Lore: Back to the Forest

[Soran Nightblade]

Thread started by Kyosuke on April 3rd, 2005

Kyosuke:

Chien almost smiled, though he didn't. However, he did feel a warm feeling when he completely realized that Zaraxi had returned. "I'm... glad you returned," the demon hunter said. His voice was a bit warmer than it would have normally been, but he didn't mind. He had a feeling that his emotions would be more loose around her.

Soran:

The demon looked at him with vibrant blood-red eyes, her wings stretching upwards contentedly. "I am also...glad," she said, not familiar with the word but sensing that it was the name for her feeling. She looked down at the fire and pondered, then looked at him again. She had thought she would just come and remember his face, but now that her goal was accomplished she had an impulsive feeling that she would rather stay. "Chien...where will you go now? Will you hunt demons?"

Kyosuke:

Chien thought about it for a bit. "Probably," he replied. "I don't know what else I can do." He turned his attention back to the fish he was cooking. He took one out of the fire and saw that it was done. The white haired man held one of the fish out to the demon.

"Want some?" he asked as he took one for himself and bit off a piece of it.

Soran:

Zaraxi accepted the fish and nibbled it curiously. Her sense of taste was very dim, but it didn't seem bad. She looked back at Chien, thinking about what he was going to do from here and not realizing she was staring rudely at him.

Kyosuke:

Chien sat quietly nibbling on the fish when he suddenly heard a rustling in the brush behind him. His hand shot down to his dagger and extended the blade until he felt a slight resistence. Pulling it up, he saw that it was a rabbit. "More to eat," he said. and prepared to spit it after finishing his fish. The demon slayer sat there in thought as he skinned the creature. Zaraxi would make probably make a useful partner while slaying demons, he thought to proposition it to her.

Soran:

Zaraxi leaned back and lay on the leafy ground, holding her partially-nibbled fish up and staring through it contemplatively. She had a strange feeling, in the back of her chest, and she felt she'd been searching for it. It was very subtle, just a sense of intuitive...rightness. After a moment, it occurred to her that it was the feeling she used to have in the sky. Was that it? Did she belong here? She spread her wings across the ground comfortably and stared through the leaves at the blueness that filtered between them.

Kyosuke:

Chien set up two sticks so that he could roast the rabbit over the fire. After he did it, he turned to Zaraxi. "You know, I don't suppose you'd be willing to help me with my hunting?" he asked. "It's not too strange to see a demon hunting other demons. It'd also be... nice to have someone with me when I did it." Chien took some of Taki's words to heart more than he realized when he said that. Her words had affected his subconscious quite a bit.

Soran:

Zaraxi looked at him abruptly, with interested crimson eyes. "That sounds interesting. I will come with you," she said, sitting up and feeling strangely elated. She had an intuitive, unquestioned respect for the demon hunter, though its exact source she couldn't name. She found the idea of traveling with him very satisfying. She remembered the barely eaten fish in her hand and held it out to Chien. "I'm full," she said almost sheepishly, "You need food, right? You should eat it."

Kyosuke:

Chien nodded. "Thanks," he said as he took the barely eaten fish from Zaraxi. He finished it off, wondering what else to say to her. She had accepted working with him and he was glad. Travelling with her also meant that he had someone to watch his back, especially when he was sleeping. Finishing the fish, he checked on the rabbit.

It was almost done and Chien rotated it a few more times. "Well, do you have any idea where we could try heading next?" he asked. "Maybe you can check for another town in the morning."

Soran:

Zaraxi inwardly both dreaded and anticipated getting to visit another city. "I'll look in the morning and see what's visible," she said calmly. She stretched a wing forward and pulled a few dry leaves out of her feathers with her fingers, no longer able to remember what it had been like to feel them broken, though the thought sent a tremor up her spine. All that mattered to her now was the current moment. "Remember you asked me where I came from?" she asked blankly, "I said I couldn't remember anything but the inside of the building and the way the land looked as I left." She paused for a moment, her expression flickering slightly, "Actually, there's one other thing I remember. It's only a name, but they all kept saying it. It was 'Reya'." Zaraxi blinked and looked absently down at her lap, not sure why she'd bothered to tell him. It was hardly of any matter now.

Kyosuke:

"Reya huh?" Chien said. "I can't say it rings a bell." The demon hunter took the rabbit out of the fire and started munching on it. He wondered about the significance of that Reya and who she was. Then a few drops of water started falling down through the trees, turning to steam when it hit the fire. "It looks like it's raining," he pointed out.

Soran:

Zaraxi flinched as a it felt like a tiny drop of fire landed on her arm. A moment later another one fell on her cheek and she gasped slightly, a slight blue aura crackling around the spot where it hurt. She looked up at Chien searchingly, distraught. "Did something just hit you?" she asked warily.

Kyosuke:

Chien nodded. "It's just water," he replied, not really understanding why an aura was springing up whenever some water hit her. "Er... why's that happening anyway?" he asked.

Soran:

Zaraxi jerked her arms to her chest as more drops of fire fell onto her skin, crackling softly as they landed. "Water?" she asked tensely, alarmed and confused. She had seen Kai stand under falling water, and he had been unharmed except by his fall. How could he act so calm when fire was landing on them?

Kyosuke:

Chien noticed the tenseness in Zaraxi's voice. "What's wrong?" he asked. The blue aura was starting to spring up more and more often as the rain got harder and more water poured onto them. He reached out to put his hand on her shoulder but received a shock when he made contact and jerked his hand back.

Soran:

Zaraxi hugged herself and curled her legs in toward her chest, spreading her wings over herself. When this hardly stopped the pain, she struggled frantically to her feet, flinching left and then right as though she were being belted by invisible rocks. "Chien!" she said in a strained voice, staring at him in confusion as he stood there apparently unharmed. A dul blue halo surrounded her now as drops of water fell like acid on her skin and sizzled audibly away.

Kyosuke:

Chien thought quickly and decided that the rain was causing something to harm her. He tried to find a way to block the rain and grabbed his dagger. With it he concentrated as hard as he could and formed a large umbrella. He shielded her from the rain and made sure that she didn't touch the weapon. "Are you alright now?" he asked once the glowing died down.

Soran:

Zaraxi stood tensely under the shield Chien had created, as if waiting to be burned again, but when she realized it had stopped she slowly unfolded her arms and straightened up, looking nervously over at Chien and then up at the umbrella. "What...?" she looked at him blankly.

Kyosuke:

Chien jammed the hilt of his dagger into the ground and made sure that it was stable, then he kneeled in front of Zaraxi. "What happened?" he asked. "I only saw that you glowed blue whenever water hit you and you started to get panicked and distressed."


Soran:

"It hurt...the rain stings. It's more like fire than rain." She thought back carefully, baffled. Knowledge of every weapon and attack strategy that existed had been programmed firmly in her mind before she was born, but none of it said anything about rain. And Chien was fine. "Didn't it sting?" she asked, feeling slightly nauseous now that the danger had passed.

Kyosuke:

Chien shook his head. "It's just water Zaraxi, it didn't hurt me," he replied. "Maybe it has to do with your powers of electricity. It never mixed well with water, especially since it conducts it." Chien remembered an incident in his hometown where a river was struck by lightning while someone was swimming in it.

Soran:

Zaraxi looked at Chien, beginning to understand the situation. "Maybe I can't touch water..." she said quietly to herself. It had never occurred to her that it might be dangerous. She had been near it so many times, including when she first met Chien. She realized that Chien was still using his dagger as a shield for her. "Does it hurt to keep it that way?" she asked in her silvery, emotionless voice.

Kyosuke:

Chien shook his head. "It's already in the ground right now," he said, gesturing to the hilt of the dagger that was dug into the ground. "I just have my hand on it to support it so it doesn't fall on you and drain you again." Chien sat down and looked at the soaked rabbit that he still had in his hand. "I don't think I can eat this anymore..." He threw it far into the woods for the wolves to eat, not caring if they ended up coming to where they were camped out.

[Soran Nightblade]

Zaraxi sat quietly under Chien's umbrella, listening to the rain tap musically above them. "How does one hunt demons?" she asked contemplatively. "You start in a city? Do you find them there, like the people we just fought?"

[Kyosuke]

Chien thought about it for a bit. "I usually listen for rumors of demons that are causing trouble for people," he replied. "Then I travel to those towns to solve their problem. As I've mentioned before, sometimes the demons are just being accused out of fear, I leave those with a warning. Others, such as animal demons like the ones in this forest, I tend to kill without a second thought."

[Soran Nightblade]

Zaraxi nodded thoughtfully, unintentionally letting her smaller wing brush around in Chien's face. "I see. I believe I can perform those types of tasks." Her wing persisted in fluffing against his nose and cheek as she thought to herself. She questioned why it was that she was so eager to become enlisted in Chien's service. She quickly resolved the issue by reminding herself of the power of his strange weapon, and that it was only natural for one with power to rule over others in a Darwinistic hierarchy.

"It is becoming dark," she said in her silver voice, "Do you require sleep?"

[Kyosuke]

Chien rubbed his nose the first few times Zaraxi's wing brushed up against it. However, it didn't take long before the urge to sneeze came on. Taking deep breaths, he finally let out a sneeze. However, with his sneeze he shook his body forward, his arm hitting the pole that had been in the ground and knocking the umbrella into Zaraxi as well as letting a lot of rain fall on her before he managed to readjust the umbrella and stab it into the ground again.

[Soran Nightblade]

Before Zaraxi knew what was going on, a paralyzing flood of power stabbed into her, and she realized she was stuck in contact with Chien's strange weapon. She let out a shrill, metallic scream and struggled out of the way of the umbrella, but her body seemed frozen, shuddering in place. The rain stinging at her skin was beyond her sensation. Though Chien managed to get the umbrella out of contact with the demon fairly quickly, it had done its work, and as soon as it broke contact, her scream muted and she collapsed wide-eyed onto her side on the wet ground, the rain spattering tiny sparks off her skin. She curled up in terror and arched her wing over her body as if to hide herself, unable to make a sound, even after the umbrella was safely covering her again.

[Kyosuke]

Chien would have mentally panicked, had he not blocked out his emotions. Instead, he kneeled down in front of her, not sure if he should touch her sparking body and asked "Are you alright?" He thought for a moment, then decided to add as an afterthought "Sorry about that..."

[Soran Nightblade]

Zaraxi's throat seemed unable to make any sound, but at the sound of Chien's voice, she managed to remove her wing from her face and look at him. She tried to send a look that told him she was fine, but her involuntary trembling made her look more alarmed than okay. Before she could calm down, Chien's face seemed to fade away and everything became very dark. Her tense wings fell limp as she unwilling slipped into unconsciousness.

[Kyosuke]

Chien looked at his demoness companion and noticed that the mud on the ground probably wasn't helping her any, seeing that water seemed to hurt her. Feeling concern bubbling up within the cage he had locked his emotions into, he decided to pick the demoness up. He tucked his arms under her, and received a great shock from it. Realizing he would lose consciousness soon, he laid Zaraxi onto his body before passing out from the shocks.

[Soran Nightblade]

Zaraxi's senses slowly returned to her after Chien saved her from the torture of the wet ground, and she opened her eyes several minutes feeling lightheaded with a dull pain spreading down her front. Realizing she was lying on something, she raised her head to see Chien unconscious beneath her. She blinked in shock and scrambled quickly off of him, feeling the dull throb of energy loss fade as soon as she broke contact with him. Chien, however, did not look well.

"Chien?" she asked him, leaning close to his face. "Chien? Chien?? ...... Chien?" After a minute she gave up on this. He seemed very pale and appeared to be in pain. She tried to remember how long she had been in contact with him, but had no idea. "Chien?" she tried again, mostly to herself, becoming discouraged. She was not programmed to understand guilt or affection, but was aware of a tightness in her stomach that seemed to be warning her that something was very wrong. She knelt next to him and watched him closely, calling to him intermittently whenever the knot in her stomach became too tight to tolerate.

[Kyosuke]

Chien lay on the ground for a while, the electricity from Zaraxi, having fried him and his innards. After about an hour, Zaraxi's intermittent calls of his name began to sink through his unconsciousness and his eyes slowly twitched open. He saw the angelic wings that Zaraxi had and for a moment, he had thught he died.

Then he recognized the demoness and jerked awake. "Ugh," he grunted. "What happened?" The demon hunter was somewhat dazed from the electricity and had a splitting headache.

[Soran Nightblade]

Zaraxi's wings stretched out eagerly as she saw the demon hunter begin to come around.

"Ugh, What happened?" he grunted, sounding uncomfortable.

"When I woke up, I was rested in contact with your body and you were unconscious. Probably, you are experiencing shock from my energy forming a current through your body, similar to that experienced when people are struck by lightning. You may have suffered some tissue death, blood clotting, or internal burning, but it doesn’t seem that you are experiencing ventricular fibrillation or respiratory arrest, so you should be able to recover. Do you feel any pain in your chest?” she described as if she were a living medical text, looking at him intently. She spoke rather excitedly, having begun to suspect the worst.

[Kyosuke]

Chien felt his headache get worse with Zaraxi's explanation. He didn't understand a lot of the words she had just used. The town he had come from was small and didn't keep up to date with medicines are medical terms. In fact, the main medicines they had used were herbal. He chose to ignore her explanation and just answer the question. "My chest is fine, but I have a horrible headache right now," he replied. "I think I rested you on my body so you would be out of contact with the wet mud."

[Soran Nightblade]

Zaraxi felt her stomach knot again as Chien explained why she had woken up on top of him. "If I had woken up any later, you may have easily died," she frowned, lacking vocabulary either to utter an apology or to name her emotion as guilt. "You are probably experiencing subtle muscle spasms in your head and abrupt dehydration due to the shock. You will be sensitive to light and sound, and may be nauseous or have tightness in your neck for the next few hours until your muscles can relax enough to stop the headache," she explained, looking down at his canteen. She unclipped it from his side and removed the cap, then held it out for him to drink. "Drink all of this, very slowly - your stomach may convulse involuntarily if you have it all at once," she said quietly to avoid irritating his migraine, looking around at his things. "Do you have a small piece of cloth?"

[Kyosuke]

Chien stared blankly for a bit, digesting the words. This time he managed to understand all of them, but figuring them out was giving him an even bigger headache. He took the canteen from Zaraxi and started drinking small sips of water. He then motioned towards the bottom of his coat. "Youc an use the bottom of my coat for the cloth," he offered.