voice was sharp edged, warning in tone as she shook her head, blinking away the after images that had replaced normal vision.

"Mm," she shook her head, some of the wary tension draining from her shoulders now that she'd distinguished that a threat was nowhere near. "he's one... of us, I think."

"You think?" Dubious tone, he eyed her carefully.

Her face flushed a little as she nodded, ducking her head. "Y-yes. Like you and I, I mean." She leaned down, brushing off the debris from her hakama, straightening out her garments to present as professional an image as one of the Fujimura miko as possible. She'd ignore the fact that she was the strongest one in the family, and in the entire region as far as her senses had been able to discern. Isolated mountain towns were a good thing, after all.

As the visitor reached the top of the stairs, the red gate would appear- a traditional beacon and entrance to the Shinto shrines in Japan- and the massive tree itself could be seen from several steps down. One's second sight, the very same that allowed them to view and catch the energy signature of one another would find the damned thing nearly blindingly bright- and yet curiously void of weight. A good deal of energy and power stored within every square centimeter of the sacred tree, but without the pressure and presence it should have had.

There was movement, the sound of footsteps tapping softly against the roughly hewn stone that spread out through the shrine grounds where trees, plant life, and buildings didn't reside.

One of the priestesses that served the shrine looked down to see him making his ascent. Small in stature, on the rounded side in terms of build, and with long, stark white hair that had likely been the source of rumors regarding her status as 'god touched' or 'gifted'. Her large brown eyes held a touch of shadows within their depths-- out of place in a face that looked more suited to someone in middle or high school with their soft, young features. Her hands came together before her thighs, palms pressed together as she bowed deeply, formally in greeting.

"Please allow this one to humbly welcome you, esteemed visitor, to the Fujimura Shrine." She rose, just a little, from the bow and looked to the dark haired stranger with his odd reiatsu signature flickering in and out of sensory range. "Would you require refreshment and a quiet place to rest?" Perhaps privacy would be what he wished for, in order to speak freely about the reason it felt as if he had come from far, far away just to find this place.

--

Word Count: 1687
GP Earned: 33

Hound

Part time

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A Broken Man's Chimera [Closed] Oct 17, 2014 18:01:29 GMT -5

Post by Hound on Oct 17, 2014 18:01:29 GMT -5

Why were there so many people? The crowd wasn’t something he couldn’t manage, but he expected there to be less than this. It was more on hope than expectation to be entirely honest. His driver alongside him doubling as his bodyguard seemed to be the only his frail body could make it through the mass of people. His large hand pushing people aside, making sure he was given a wide birth. This is why he kept him around. He was effectively his Kato, especially at this point in time. With all the things that had happened to him without his powers he could feel the Five-seven’s cool handle rubbing against his abdomen. It was uncomfortable, and unnecessary, but his security team insisted. His pride would have to sit backseat if he liked having people he trusted watching his back.

They’d given him two ultimatums; one, his drive had to be replaced with one of there own, and two, he needed to carry some type of firearm if he insisted on being alone at any time during the day. It all made sense he supposed, but his pride was hurt all the same. To go from catching bullets with your teeth, to firing them. Weakness exuded from him leading him down the path of depression, and some nights right into a bottle. Though it didn’t help, nothing helped. Which was why he found himself here, at a place he’d stayed away from for most of his life. He had become the caught coyote in the Mojave, trapped there for who knows how long. The only thing keeping him there being his leg, and as soon as he set foot on the shrine grounds his teeth sunk deep into his flesh.

He’d begun gnawing. As the pair approached the steps his driver made a mistake, a small oversight. A pair of kids had been playing around by there parents, and bumped into Keenan. His reflexes slower than they’d once been, but still a sight, had kicked in. He quickly pivoted turning as a fist rose high to strike the young boy. A look of annoyance, and abhorrence came across his face just as a hand wrapped around his wrist. With his hand high it wasn’t hard for the child to see his holster underneath his jacket, it wasn’t hard for the child to see his weakness. The gun seemed to just reflect off the boy’s eyes, and that’s all he could see. As the boy stumbled Keenan quickly regained composure, and walked away from the family as quickly as possible. Ashamed of his actions, but taking solace in the fact his hand rose, instead of reaching for the gun.

A sign he hadn’t truly lost himself yet. Though this place had him on edge, or maybe he was just…No he made his way to the steps letting his bodyguard handle the obviously disgruntled parents. He’d preferred to handle the rest alone anyway. With each step higher he could feel the coyote’s teeth sinking deeper and deeper into its leg. Its teeth stained with its own lifeblood, ignoring the pain it persists. Once he’d reached the top he felt exhausted, had things really changed this much? He began to resist his body’s insistence to double over, and instead stood tall. Not wanting to appear as bad as he really was. The first thing he noticed was the red gate, which was a sign he was in the right place. He’d heard it was some kind of symbol for Shintoism, or something along those lines. Oddly enough he hadn’t noticed the giant of a tree until now.

It was ridiculously large in stature for a tree in a place like this, and made him feel even smaller than he already did. Something then began to move; he’d barely noticed it with his eyes locked on the mountainous tree that lay planted before him. It was a girl, and judging by her attire a girl that…did things here. A priestess is what he was told they were called. She wasn’t terrible looking, attractive even. Her ivory hair reminded him of the pure untouched snow he’d seen while out in the wilderness with his old Sifu. Better times admittedly. The length of it all, reminded him of his hair…and how he lost it. His breaking point. Her big brown eyes could have melted his heart months ago, and he’d have tried his best to see more of her roundish figure and make her throw away her vows or whatever they had.

Though that was a different man, here and now she was simply a tool. She was the beginning of the end to this madness; with her help he’d be able to fight for those that can’t again. He didn’t care for pleasantries, but her greeting was polite and formal, causing him to instinctively react how he had for months now. Old habits as they say. His hands made their way to his sides, though stiff at first they instantly relaxed as he began to bow in kind. With that out of the way, he’d instantly forget she’d even said a word, moving on to what he wanted. “I’m here to see someone about a ritual of some kind. A cleansing maybe. If you have someone who knows anything about Qi, Chi, or things of the like. I’ll need them too.” He was serious his eyes looking through her, as a slight look of disdain came upon his face.

913.18.30

Kireon

Bye Felicia~

4,761 Posts

A Broken Man's Chimera [Closed] Oct 30, 2014 13:12:53 GMT -5

Post by Kireon on Oct 30, 2014 13:12:53 GMT -5

Her expression flickered briefly with curiosity that faded to concern, and then wiped itself as clean as possible. Understanding lingered there as she inclined her head and offered what she hoped was a reassuring smile in the stranger's direction. Human. He was human, even if something was off-- he was still human and thus not a threat to her family, her home, and the innocents around them.

Why did he need misogiharae as badly as his words, the grave expression upon his face so suggested?

Step up, something soft and quiet within her urged, someone needs help and she was the only one within range who could possibly help him in any due time. Others had come to help her, it was time for her to repay the favor in kind and aid someone else who was in need.

She prayed she wouldn't screw this up the way she had with Colin and everyone else in her life.

"I see," she tried to keep her voice steady, calm despite her heart thudding painfully against her chest. "In... in that case, you are speaking to the right individual." It was small, just enough of a release to extend a small part of her reiatsu to brush against the dim, flickering one of his own, to let him feel that she was more than just a simple, if odd, looking human woman. She knew the rituals all too well, having had to perform them regularly herself alone, and with the company of others who needed their sins washed away too.

Her hands remained folded in front of her, posture still as formal as before as she bowed her head again in greeting. "I would respectfully request your indulgence in my selfishness and accompany me to a more suitable avenue in which we may speak privately." Old world formality in her tone and manner of speaking.

She had the place to go-- the private gardens, and there was a bench there that would serve her rather exhausted looking guest well. Is he a survivor too? She wondered, trying her best not to jump to conclusions and would wait to hear his story out in full... or as much as he felt he would be able to tell her.

Sekai waited until he was seated to do the same, hands folded politely in her lap once again as she introduced herself. "My name is Fujimura Sekai, I am in training to take over the Fujimura Shrine when the current priest retires... and I am one of two who has any kind of spiritual ability here." She didn't even want to say how much stronger hers were than Seiichiro's, it just wasn't even fair.

A pause, uncomfortable as she tried to find the words. "What happened to have you seek such aid from the spiritualists?" She asked quietly, at long last. "The more I know... the better I can try to help you...?" Just like before, she hadn't gotten his name before deciding to help. Before deciding to get involved with someone else and their problems yet again.

She really needed to stop doing that.

--

Word Count: 520
GP Earned: 10

Hound

Part time

626 Posts

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A Broken Man's Chimera [Closed] Nov 9, 2014 12:40:32 GMT -5

Post by Hound on Nov 9, 2014 12:40:32 GMT -5

His eyes wandered the area looking for other priests and generally anyone who seemed worth their weight in knowledge. The one before him seemed...off, and as quickly as he'd asked for her helped she had been measured, she had been weighed, and she had been found wanting. This was an important matter he'd hoped she'd be faster than this when it came to processing and understanding what exactly he'd asked for. Then she spoke, and his eyes finally acknowledged her with a glimmer of curiosity, and a sliver of hope. Though the hope was soon slip away as she continued speaking.

This was all he was given? This was all they had? He expected three people at least, each as old as their knowledge was expansive. This girl was all they truly had? Perhaps he was making a mistake, then again he needed to try. He didn't have many other options, and if she was all they had she seemed at least willing. For that the word grateful did come to mind. The young priestess would notice no change in the man before, her attempt to let him feel the difference fell on deaf ears so to speak. At least she was polite in asking for such a silly request, her selfishness might be the very thing that keeps him from returning to his former state.

It was hard not to notice her formalities, he'd been taught them himself, but then again he'd been taught many things throughout his life. Old world formalities proved to be useless in today's world, only the old respected it, and the old were being phased out by their younger more impatient, and ambitious heirs. He simply bowed in kind and nodded, hoping their private conversation would prove to be more fruitful. She'd taken him some garden, the scenery was beautiful at least. It brought a slight feeling of peace and serenity, one could easily lose themselves in a place like this, easily forgetting the happenings of the outside world in moments.

The bench left much to be desired though, it was hard and a bit painful on the posterior, though the “priestess” had a similar problem. There was much to be desired. His hand quickly made its way to his face, stroking his jaw a bit at the information just given to him. Questions arose, but nothing that couldn't wait until he was sure she was finished speaking. Some gave more information then they needed to when met with silence instead of questions. Though due to his silence an uncomfortable question was allowed to leak from her gullet.

For one instant a slight look of disgust came on to his face, he didn't trust this woman in the slightest and wouldn't tell her a damn thing unless he'd been give solid proof her claims of it helping were true. “That is none of your concern.” A bit of venom was spat with that, to serve as a warning. She was treading into dangerous territory and he wanted her to know that, if this was a business meeting his tone would be different, his words different. Though she had seemed to be wasting his time from the beginning, something he was already limited on as it was.

Before she could address his statement he instantly went on the offensive. “If there are two of you, why am I only speaking with you? I do remember asking for all you had. Yet I meet with one of you instead of two.” The woman was entirely underwhelming, and pushing his buttons with her questions. A feeling of light-headedness soon followed, causing him to be grateful for the uncomfortable bench she'd decided to move the conversation to.

His hand quickly moved to his temple rubbing them gently as his eyes closed. A sigh escaped his lips, he'd just given thanked her kindness and respect with a slap to the face for trying to help him. “My name is Keenan Rosenblud, and excuse my disrespectful tone. What happened is something I've yet to share with anyone. It has been time since it happened, but the night-terrors and painful recollection during meditation keeps it fresh in my mind. As if it had happened yesterday, a kind of pain that no one would wish to relive.” His hands continued rubbing his temples trying to get rid of the light-headed feeling. This weakness was enough, a decision was made, and he wasn't leaving this place without his powers and connection restored.

750.15.45

Kireon

Bye Felicia~

4,761 Posts

A Broken Man's Chimera [Closed] Nov 18, 2014 13:25:12 GMT -5

Post by Kireon on Nov 18, 2014 13:25:12 GMT -5

His words were a slap in the face, the venom within enough to cause the miko to step back involuntarily with a flinch and shoulders hunched defensively about her ears with wide eyed alarm.

"I-I truly me-" Her voice, meek and stammering and quiet, was drowned in the sound of the verbal assault that followed. More flinching, an attempt at protesting as the man's annoyance, his emotions rose and fell, crashing down like the waterfalls littering the shrine property.

The second of the spiritually gifted chose his timing to arrive well; looking incredibly displeased at the commotion, at the encounter, and even at the newcomer to the shrine as a whole. A look was cast with steely eyes narrowing behind the pair of glasses at the other white haired figure-- one that implied nothing but a lecture that would inevitably come later on before those same eyes turned on Keenan himself.

He looked older than the short girl trying in vain to shut him up, not by much, but he didn't have the baby face she happened to and that seemed to give him more merit the grand majority of the time. His palm rested against her forehead to keep her at arm's length. "She is the strongest spiritualist in these parts, and knows more than most of the others seem to as well. I recommend listening, even if she is a spineless idiot in the face of hostility." There was a swish of red fabric that fluttered as she tried, and failed, to kick the sharp tongued youth speaking so rudely to their guest.

Family member, maybe even brother if the white hair were any indication... though their features were certainly nothing alike. He was average height for someone of Japanese descent and had a fairly average build, somewhat muscular from the multiple hours of labor and martial arts, but average nonetheless with a fairly sullen face and grey eyes that always seemed to be judging others.

Her eyes had focused on Keenan again, studying something about him. Hesitation was there, still, and she seemed to be at war with herself regarding whether or not she should speak. Brown eyes flicked to Seiichiro as the white haired student rolled his eyes and gave a shake of his head. "I'll go prepare what you'll need, hope you're not the type to catch a cold easily."

She waited until he had gone, lecture over, and bowed deeply, frantically in apology. "Please forgive his discourteous manner, he has much to learn, as do I in handling matters like this properly. I truly meant no disrespect or to cause distress."

He had to be one of them.

One of those who endured, and survived despite everything burning all around them.

Sekai's expression didn't look in the slightest bit curious at his words, at the way his temples seemed to bother him... at the way things didn't feel or react appropriately the way they should have. It was almost as if someone had cut the power supply off and left barely a wire or two attached... and the little sparks here and there were the only things letting others know he was actually one of them.

This wasn't going to be easy, or fun, or anything even remotely related to what kind of end he was likely expecting.
"...I do not want to assume that I understand what you endured and suffer through... but I do wish to make it known that I am familiar with... um," discomfort, shame. She too knew the pain and frustration of admitting they fell short of their own expectations. "Night terrors, and the memories coming back over and over when one's mind should be still."

She'd failed. So many, many times she'd failed at conveying, at helping. Had hurt instead... she'd driven them away over and over again in her... whatever it was she was doing wrong.

Can I even help this one person? Could she even do just one thing right?
She eased off of the bench beside him to take a proper sitting position in front of him-- as if they were in a dojo and a lesson were about to be given. The long tail of white hair following with a ripple in the faint sunlight peeking through the shadows as it settled. Her expression, her body language showed her anxiety in the way her hands were pressed a little too firmly into the fabric covering her thighs, the faint crease of her forehead and too focused gaze.

She had to do this.

"As difficult as this may be to believe, you are safe here." Her voice, thankfully, was firm and unwavering in that statement. "Nothing can come here without my knowing about it-- it's... part of what I can do."

Sekai offered a small smile. "Talk to me," she said softly, brown eyes looking into his face earnestly, worrying already for a stranger she'd only just met. "talking about it hurts... a lot, but it truly is the first step into resolving it. " There was no shame in being afraid, she wanted to tell him.

Wanted to, but couldn't believe in the lie enough to even try offering it to someone else. She was ashamed of being afraid all the time, the fact that she, and Keenan now, had more than ample reason to be scared was of little comfort.

...was he afraid he'd get upset?

"...if it helps, I can look somewhere else, and you can pretend you are speaking to the mountain, and the gods that sleep here." Might as well make the offer to pretend like she didn't exist.

If push came to shove, she could always make a rock cover her up, so he'd be literally talking to one.

--

Word Count: 960
GP: 19

Hound

Part time

626 Posts

Reiatsu140 Defense20 Strength50 Speed50 Spirit20 ApplicationHound

A Broken Man's Chimera [Closed] Dec 24, 2014 23:01:30 GMT -5

Post by Hound on Dec 24, 2014 23:01:30 GMT -5

His teeth pressed together with enough strength to break them, or at least that was how it felt. The random BOY who'd made his way into their conversation had done something not many were able to. Within all of two or so moments the boy had earned his ire, his leg moved back suddenly and he tried to take a stand. This kid was obviously asking to get his ass handed to him on a silver platter, and just maybe the priestess here could bless it for him once he was done. Though his foot slipped, and instead of standing it simply looked like he was rearranging his seating. So in order not to look like a complete fool he went with it, sitting himself in a more respectful position.

There was once a time he never understood why higher class citizens turned their nose at those beneath them, but today was the day he learned. He turned his nose to the boy, as it turns out there were more reasons than not wanting to dirty their hands. Weakness, the lack of having the true power to do what those beneath them were capable of. He hated himself, more than he did the asshole at this moment.

The slight sounds of cracking knuckles could be heard as his hands slowly balled into fists. It was obvious to anyone around what the white haired punk had said had gotten to him. Keenan had stopped trying to hide it, though once the priestess spoke he began to calm himself, or attempt to. It was a slow coming calm, almost too slow. He barely kept himself from yelling at the priestess again for her curiosity. Though taking a second seemed to help, and a loud snarl of a sigh escaped him.

The idea that he was safe in a place he'd never been was laughable, he'd learned that lesson all to well, and religious area's were no exception. She even made it sound like she would protect him, an idea he wasn't exactly the happiest with. Her body language was doing nothing to help her, in the business world you had to spot small things to better read the man across the table from you. How good or bad a deal turned out was majorly effected by one's body language. A hand placed to firm into the thigh could easily lose you millions in the wrong man's office. In his state he found it hard to focus on her smaller ques.

Talk to me? That was her line that was supposed to get him to fess up? He felt underwhelmed to say the least. Yet her smile was genuine and warm, albeit small, it was something he hadn't felt from another person in so long. Though her final idea to help him confess was a bit odd, and would only end up placing him in an odd position. “N-no miss, this is fine." The tone in his voice had changed the once rage filled words had calmed to an apologetic tone of regret. " I was broken physically, and mentally...Tortured to be exact, for multiple days...I escaped, as you can see, but I could tell so much wasn't the same.” His gaze fell into his lap as he began to recall what all happened in the mountains. His teeth clinched tighter together, as he could hear the laughter from the men echoing in the back of his mind. It was as if he'd just escaped, he immediately tried to place his thoughts somewhere else. It was as if he was a trial trying to forget about the stories of the boogieman his parents had told him. Pathetic. The men he'd encountered in the mountain had taken all but his father's wealth and company. His hair, his powers, his purpose, and in that moment looking into Miss Fujimura's eyes he'd realized if whatever this was didn't work then they'd even taken his will to live. His eyes gave Miss Fujimura a look of desperation and impatience, that could only be compliment with an aura of unease and forlorn hope. “When do we get started?”

691.13.58

Kireon

Bye Felicia~

4,761 Posts

A Broken Man's Chimera [Closed] Jan 24, 2015 12:13:30 GMT -5

Post by Kireon on Jan 24, 2015 12:13:30 GMT -5

Her cousin was going to be the reason they would lose patrons if he didn't rein in that sharp tongue of his and the unpleasant nature. Her eyes followed the taller, younger family member as he left to do as promised, the cracking of knuckles the sign he'd left at the right time and before tempers could be lost and more damage done than could be healed by her skills.

She didn't seem offended that he didn't believe her, and had his senses been working properly, not only would he have caught the dissonance between the light of her soul and how it felt, but the faint, flickering outline of something surrounding the shrine proper in all directions. A barrier, powerful and set by a Shinigami themselves to repel those with ill intentions towards those who sought sanctuary within the grounds. It kept her family safe, and gave her one small reason to be able to sleep at night when she could.

It would keep him safe too, and even if it failed at keeping someone out-- the intruder had her to go against, and Asgard as well.

Though her eyes were elsewhere, she could feel the change in tension in his body, feel it in the air and the flavor of the rage, the anger in him from recollection. Tortured... ahh. That would do it. Her heart stuttered at the mention, wondering if it were the same group of men who had kidnapped and held Colin hostage-- and shot him when he escaped.

It took a moment for her to respond, to stop the rising impulse to stare back into his eyes and let... whatever she'd done before happen and give her what she'd wanted to know. Refraining with a physical feeling wrench that made her light headed, she blinked once, and a second time as she felt footsteps head in their direction and turned in response. "Once he's returned with the items we need, we'll begin at sundown." A pause, an almost apologetic wince of sympathy. "This part will be done three times a day; at sunset, sunrise, and noon. You... look as if you're well versed in training of some sort, meditation was almost certainly part of that, I hope." Nothing condescending, just an observation followed by a girl's wish for something to be easy for him, something familiar and not at all frustrating the way his life had been thus far.

The boy with white hair that matched her own was back, giving her a look that implied he didn't care for what she was trying to do as she rushed to meet him with an oddly fluid grace that betrayed one's expectations of a round faced, and fairly round figured, girl of her size. Items were handed over, she bowed in thanks and spoke briefly, the youth nodding and waving a hand as if it were no big deal before wandering off himself.

"These are yours... um, I hope you don't take exception to the formal wear for the ritual... some are, um, uncomfortable." The fundoshi wasn't something most could bring themselves to wear without some form of lamentation or outright refusal. She didn't know what else she could do for him, given that it was the proper thing to wear while in ritual as a man. Modifications could be made, she supposed, and they could do it elsewhere other than just that place... but it was the official site and thus the one blessed by the gods.

A second item was handed to him, fundoshi and headband aside. Juzu with the one hundred and eight beads as appropriate for meditation, the brilliantly colored 'stone' was polished to a shine and lay like blood against the white fabric. "This is something I think will help... I wasn't sure which stone would be best for you, but this one called out louder than the others, so I listened." She explained softly. "It's... coral, old coral at that, and has been passed down through the generations here at the shrine. It has some power to it, though it seems to do different things for each person who holds it."

One finger hovered over the beads, not touching them. "I think it's the material you need to help you heal what's inside-- and to guide you in doing so." Her cheeks were faintly pink, talking about the rocks and matter around her so seriously. Most patted her on the head and dismissed her, not knowing or understanding the spiritual practices of Buddhism and Shintoism in addition to the simple fact that her bond was to the planet, and thus, to the nature of the world around her.

If they spoke to her, why not believe them?

"Take it with you when we do the rituals each day, and when you sleep too... it should help ward off the nightmares some." Something clicked against itself in her pocket as she reached in and withdrew her own-- different in a pale lavender gradient that faded to a deep, rich violet at the largest of the beads. A slight smile.

"I use them too." For the same reasons, the words continued unspoken and her expression said anyway.

--

Dusk came early, and she'd shown him the place he would be staying while they were healing him back to who he needed to be in the process. Meal time had come and gone; simple fair, but not unlike what one would have expected while on a training expedition with monks and spiritual advisors alike in other lands.

She knocked softly against his door to announce her arrival, stepped back and away from the door to let him exit. Her hair was down, falling past the top of her thighs and its only adornment was a similar headband she'd given to him wrapped around her own forehead. A simple white cotton kimono was all she wore with bare feet small against the wooden floor. "It's time, Fujimura-san is waiting for us." A pause, realizing she hadn't explained. "Though Seiichiro-san was correct earlier, that out of the family, my power is greatest, I still have much to learn before being declared Head of the Shrine, and thus Fujimura-san must be the one to begin the opening prayer."

A smile. "This way, please."

Stone steps led them upward, higher, higher into the shrine grounds and mountain territory until a cliff corner was rounded, and the sight of a stream-- and roar of a waterfall could be heard echoing off the high reaching walls. Her brow furrowed a little, her head tilting, listening as if someone were speaking to her in a voice only she could hear. The cliff face on the western side was weakening. The next storm they'd have would do some terrible damage if it weren't taken care of soon. She'd have to tend to the matter after the ritual, once she'd seen to her guest and ensured his safety and return to his quarters.

The priest, a kind faced man whose gnarled hands appeared soft, but not unfamiliar with hard work, bowed in greeting as they reached him. That same hand reached out and gently ruffled the young woman's hair in affection as she greeted him formally, a smile that spoke of fondness, as well as a touch of concern, was given to her-- and then to Keenan as well. "I know not why you sought this place, nor do I anticipate learning so, but I shall pray and meditate upon your results coming as you desire them, young one."

He demonstrated with his own two hands how to grasp each into a fist and hold it at their stomach, shaking furiously up and down to get the upper body vibrating and to connect with the spirit's presence in their bodies. Simple warm up exercises were next-- a familiar, and likely welcome matter for the martial artist joining them.

Completed, Sekai stepped forward first to guide their guest in what to do next, her head bowed properly and posture impossibly straight and formal as the priest sprinkled salt atop her head and each shoulder before pouring a small amount into her hand and shifting to allow her access to the pool in front of the waterfall proper. Flickering lights embedded deep in the water drenched rock revealed themselves to be long white candles sheltered by almost invisible panes of paper-thin crystal to keep the water out.

Cold.

Very cold. Enough her breath took in sharply and bones within her toes tried to curl and ache in protest. Shakily releasing, she waded forward as the Head Priest began the first prayer and incantation with his own juzu in hand. The roar grew louder, louder, louder as she waded closer, the water up over her hips, to her chest, and nearly to her chin before she arrived at the place she would choose to sit this time around.

The center seat, where the waters crashed down the fiercest and most powerful, were reserved for Keenan these next several days. She could always come at midnight if she needed it-- and likely would when she inevitably found herself unable to sleep.

She climbed up the rocks in spite of the white garment sticking to her skin, hampering her movements, and settled beneath the off-shoot of the large fall. Enough to still pound against her skin with enough force to throw her out of meditation if she weren't careful, her legs settled into proper position and her back straightened, leaning until supported against the stone behind her. Water crashed down against head, neck, and shoulders, down her chest, slapping sharply against her knees. Her beads swayed in the overflow, palms filling and spilling over with the liquid filling them as she waited for the first incantation and prayer to complete.

After that, it would be their hearts, their minds, and their souls doing all the dirty work as they meditated.

Please, let this help him. Let him find the way back to himself, to heal what's almost been severed back to what he wishes himself to be. She prayed.

Time would tell.

--

WP: 1686
GP: 33

Hound

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A Broken Man's Chimera [Closed] Jan 25, 2015 0:30:23 GMT -5

Post by Hound on Jan 25, 2015 0:30:23 GMT -5

Sundown seemed so far away. His eyes shut as he sighed, letting out what little frustrations her answer had given him. What she said next would see the frustration return ten fold. Sunrise, sunset, and noon. This would have to be done three times a day, he'd really hoped this would only take the one time, and by her wording it sounded as though this was going to take more than just the one day. More than just one day of the thing he'd tried so hard not to do, meditate.

When he meditate he couldn't help but return to his days in the mountains, and unlike in his already vivid dreams he could feel it all happen again as if someone pressed rewind on his life. A moments worth of meditation saw him repeating those days countless of times, feeling the blades, burns, and ropes all over again. His gaze fell upon the ground as he felt the need to respond, but nothing came only a head nod and an expression of pain.

This was what he wanted. To fix what had so wrongfully been done to him, and if he wanted this he'd have to endure. The question then was: Can I do this again? Experiencing every iota of pain, confusion, and fear all over again. He was far beyond unsure at this point.

He could hear faint footsteps making their way toward them, though at this point he didn't care who it was. He was far too busy contemplating whether or not he was willing to go through with this. To relive the worst part of his life three times a day for who knows how many days in a row. This was beyond a test of resolve, endurance, or will. This was easily going to try and test his sanity.

The young priestess began handing him items, saying they were his for the ritual. He remained silent as he took a hold of each item, and passed them to his left hand. At this point he found no point in arguing anything, the fundoshi was for the ritual, so he wouldn't complain. The Juzu was something that caught his eye though. It had been years since he'd used them, it was safe to say he'd forgotten how to after the numerous parties, the drugs, the alcohol. He couldn't even remember how to hold them properly.

Though the stone was something that caused a slight reaction from him. He held it in hand, cradled it gently in his hand and slowly rubbed its smooth surface. As she finished her explanation he nodded and tilted his head in her general direction, his eyes never leaving the stone. “It called out?” What did that mean? His voice was soft, so soft the winds gentle caress could have easily carried his words off so none could hear.

How could a stone help against nightmares? Well he'd seen odder things. If it worked, it worked.

–

He was taken to the place he'd call home while they were doing the rituals, and dinner was done. With some time to kill before the sunset, and having already changed into the proper attire, he'd found himself asleep. The stone in his hand pressed against his chest, his hand clinging onto it for dear life. He wanted it to work, so very badly.

Though his body was desperate and clinging to what little hope he had, his mind was at peace as he dreamed. He found himself at home. His hair was long again, easily reaching the base of his spine. Though the house was empty. Getting up out of bed, he'd hoped everything was just one long dream that he was glad he'd finally awoke from.

As he opened the door to his bedroom, he found himself standing in his father's study. Though his mind left him with a feeling that was akin to zoning out. He'd simply forgotten how he got there.

“Dad.” He said with a slight yawn loosing from his mouth. His gaze fell upon the slight bits of his father's frame that were visible from behind his large armchair. “I was wondering if we could go check out for dinner tonight. I love mom's cooking as much as the next guy, but we gotta change it up every now and then.” As he spoke he made his way to his father, until he was kneeling to the side of his armchair watching his father gaze deeply at the wall in front of him. He called her mom?

Keenan never called his mother mom, closing his eyes to think for a moment he wanted to asses the situation. But as he opened them again he found nothing but his father's skeleton sitting in front of him. “Dad! I...I should have been there. It wasn't my fault, IT WAS HER!” As he yelled he watched as the room began to deform and change around him. His father moving further and further away.

Desperately he reached, for one slight touch. For one slight graze. When he'd finally given up, he found the one thing that was holding him back was a bamboo cage, in a dank room devoid of light. He knew where he was and slowly moved to the corner of his cell. He would wait, tears falling down his face. They were coming, they always came. He was long over due for...

He gasped. The slight tapping at the door pulled him from the dream that had become his greatest fears. Looking to his left he saw the stone. It must have fallen out of his hands while he was sleeping, maybe that's what caused the sudden shift from dream to personal hell. Grabbing his Juzu and stone his made his way out the door, it must have been time.

As he shut the door he gazed at the young priestess before him. Her hair was down. She was beautiful, and he...was filled with scars. With his suit gone it was far easier to see the damage that had been to him. Scars from ropes, burns, and knives amongst other things, marked most of his body. His teeth gritted at his sudden insecurity, and his arms covered what they could as they crossed across his chest.

Never once in his adult life had he been ashamed of his body until now. If he was what he used to be, he'd have tried to take her right then. But he wasn't, and how could she be attracted to something as broken as he was? Not only was his body an eyesore, but it was also easily a shell of its former glory. He was much thinner than he used to be, looking almost sickly.

Nodding at her he quickly followed behind. The stone steps were far from comfortable against his feet, and the climb killer on his body. By the time they'd reached the top he was winded, and trying his hardest not to gasp for air.

As they met the priest, Keenan bowed in response. Not wanting to appear disrespectful to the man that would help him become whole again. “Your prayers are greatly appreciated.” Soft huffs were hidden by his words just before bowing again in gratitude. He then watched the priest's movements and mimicked them to a tee, not wanting to make any mistakes when it came time to actually do them. The warm up exercises were easy enough, and reminded him of his time with his old master.

With those out of the way he followed Sekai and watched as they were granted access to pool. The candles behind some kind of glass, or crystal? Gave the area a calming feeling. It almost made him wish he could have been here before the accident, under better circumstances. That version of him wouldn't have appreciated nearly as much. It wouldn't mean nearly as much. Just another place he'd seen.

The chill was great at first, causing his shoulders to roll forward and back closing together tightly. His spine cracked, and a breath shivered from his lips slowly. Pretty soon he knew he'd be envious of Sekai in her kimono. Though wet clothing clinging to his body wasn't his favorite thing. Soon he found the water at his collar bone, and the place he was going to sit right in front of him. By the way sekai avoided the center, he assumed it was meant for him.

His arms shakily supported his body as he rose from the waters onto the rock. Crossing his legs he took a deep breath before straightening his back. The feeling of the waterfall crashing down on his shoulders was intense, the roaring of the falls nearly drowning out the priest's incantation.

Getting the Juzu and stone into their proper positions proved a bit more difficult then he would have liked with the falls, nonetheless he got them into place and began to focus on them as he waited for the incantation to finish before he began meditating. As it did he would hesitantly begin his meditation. The falls making it difficult, but he'd had worse. Soon he couldn't even feel it pummeling his body, only emptiness. Nothingness.

1535.30.30

Kireon

Bye Felicia~

4,761 Posts

A Broken Man's Chimera [Closed] Feb 20, 2015 15:02:41 GMT -5

Post by Kireon on Feb 20, 2015 15:02:41 GMT -5

His body was a collection of diminished muscle and scars from the life he'd lived.

Torture.

Her eyes, dark as they were in the dim light, seemed to go nearly black in response to what she saw upon his skin-- and just how much deeper those scars clearly ran than just flesh and sinew and bone. They drew away from the scars as his muscles tensed, as body shifted and arms moved to cover what they could, moved up to his face and studied the expression there with his jaw clenched and...

Understanding.

Not pity, not sympathy, not shame nor anything of the like from her eyes, the way her face shifted from slightly nervous to what it was now. He didn't need any of that, had already received more than his fair share and then some of it over and over and over and over again before coming to this place. She understood what being held hostage did to a body. What pain did to the soul.

What torture did to the heart and mind.

Her gait was one of stable footing and steady speed-- though she always, mysteriously enough, seemed to know just when to slow down enough for him to catch his breath and not need to call for a stop. Would he be able to find the way back to himself again? Or would he keep running, running from the person he needed to become, the one who had to...

She shook her head a little, clearing her thoughts back to steady nothingness.

No.

He would.

He had to.

She felt him slip into place upon the stone, manipulated things beneath him just enough to get him a bit more comfortable and less on edge if possible. He wouldn't fall, not while she had such a grip upon the current surroundings the way she did. He slipped into meditation with a good deal of trepidation, one she could whole-heartedly understand and loosed a slow, shaky breath herself as she too, looked inward and prepared for the worst in what she saw.

--

Deeper.

Deeper

Dee--

No!

Her eyes snapped open, tears merging with the icy flow against her cheeks. Not this time, she told herself, poor comfort in the long run, but something she'd needed to do nonetheless. She wouldn't be able to do it herself this time, not when she'd seen what sort of nightmare awaited within the depths of herself.

Focus shifted away from herself in a hurry. There would be time to look at that later.

Her eyes closed again, senses stretching, reaching out to the man beside her to see how he himself was doing in his own journey, and battle deep within his soul. Uncertainty warred with inaction, and she tested a bit of a theory-- reaching out with her own light to gently try and touch the ragged, frayed edges of his soul. Help me heal, she projected the energy, the intent to the man deep in meditation. Gentle coaxing to the man's own spirit, flickering like dying flames as it kept appearing to her.

If the coals could be stirred, the flickering flames could be rebuilt again.

Her area of expertise was... the very thing that could build a flame to an inferno if given the right fuel. If his soul would take what was offered freely... he could bridge the gap, could come face to face with what he needed to, could have the energy to just reach out and seize that rope-- If not this time, there would be a next. Some battles were not meant to be won after a single try.

He would have to work through everything he needed to in order to come to the decision, she believed, and with that decision to accept-- and acknowledge-- and no longer be ashamed of what had happened...

He would be free again.

--

WC: 650
GP: 13

Hound

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A Broken Man's Chimera [Closed] Feb 20, 2015 21:49:43 GMT -5

Post by Hound on Feb 20, 2015 21:49:43 GMT -5

Things started out normally, the emptiness was calming as it should be. Though darkness can at times be mistaken for emptiness, and in the dark unseen hands began to grab scratch and claw at him. Pulling him deeper into whatever this was. Everything was hard to grasp, so much so it seemed impossible to determine how to fight back. Why were things like this, what did this mean, why him? None of his questions would be answered as it drug him deeper and deeper into the black. A feeling of helplessness and falling began to overcome all of his sense, until suddenly he stopped.

How does it feel to sit blindly in the lion's den? Unable to sense whatever is out there as it watches you. How does it feel to be in a situation without hope? All you have to do is wake up, but what would that solve?

One by one he could feel the blades puncture his skin and tare their way to his bone, the flames press against and bite his skin, the ropes would rub and bruise his skin, and the bamboo shoots push deep under his nails. Unlike before everything seemed to happen one after the other, there was no rest, no cage to lock him in in between sessions. This was not nearly as merciful, each scar was reapplied to his body in an agonizing rewind of his time in captivity.

His muscles tightened underneath the falls cascading waters as he struggled to persevere. Every inch of him wanted it to end, wanted him to awake from the meditation and simply give up on everything. Then this all would be a waste of time, he had to keep going.

The pain continued and his body bled until all he could feel was the blood pouring from his wounds. He wouldn't die, the wounds would heal, the blood would return, and the process would repeat. Once more the blades sunk deep into his flesh, the flames cooked his muscles, the ropes would rip and tear his skin away, and the bamboo pushed deep into his nail beds. His screams would stop after a while, his voice too tired to continue on. The process would repeat again, his question's still unanswered.

Then it would simply stop. Leaving him in the darkness, numb to his surroundings. And then there was something, it was warm and called to him. Yet it remained as silent as the darkness. No, he wouldn't be taken again. He wouldn't be brought back into that room. He wouldn't be buried in some shallow grave in the mountains again. He struck it. With all that he had he rebuked its presence, sadly that something was Sekai, only he wouldn't know the difference. For the moment he had power, and with that little power he would destroy everything. He was afraid, he didn't want to hurt anymore. He would destroy everything.

His hands fell down into the darkness in fear, his voice still too tired to carry his screams. With this little bit of power he'd bring it all down. How much longer till they came to hurt him again? How much longer before his strength waned? This had to happen now. His fist raised again. Where did this power come from? The question was nothing at this point, its source was unimportant, its use was all that mattered. His fists slammed down with defiance, the darkness around him shook. What would happen if this all became rubble? Another question he'd ignore as he continued to raise his tired fists for peace of mind. He wanted the pain to go away, and yet he wanted so much. More time with his father, to fix the great divide between him and his mother, his old life back. All those things seemed impossible now, but this was do able. His fists rained down against the darkness with great hatred, the black around him trembled at his strength. This would suffice.

Everything would end by his hand. Everything.

671.13.43

Kireon

Bye Felicia~

4,761 Posts

A Broken Man's Chimera [Closed] Feb 23, 2015 20:42:11 GMT -5

Post by Kireon on Feb 23, 2015 20:42:11 GMT -5

A little like the rejection she'd become so accustomed to, he attacked, again and again and again with power of his own making. The vehement, venomous spite and denial of something that was not his and was not familiar to him his guiding light in the battle of darkness he waged within himself and the memories that haunted him.

He railed within, she continued to offer what help she could in silence, in peace with the hope that he would shatter the darkness soon.

The chime of a bell.

Sekai's eyes opened, body and spirit drained, exhausted really, and over all as if she hadn't accomplished much of anything what-so-ever other than gaining that bit of hope that he'd regained enough of something to begin mending a rift within himself that only he could bridge.

It was going to be a very long next... while.

She shivered at the hatred radiating from him, colder than the waters she sat within and glanced over to check on his progress. Beads still in hand, body still the way it should have been. With a soft splsh of impact, she slipped from her own perch and back into the waters below. Dull roaring and silence filled the darkness of the pool's depths. Bubbles streamed from nose and mouth alike as she kicked off from the rocky bottom and up to the surface with a gasp of air and steam pouring from her mouth into the cold night. White fabric glowed against the dark water's surface, hair slicked back as she ducked under again, getting it out of her face and off her limbs before swimming toward shore.

A towel dropped over her head and shoulders before she could look up, feet brushing against the sandy ground. Squeaking in surprise, she stumbled, nearly fell back into the water as her cold numbed feet tripped over one another. A strong, firm hand caught her, pulled her forward and back to her feet.

Smaller than the priest's hand, it had to be Seiichiro then.

A guess that turned out wrong, surprisingly, though the lad himself was there with a scowl on his face and a quick look away when he realized she'd noticed his presence. The priest's wife smiled at her, tousling her towel covered hair to dry as much of it as she could as if she were a small child in need of someone to help her.

Gentle inquiring look.

Sekai shook her head slightly.

Small progress was better than none, she supposed, and the four of them looked back to the stubborn man still pummeled by the mighty spray of the falls.

"Was he with you?" Seiichiro asked softly, coming up to join his grandparents at Sekai's side. Soft enough that only she caught it, the white haired boy shoved his glasses back up the bridge of his nose with one irritated gesture.

Another shake of her head. "No, but he's a lot like..." she faltered, wouldn't say the name because it wasn't her place to say what had happened to him, nor what he had gone through.

A wry twist of the younger attendant's mouth as he looked from her to the martial artist. "Like that American. Gotcha."

"How long?" She asked softly, eyes not leaving her charge.

"Three and a half hours so far." The priest answered, same soft tone as she used in hopes it wouldn't disturb the lad's meditation and battle. "We were growing a little concerned."

"Why not get changed, dear heart?" The elderly woman offered kindly, attempting to stir her away from the pool's edge.

Another shake, hands clutching the towel draped about her like a shawl. "Not until he's out. I brought him here, I won't leave until he does."

Something hot pressed into her freezing hands. Seiichiro pretended he hadn't had anything and shoved his hands into his pockets. "At least drink that, then. If you're going to be stubborn about it." Not like he cared or anything.

A sip. Rich and mildly sweet flavors danced on her tongue and slipped down her throat.

Barley tea with honey.

She wasn't sick, but the comforts of a cold weather beverage was enough to make her smile nonetheless. Particularly since she knew Seiichiro had a penchant for making the stuff every time he thought she was down or was suffering from some sort of illness. "Thank you." Wet head rested against the boy's shoulder in a brief display of affection before moving away.

Before long, she knelt, legs folding in spite of the weight and tug of the drenched fabric clinging to her skin, into proper sitting stance to wait. Her back straight and as tall as she could manage, Sekai awaited his return from meditation to the world around him.

Her power filtered through the ground, into the water, and up through the cliffs to the man himself. The earth listened, accepted, and waited for all to return to it.

She would take heed and do the same for him to return as well.

You can do this, Rosenblud-san, I can feel your power, I can see it trying to help you-- just reach for it. Try. You can do this. She sent the words on a prayer through the earth, to the man himself without a voice to accompany it. A warm feeling of support and encouragement from a distant source.

He could do this.

He had to.

--

WC: 903
GP: 18

Hound

Part time

626 Posts

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A Broken Man's Chimera [Closed] Feb 26, 2015 3:22:47 GMT -5

Post by Hound on Feb 26, 2015 3:22:47 GMT -5

His body ached to the very core, and he gasped for air. His lungs begging for a moments rest, but his body wouldn't comply. He continued to attack the darkness around him, this had to end. Fragments of the darkness dug into his skin with each slam, it was bleeding him dry with no intention of bringing him back this time. Yet he persisted, willingly pushing the darkness deeper into his hands and forearms with each attempt to shattered the damned thing. The pain was nothing in comparison to what it'd done to him before, he'd endure. He had to. He wouldn't let this continue to hold his life hostage.

This whatever it was had taken so much. If he had powers he'd have been able to be by the old man's side at those last seconds. He wouldn't have been the slave of those suit wearing assholes that stared at him with starving eyes. Things would have been better, but this had to sit in the way of everything. Turning into a gun toting husk, when he was once a proud warrior. He hated everything in the darkness, especially himself. What he was, what he had become. He hated it all. Going from a responsibility dodging sad excuse of a man, to a weak cowardly spiteful puppy. He was better than all of this, the old monk knew that or else he wouldn't have entrusted him with this power.

Then he asked himself, what happened to the monk? The one he struck down and buried in a shallow grave. Did he deserve this chance? He'd fought so hard to find this place, and never asked if he even deserved it. Maybe he'd abused the power for so long it'd take its gift back. He wasn't worthy. His attacks began to slow to a crawl, and eventually they ceased. He'd taken everything for granted, from his father to the world around and the energy he'd so greedily sucked up for his own use. Silently his arms fell to his sides, and in his head sank to his chest. The shards in his flesh festered and grew in size. His blood began to rain down into the dark like a thunderstorm.

A soft sigh escaped his blood stained lips as he looked upon his handiwork. Even if he was to continue he was getting no where. His blows had become useless, and his frail body was drained. For a moment he closed his eyes and flashes of that last day would return to him, what he'd done to those men. That feeling of wanting to end them, their fear filling him with feelings of satisfaction and superiority. This was a power he didn't deserve truly, and the world around him had known this. Having come to that conclusion, he only wondered why it'd given him the chance to live. Why did it give him that last bit?

A feeling of warmth come out of nowhere, feeling almost like a mother's embrace on a cold winter's day. And like a scared child he accepted it fully, wanting it to never go. The warmth brought wind into his lungs again and one word was uttered softly into the darkness. “Release.” It made sense. All this time he'd been trying to destroy it, be rid of it, when it was himself all along. Something they had brought out of him that he just couldn't accept was him. That side of him that prayed on the weak, and ended lives with no remorse. He was truly his master's student. This place, and the Juzu she'd given him, the prayers all allowed him to see this.

Looking down into his hands he could finally see the cracks that had spread across his body due to his want for destruction. Closing his eyes he began to focus on the darkness around him healing it and therein himself. The shards embedded into his arms would begin to change in pigment and shape as they replaced the lost skin and blood, leaving only his scars untouched.

“Without having inner harmony one can't even dream of understanding the techniques I'm going to teach you.”

Something the old bastard told him before he started training with him. Placing his hand along the never ending black the process began, slowly it all began to draw toward him. Carefully covering every inch of his body, creeping up his arm to his chest and spreading to the inside through his mouth, and nose. Then he could feel it, the flood of water crashing down on his shoulders and head the cold biting his bones. His legs were pretty much dead which was going to make the way back a bit of a problem. Holding on to the Juzu tightly he leaned forward letting gravity do its work, he fell forward the feeling of the water was great considering where he'd just come from.

For the first time in a while he wasn't afraid of going back there, he wasn't afraid to sleep. Rising from the cool depths he immediately found Sekai waiting for him. He wasn't sure how long it had been, but she was there waiting for him. He didn't deserve the amount of kindness she showed him, that much he knew. After the way he'd disrespected her, waking up to no one and having to take a long lonesome walk would have been just. Yet there she was. So he just wasn't quite sure of what to say, instead he'd let her start things off.

923.18.61

Kireon

Bye Felicia~

4,761 Posts

A Broken Man's Chimera [Closed] Mar 16, 2015 2:03:29 GMT -5

Post by Kireon on Mar 16, 2015 2:03:29 GMT -5

Even at their quiet urging, she refused to budge. Like stone herself, she didn't move from the spot she'd chosen with knees tucked beneath her in proper seiza and her hands folded properly against her lap. Brown eyes remained fixed on the still form interrupting the flow of the crashing waters.

His war raged, and the soul's response to it was fascinating. Attacking everything and anything within range-- himself included.

She wondered if her own heart looked like that through the eyes of someone else.

Keep fighting, she urged, wanting desperately for the man before her to succeed where she felt she had failed. Don't give up, don't let it-- the fear-- take you, you're stronger than that. This was his life, this world wasn't finished with him yet and he with it. He had more, so much more, he could do in the world and all he needed to do was just reach out a little more and just seize it with his own two hands.

He was strong enough to succeed where she couldn't. He could do this, she knew he could-- sensed it with every fiber of her being.

Balancing on a knife's edge, she waited with breath caught in her throat. Please. A single thought, a prayer with everything she could muster within it as she braced herself against the chill of the night.

Silence.

A shift.

Fascinated, she watched the way the soul shivered and shifted. Transformed from negative, fearful and vicious to anxious, clinging, and desperate. A ripple in the colors, thick and cloying as they were, dark and desolate with a bleak future in mind, and it began to pull into itself. Circling as if drained from the invisible center until it vanished entirely.

Into acceptance.

Movement, and the man's body relaxed at long last, no longer fighting itself and the world around him, but went limp, allowed the pressure and force of the water and gravity's lure to drop him off the ledge he sat upon and into the depths of the dark pool below. A splash, Sekai already on her numbed feet, stumbling, to meet him with towel in hand and a relieved, though worried expression upon her young face. Water streamed from his body, the scars no longer worn with shame, but as badges of something he had learned to... accept? Embrace as something that had happened to him, but were not something to be ashamed of?

She wasn't sure. Couldn't assume anything just by looking at the quiet way he stood and awaited her to break the silence.

She leaned up on unsteady toes and threw the towel around his shoulders as best she could. "Something changed, didn't it?" A little awe stricken in expression and tone. Admiration, as if he had done something truly remarkable.

And, to one woman, he had certainly done just that.

A smile, not tinged with nervous energy or the quiet sadness that clung to her the way shadows had stubbornly stuck to him as she offered her hand. "Come, let's go back to the shrine. A hot bath will help, and then you can talk about if it you want-- or you can sleep." She didn't have to voice it, but the shine in those big brown eyes and the way the smile lit her features, warmed them, and the overall sensation of being enormously pleased and happy for the man before her was unmistakable.

She was proud of him.

--

WC: 577
GP: 11

Hound

Part time

626 Posts

Reiatsu140 Defense20 Strength50 Speed50 Spirit20 ApplicationHound

A Broken Man's Chimera [Closed] Apr 3, 2015 11:03:32 GMT -5

Post by Hound on Apr 3, 2015 11:03:32 GMT -5

As the towel barely draped over his shoulders his cold hands clasped the cloth to assure it made its mark. How long had she waited here for him? The better question of course was why had she waited her for him? Keenan didn't entirely understand, why would someone be so kind to an privileged asshole like him? He stopped himself, after coming so far to think like that seemed...pointless. The answers were simple and right in his face, there was no point in questioning things when you already knew the answers. “You could say that.” His words crept from his clacking jaw as he made the final step on to solid earth. His muscles were stiff , and his bones chattered like a skeleton from an old 60's cartoon as they cried out in pain.

The mention of a hot bath sounded great, and sleep sounded amazing. The thought of the two nearly broke the man down and brought him to tears, but the smile she had on her face was something genuine. “Hot bath first, then we'll talk, then sleep. How are you doing?” He voice still shaky from the cold air slamming against his everything, a fundoshi wasn't the worlds best protection from the wind after all. He clutched the towel bringing it closer to his body. When he took the time to like at Sekai, he'd notice something. A face he'd never really gotten before, except from one person. Her face was something every child should know from their parents, but for him it took a stranger in the forest. Funny how things worked out. The look filled him with a sensation he hadn't felt in a long time, he was glad this wasn't like before.

She was nice and kind, and that smile of hers could melt the heart. If this was anything like the last person who gave him that look...no hardly the time to stay on that. She was nothing like the other, the only thing the two shared was that they both helped him along his spiritual journey. Yet he found a slight feeling, a whim...an instinct form, his fist clinched tightly around the towel and his smile faded a bit. What would it take to kill the mood? A mental image of his fist through her chest, as it had blown through the chest of the last person that looked at him that way. It was just a thought, he knew it wouldn't come to that...he hoped it wouldn't come to that. Lady luck was never on his side, and he refused to let her have her way time and time again. She wasn't anything like him, it'd never come to that. "Come on let's go you look like you're freezing out here."

464.9.69

Kireon

Bye Felicia~

4,761 Posts

A Broken Man's Chimera [Closed] Apr 13, 2015 19:13:12 GMT -5

Post by Kireon on Apr 13, 2015 19:13:12 GMT -5

His hands shook, teeth chattered from the cold. That towel wasn't going to do too much good, and she'd already sent her cousin and family back down when the dusk had grown to full night. There had been something she couldn't put into words, the feeling of knowing that the magnitude and journey he had to endure was more severe than most would ever go through in their lives-- and a sense of knowing that his return to the world around him wouldn't be right without someone waiting for him to come back. Maybe it had been something in the way he'd moved, in the angry desperation running tension tight throughout his body and broken aura, but it had given her the twist in her gut that said that he was someone that couldn't be left all alone.

Everyone deserved to have someone waiting for them to return-- even those who didn't believe they had the right.

A second towel joined the first, though the short statured woman had to stand on tiptoe again to throw it over his shoulders properly. A shake of her head, damp locks sticking to her skin and the half-dried fabric of the light yukata she'd worn into the waterfall herself. "I'm okay, you weren't gone that long, really." she insisted softly, already starting to guide him through the rocky path leading back to the stairs-- no sharp points or moss-slick edges tripped them, the path oddly smooth beneath their feet and the stairs... somehow nowhere near as numerous as before.

A blur of descent and she was already pushing him from behind like an impatient child into the inviting glow of a traditional bathhouse. "Into the bath, go, now. There's clothing ready for you when you come out and everything. Don't come out until you're completely warmed out!" For a modest and sweet little thing, she had a bossy streak that would come out on the rare occasion.

She'd pretended not to see the way his smile had faded up there, the way his emotions had changed toward the darker side again, and his fist tightening against the cloth.

She shut the door behind him and closed her eyes.

Her own journey had not gone so well, and for just a moment, in private, she allowed herself the selfishness to envy him in his progress. It wasn't his fault by any means, it just meant that something was truly well and broken inside her-- and that she didn't know how to fix it in the slightest. Infuriating as it was, she would have to keep going up there, keep doing things the way she had been in hopes that, some day, it would work.

Enough. She scolded herself for the moment's pity, busying herself by heading over to fix up the futon and ensure he had something hot to eat when he'd come out. They had guests over on occasion, especially the monks or the different schools that came by to train and use the dojo on occasion, and she was used to helping Keiko-san prepare the meals and set out the bedding for them.

She'd shower quick enough to warm herself and make sure things were ready for when Keenan was ready to talk, a little, and fall into the sleep he so rightfully deserved.

--

WC: 552
GP: 11

Hound

Part time

626 Posts

Reiatsu140 Defense20 Strength50 Speed50 Spirit20 ApplicationHound

A Broken Man's Chimera [Closed] Jun 23, 2015 0:48:10 GMT -5

Post by Hound on Jun 23, 2015 0:48:10 GMT -5

“Alright, alright.” The words found their way through his lips in between his slight chuckle, for such a small girl she could be pretty bossy it seemed. Well there he was in the bathhouse, with nothing much to do besides bathe. Setting his towel down he gazed at the corner of the towel still distorted from his grasp. He couldn't quite understand what drove him to that point. Was he watching out for himself, or was he just paranoid that she'd be the Karmic shit storm he deserved after all this time? Either way he only wondered how could he even let himself think of something like that? To compare her to him was like comparing a lamb to a tiger. She was sweet soft and innocent, he was...cold, decisive, and dangerous. To even begin to think she'd become like him, or do what he did was inconceivable. Could he even kill her? The old bastard meant more, taught him so much, and yet his fist ran straight through his chest. So what does that mean for the young girl who he'd only just met? Inch by inch he lowered himself inside the water, as if to cleanse himself of those thoughts. The hot waters of the bathhouse felt good against his skin, quickly warming the bones and soul like a bowl of a caring mother's chicken noodle soup. Though as time continued to move forward he found himself still submerged, and at this point he'd gone from cleansing to drowning the thoughts of her blood on his clenched fist. To reject and refuse the part of him that felt this way would mean returning back to square one. To regress and enter into that stagnant existence again? Perish the thought. He'd come this far, and like hell was he going to go back because of some thoughts. He had learned to accept the side of him that brewed these thoughts, these feelings, but who ever said that acceptance came with affection? A farmer toiling in the fields accepts the burning sun against his back, but his disdain for the blisters and pain it brings him is great. Just as the farmer keeps in mind the sun makes sure his plants grow strong and healthy, he keeps in mind those thoughts, that side of him, only have his safety in mind. Slowly his body arose from the tub of water taking in a breath of air as if it were his first. The air around him was hot and muggy, each breath felt as heavy and hot as the last, as if he was taking in the air he'd just released from his lungs. How long had it been? Obviously far too long, the minutes felt like months, and to make her way this long was bad enough. He could only she was one of those sooner rather than later thinkers. Exiting the bathhouse warm, clothed, and a little wet. He went to where he was sure Sekai would be, ready for that talk they were supposed to have. “Hey, I'm ready for that talk if you are, sorry for making you wait so long.” A slight yawn would escape him after he'd finished the sentence. He would stay up as long as she wanted to talk, but she gave off this feeling of early to bed early to rise.

561.11

Bleach Gotei

A Broken Man's Chimera [Closed]

Post by Hound on Oct 10, 2014 1:33:53 GMT -5

Post by Kireon on Oct 17, 2014 2:10:32 GMT -5

Post by Hound on Oct 17, 2014 18:01:29 GMT -5

Post by Kireon on Oct 30, 2014 13:12:53 GMT -5

Post by Hound on Nov 9, 2014 12:40:32 GMT -5

Post by Kireon on Nov 18, 2014 13:25:12 GMT -5

Post by Hound on Dec 24, 2014 23:01:30 GMT -5

Post by Kireon on Jan 24, 2015 12:13:30 GMT -5

Post by Hound on Jan 25, 2015 0:30:23 GMT -5

Post by Kireon on Feb 20, 2015 15:02:41 GMT -5

Post by Hound on Feb 20, 2015 21:49:43 GMT -5

Post by Kireon on Feb 23, 2015 20:42:11 GMT -5

Post by Hound on Feb 26, 2015 3:22:47 GMT -5

Post by Kireon on Mar 16, 2015 2:03:29 GMT -5

Post by Hound on Apr 3, 2015 11:03:32 GMT -5

Post by Kireon on Apr 13, 2015 19:13:12 GMT -5

Post by Hound on Jun 23, 2015 0:48:10 GMT -5

Welcome!