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Post by Despair on Jul 5, 2009 19:45:50 GMT -5
The streets of Ciardha City at night were perilous for a normal human.
Then again, Orpheus Nyx was hardly a normal human. To someone with the blood of angels and demons running through his veins, the crime-ridden city was about as dangerous as your average dayfly.
[glow=red,1,000]Remind me why we're here.[/glow] A bored voice drawled in his mind. The boy made no outward movement to suggest that he had noticed the demon other than a slight roll of his eyes.
The boy crouched, perched on the drainpipe of an old library of some sort. Two wings rose proudly from each shoulder; the one from the right pearly, ivory white and elegant, graceful in appearance and radiating a sort of gentle, serene light. The one from the left cast an aura of darkness and menace, looming over his form with the bat-like figure casting shadows across his features.
He finally rose from hours of observation, predatory grace evident in each movement even after so long without motion. Easily, he dropped the twenty or so feet to the ground and landed lightly on his feet, walking forward casually. A sound to his left, down an alley, made him pause.
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Post by {K}itsune on Jul 5, 2009 20:48:17 GMT -5
Rose colored eyes flashed back to her as she splashed through a puddle in her way noisily. Looking over her shoulder, she cried, "Stay away from me! I can't help you! I- I can't!" Intricate designs spiraled down from her magenta eyes, indiciating that her powers were in use. She knew that if she ran into anyone, they would think she was crazy, that was why she was not only trying to run away from the ghost, but away from the town.
Her heart was beating rapidly in her ears as her widened eyes took in the spirit that was chasing her. It's face was already in partial decay, its eyes had already disappeared from its skull, and its body was mangled in horrible and disgusting ways. It was terrifying her. It wanted her to help it find its body, but she couldn't, how could she do that?
Naminé looked back in front of her again a second too late, and saw another shadow, as her onyx black hair whipped around her face. Tripping over her own feet she fell the ground and the ghoul that had been chasing her caught up to her, and she struggled against the invisible ghost. "Help me! Make him go away! Make him go away!" she screamed, squeezing her eyes shut. She knew that the shadow - another man, a real one - would think she was insane, but as long as he got the ghost to go away.... what did she care?
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Post by Despair on Jul 5, 2009 22:11:59 GMT -5
"Help me! Make him go away! Make him go away!"
The female's voice held a tone of pure terror; bloodcurdling in every sense of the word. Orpheus's gaze shot over to where he saw the lithe figure of a young woman struggling against an invisible grip. In the shadows of the alley, the only thing the boy could truly see was the glowing neon-rose of her eyes.
[glow=red,1,000]She's fighting a ghoul. [/glow]Charon remarked with mild amusement.
Seeing her visage, features twisted with fear, made angelic instinct rush through him, making him act without thought. His eyes began to glow--one golden and one silver--as he strode forward. Forcing the demon within him to surrender his abilities, Orpheus was able to make out the shifting form of a man-like apparation, decayed and long deceased. The rings on his fingers glowed with unearthly power as he strode forward until he was inches from the girl and the corpse-like illusion.
There was nothing he could do just yet; Liora wouldn't allow him to harm the spirit. Instead, he reached out and pulled the writhing girl into his grasp, speaking to her in a harsh voice to pierce through the panic.
"Calm down! What does he want? Listen! What does he want?"
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Post by {K}itsune on Jul 6, 2009 9:50:03 GMT -5
When something grabbed her, her first thought was that the ghost's corpse had finally been called to its spirit. Thinking that it was now latching onto her, caused her to flinch back, only to find that she was now in somebody's arms and she'd actually pressed closer to them. Naminé opened her mouth to scream when words with the sharpness of a blade pierced through her terror to her confused mind. Her second thought was that this was a real man, and now he would surely turn her over to the assylum. However, after that the words registered in her mind, and she knew that somehow this boy could see the ghost too.
Tears streaked from her rose colored eyes, causing a few of the tears to actually not just reflect, but become that color as some of the dye that had made her eyes that way leaked out. "He wants his body! He keeps yelling at me to find his body!" she cried, shuddering against this man's strong hold, as the ghost kept right in her face, not letting this second person get in his way. It's joker-like grin was right in front of her face, and it's greenish, decaying hand kept touching her and gripping at her arm, wanting to be put back in the ground.
"Make him go away.. Make him go away.." she whispered, squeezing her eyes shut. Forcing herself to open her eyes, she cringed as she looked straight into the eye sockets of the ghost. "Wh-Where is your body?" she whispered, knowing that although the man could see the ghost, he wouldn't be able to hear it's reply. Only Necromancers could talk to and hear ghosts, not even demons or Gods could do it. To others who could see it, they could hear it too, they just couldn't understand it. Opening its mouth it made gritting, screaming, and gargling noises of a person without a tongue.
Cringing again as it yelled at her, she cringed. "He doesn't know." she whispered, trembling, before she squeezed her eyes shut again.
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Post by Despair on Jul 6, 2009 10:22:47 GMT -5
Orpheus' eyes narrowed, his lips settling into a grim line as he heard her response. Liora was practically flooding his mind with tears for the 'poor lost soul'. "Alright." he growled. "That's fine. Tell him that I can find it for him, but he needs to back off so I can...think."
He had been a heartbeat away from, instead of saying 'think', telling her that he needed to confer with Charon. He wasn't sure if she would know the name, but the meaning was fairly clear. To say that, Orpheus would have to be either insane or have some sort of special ability.
[glow=red,1,000]So now we're saving damsels in distress and hunting dead bodies, my boy?[/glow]
Charon seemed to be quite amused by Orpheus' attempt to help the terrified girl, but surprisingly obliged. Then again, the demon would do just about anything for a pretty face.
[glow=red,1,000]You do realize you're going to have to let me out?[/glow]
S.hit. The boy's mismatched eyes widened as he realized what that could mean, but resolved to it anyway. Liora, you can stop your sobbing now, we're going to help them.
He wrapped his wings around her, loosening his grip so she could run from him if she chose. There was a holy energy around his right wing that would force the ghoul to give the beautiful female at least three feet of space. The demonic aura around the other wing warned even the undead that he possessed the power to eliminate them.
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Post by {K}itsune on Jul 6, 2009 10:35:37 GMT -5
Naminé nodded her head, and said softly to the ghost, "We'll help you... Just... Get out of my face." The ghost surprisingly obliged, and moved about a foot and a half away from her. Obviously with death equals a loss of depth perception. Then two wings closed around her, grazing her shoulders. One was so soft that it reminded her of the dog she'd had many years ago. She'd named him Bear because he waddled like one, but he had the softest fur she'd ever felt. On the other hand, the second wing felt almost slimy, the membrane tickling her skin.
Feeling the man's grip loosen, she feared for a second that he planned to run. He wasn't going to help her, and why should he? Her eyes widened as some force from the white wing, flung the ghoul back about two more feet. It wasn't happy with that, but the odd tickling feeling from the darker wing seemed to have the ghost almost afraid. Something was going on with the boy, and it scared her, but how could anything he come up with be scarier than having a decaying ghost in your face, knowing that reacting to it might make people who couldn't see it think she was insane?
The tattoo on her back, seemed to wiggle against her body. Her wings wanted to shoot out the push this male away from her. There was something not right about him, but then again, who was the one talking to ghosts?
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Post by Despair on Jul 6, 2009 11:29:03 GMT -5
He felt the stirring against his chest and looked down at her back, noting the two tattoos. That figured. Still, he needed to help her, if only to make Liora shut up.
"I'm not going to hurt you. I swear it." he murmured softly to her, gently stepping back and then to her side as he closed his eyes. "I'm just not...I'm not your average human boy."
[glow=red,1,000]Let's see what we can do, hmm?[/glow]
Orpheus gasped, his eyes flying open as they glowed with crimson light. Everything was now in shades of gray, except for the ghoul and its footsteps. He could see its trail; they could follow it back to its body!
"I know where it is. Tell the ghoul to follow us." He instructed, but not in a commanding tone. As soon as he was sure she understood, he began following the trail.
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Post by {K}itsune on Jul 6, 2009 11:43:28 GMT -5
Not a normal human, huh? Well, who was anymore. She turned her glowing pink rose eyes onto him and she watched with fasination as his eyes shot open, crimson red. Naminé rose shakily to her feet when he said he knew where the body was quite suddenly. Turning to the ghost she said, "Follow us." Running to catch up to the boy, she shuddered as the ghoul took ahold of her wrist, thinking that she might try to deceive him. Every few seconds she could feel more of his dissolving skin drip onto her hand.
"Thank you." she whispered to the boy as she moved by his side. Her wings no longer wormed against her back, so she knew that he wasn't trying to trick her. Yuffie's wings had this weird quality about them, you see, not only did they become life-like from her tattoos, but they also sensed danger or lies at points.
As she moved alongside him, she tried to concentrate on returning the soul to rest, knowing that if she didn't do it correctly when they finally found its body, that while it was thrust back into its corpse it wouldn't go back to sleep, and then it would be really angry. It hadn't happened to her before, but when she was a bit younger and still with her family, she'd seen it happen.
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Post by Despair on Jul 6, 2009 11:56:40 GMT -5
The walk took a little longer than an hour. Orpheus was silent for a majority of the time, only speaking when warning her and the ghoul about upcoming obstacles or telling them how much time was left. He couldn't imagine how she felt, having the pseudo-corpse holding on to her, but he couldn't help but feel sorry for it. After all, it had been denied peace.
"Here we go..." he finally spoke. They were at the city limits, in the very back of a dead-end alleyway. Blood splattered the concrete walls, and a heavy stench of decay filled the air. Orpheus coughed once and then moved forward, pulling a fallen trashcan off the glowing body. The person had been brutally murdered, it appeared. Liora let out a strangled gasp of horror, while Charon merely snickered. Orpheus inwardly shushed them both and then turned to the girl he had been escorting and the shadowy form of the ghoul. "It's up to you now."
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Post by {K}itsune on Jul 6, 2009 12:15:16 GMT -5
Naminé cringed when she saw the state of the body and backed towards the entrance of the alley-way. She wrapped her arms around her, yanking her wrist from the ghoul. If she did this wrong, that would be crawling on her instead of just a spirit that only looked half as bad as what its actual body looked like. Forcing her mind not to linger on that fact, she thought of pushing first the ghost into the body, thinking almost of a vacuum, and then the body back into the after-life. She heard a noise that sounded like the body began to shudder a bit, meaning that she was doing it wrong, and she paused, taking a deep breath, the ghoul coming back out of the body.
Finally after about a minute of shoving the ghost into its body and then quickly back into unexistence, everything was quiet. This time, when she opened her eyes, she knew that the markings would be gone, and her eyes would have gone back to their normal warm, chocolate brown color. Peaking at the body she saw that it wasn't moving, and that meant that the ghost had finally gone back to rest. With a shuddering breath she collapsed down onto the ground, with her knees spread on either side of her. She rubbed her shoulder unconsiously, remembering where the skeletal hand had touched her.
Looking up finally, she said, "Thank you," once more. "How come you could see him?" she asked after a moment, confused.
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Post by Despair on Jul 6, 2009 12:32:19 GMT -5
Orpheus hesitated, contemplating the best way to answer her question. She had already seen his wings and witnessed his abilities, and still hadn't run off. Even Charon agreed; that had to count for something.
[glow=red,1,000]Then again, she might just have been desperate to get rid of that ghost.[/glow]
Charon pointed out, making Orpheus nod as he took that into account as well. Liora was shaking her head in exasperation, having finally ceased her irritating sobbing and returning to her old ways of annoying Orpheus into doing good deeds. Tell the truth, she chided. He sighed and refocused on the girl before him, tilting his head towards the exit of the alley and raising an eyebrow in an unspoken suggestion that they leave before he suffocated on the stink of decay.
Stalling had given him a few extra minutes, but not enough. Finally, he spoke.
"I believe I've already mentioned that I'm not your run-of-the-mill human boy." He said softly, making sure his expression was impassive.
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Post by {K}itsune on Jul 6, 2009 12:45:36 GMT -5
Watching him quietly, she felt a sort of... itching feeling in the back of her skull, like another spirit was trying to talk to her, or was talking to someone nearby. Eyeing the boy wearily, she got to her feet when she finally comprehended the unspoken question. She jerked her head towards the entrance and turned to walk out it, not stopping to talk to him until she had gone about a mile up the road and was swinging on a piece of wood that had been roped to a tree (a swing). "Yeah.. I guess you did." she murmured, her black hair falling over her eyes. "I guess you can conclude the same from me." she chuckled without humor.
She seemed to think to herself for a few moments, and deciding that if she couldn't trust him, she could at least trust him to not send her to the asylum, she chose to tell him what she was. However, she'd like to hear what he had to say first. There were some people out there whom she couldn't tell her secret to, people who were looking for her. After another second or two, she smiled just a bit, the action causing her face to light up. "I hope you know that that smell won't just go away. Dead body stays on you for days. You'll probably have to burn those clothes." she chortled.
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Post by Despair on Jul 6, 2009 13:24:54 GMT -5
Her smile lit up her whole face and, in the moonlight, made her beauty dazzle him. In the darkened alleyways he had managed to overlook it, but now that she was standing--or rather, sitting--directly in front of him with the moon's silvery glow illuminating every feature, he was stricken.
So surprised was he that, for the first time in a long time, his sense of humor appeared. Looking down at his clothes, he wrinkled his nose dramatically and proceeded to take off his shirt. "Might as well start now, then." he said mildly, resisting the urge to smirk as he looked over at her.
Orpheus couldn't rival Charon if they had stood side by side, but among humans he was certainly a rarity. His muscles were lean and toned in perfect balance, his features handsome. In his mind, Charon chuckled.
[glow=red,1,000]Stripping already, and you don't even know her name! I'm so proud. They do grow up fast ,don't they, Liora? She is pretty though, and a Necromancer as well. Hm...[/glow]
Orpheus managed to refrain from rolling his eyes as the demon needled Liora, returning his attention to the girl. "So, Necromancer, what's your name?" he asked, allowing a mischevious smirk to grace his lips.
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Post by {K}itsune on Jul 6, 2009 13:47:17 GMT -5
She blushed as his multicolored eyes scrutenized her, but smile sweetly up at him. She wondered why he was staring at her, did she have some decayed body goo on her or something? Her warm eyes widened as he was suddenly pulling his shirt over his head. "Might as well start now, then." Naminé giggled a bit and rolled her eyes, but she felt as thought her eyes were drawn back to his chest. She'd never seen a man so well defined as he was in her entire life, not that she'd been alive all that long.
"So, Necromancer, what's your name?" he asked along with a beautiful smirk. Bowing her head she smiled and then looked back up at him cutely. "I'm Naminé Noctis." she answered him, calmly, feeling that she could trust this gorgous man. "What about you, Mystery Man, you got a name?" she smirked.
Leaping from the swing, she landed crouched a few feet in front of him. Straightening up she chuckled, and flicked her bangs from her eyes. "If you're so content on stripping, we might as well find us both some new clothes. It doesn't take long until the scent sticks to skin, and then well," she shrugged, "Let's just say it'll be longer than just a few days for the smell to go away." she grinned.
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Post by Despair on Jul 6, 2009 14:13:17 GMT -5
When she answered she had spoken calmly enough, but he didn't miss how her eyes roamed over his bare chest and looked him over.
"What about you, Mystery Man, you got a name?"
I do believe she's flirting with you. Charon chuckled, amused at Orpheus' bold behavior. The winged boy shrugged off the disdainful insult in the demon's words and instead focused on Naminé.
"Yes, actually. Orpheus...Orpheus Nyx." he replied, speaking his first name slowly to see if she recognized it as the same as the dark god whose temple wasn't too far from Ciardha. Both names were decidedly dark, but the white, feathered wing on his right side said differently. Being an angel-demon-schizo certainly gave a new meaning to 'being of two minds about the matter'.
"And clothes sound good right now." he added.
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