鉄 Capital Outskirts (Tsukihara Hana)

[Royal Taorito]

_______________The Narrator Whispers... ||
The foxes might well have succeeded in whatever it was they were doing if it weren't for the blur of black and gray that rammed into them from the side. Where the figure had appeared from so suddenly was left in the air but it swept the smaller creatures off their feet with massive claws. Those claws retracted into the gray sleeve of a tattered robe worn by a boy with almost bleach blonde hair and heavily tanned skin. He himself bled from quite a few wounds he had sustained from somewhere but he hardly seemed to notice them as he faced the foxes. And, given the variety of scars that littered his flesh, he was likely no stranger to such a situation. What made it worse is that he couldn't have been more than maybe fourteen.

Vibrant yellow eyes that seemed to glow faintly didn't even glance in Hono's direction as the claws slide free of the sleeve once more. "Are you alright?" he asked in a surprisingly soft voice with only the slightest turn of the head.

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BlackFruity

Lanfaer

 

[Lanfaer]

_______________The Narrator Whispers... ||
______Atsuma's Narration
tab The light in the room allowed the boy to see much and understand, yet it did not reveal that which hid in the darkness of one corner. There something waited, watching from within its tendriled depths as the former shinobi read over his scrolls. It had watched before, too, when the madness took over and reverted, when the boy had slept and woken. Since the first waking and the culling that followed by the clawed nightmare the beast had watched, and waited. Now as the boy wondered at the use of his first genjutsu the thing uncoiled, a mix of fear and lust born from an unholy matrimony placed two serpentine coils on the outskirts of the shadow it hid in. There it waited before speaking in a voice that bubbled as if from great aquatic depths, with a voice that would rattle the chest if spoken by a mortal man. "You fear yourself, and lust for control."
tab A single look might well teach the boy the answer of what it was, or at least where. The twin tendrils on either side resembled snake bodies, but the core, that which gave them life, hid in the shadows. In the depths a single eye opened, a sickly green and yellow light emanating from the iris. The pupil was different, similar to that of an Octopus, yet black veins surrounded it in bulk. "I could teach you that control." In the darkness behind something moved, something immense, but whether the boy would notice was difficult to say.

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malaevas

 

[Dopy Grimes]

Royal Taorito

Atsuma's eyes widened and his heart raced at the first sound he heard in a while that wasn't coming from himself. He crawled backwards to his belongings and picked up his rusty sword to point at what ever called to him.
"I...I don't understand what you're saying I don't want any trouble I'm sorry I trespassed into your home. Just let me leave please!" Atsuma hadn't fought yet during his time awake. Toya was the one to get his hands dirty and he took pleasure in it. Yet it seemed Toya wasn't around like before. Was Atsuma all alone now to fend for himself? That would surely make for an interesting story. Yet in his fear, the boy heard a couple of words that caught his interest. Teach and control. The boy was an avid learner and if there was something he greatly lacked in life it was control. "What do you mean by control?" Atsuma asked hesitantly.

 

[Lanfaer]

_______________The Narrator Whispers... ||
______Atsuma's Narration
tab The deep voice rumbled as yet another of the scaled tendrils extended from the darkness and carefully coiled around a fallen piece of lumber. "Your mind is conflicted," it began again, this time with a hint of amusement within its tone. The nearby windows rattled as wind battered them from outside, the source likely mundane given the proximity to the snowy plains. "Torn asunder by darkness and light. Yin and Yang, I believe the old adage goes." From deep within the darkness that it hid a mournful cry reported from an unfathomable distance, resembling whalesong of the boy had ever heard it. Sadness, pain, and ancient loss warred for domination in that voice and yet the creature paid it no mind. There was truly no need to, as far as it was concerned. Those eyes were locked on Atsuma, filled with passion, and...lust. Not for sexual gratification but for knowledge. "I can teach you, human, to determine whom it is that dominates. You, the dominant, forever deciding just who looks forth from behind those eyes. To never forget when the other lies away. Such things are not impossible, not for those which live within the dark recesses of your mind."

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malaevas

 

[Royal Taorito]

_______________The Narrator Whispers... ||
The foxes that still lived bolted in fear of the new presence, scared off by the sudden attack. They were only animals, after all, and had no desire to threaten something much larger than them that could fight back.

The young boy turned to Hono, expression some combination of confusion and alarm as the white-haired male bowed to him. He glanced about briefly, shrinking somehow as if expecting to be struck, and then held up a hand to stop Hono. "N-no, it's... not an inconvenience." Yellow eyes fell away from him, and he shifted uncomfortably, as if not sure how to handle Hono's reaction. But then he wavered a bit, tanned face gaining a bit of a pallor, and seemed to snap out of his stupor. Given the pained look, it seemed he'd become aware of his injuries as well, maybe due to adrenaline wearing off.

He took a step back, revealing bare feet despite the snow, and started to turn away before pausing again. "It's not safe here," he said quietly. "I can... protect you, if you want." He seemed almost... unsure of his words, not in any sort of suspicious way, but more as if he was afraid he was stepping out of line. His gaze rose again but actively avoided Hono's face in favor of the boy's wringing hands instead. But he waited for an answer nonetheless.

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BlackFruity

Lanfaer

 

[Dopy Grimes]

Lanfaer

While the creature spoke true its words would not resonate with the split child. At least not in the way it perhaps intended. Atsuma had no idea of the trials he was facing with his own mind and would continue to face. In his mind, the struggles stemmed not from Toya but from his own weakness as an individual. Always in the background and never in the prominent foreground. While always a skilled shinobi during his days in Sunagakure the boy always doubted himself. Keep in mind this is all false information. Atsuma never existed back then. Toya won the tournament under the alias Atsuma. Now that Atsuma had become an actual manifestation he had created false memories for himself while corrupting Toya's. In a sense the true evil in this story was Atsuma. The disease consuming Toya's mind. "I...I don't understand. I don't have any darkness in my..." Briefly, snippets of Toya's past played in his mind in Atsuma's mind. The murder of one of his Suna's peers. "What?" He mumbled holding his head in his hands. It was clear to him that he was the one killing in the memory. "No no. I don't. I want more power I don't have darkness in me I swear I..." He slowly got himself up feeling weak for a moment. On his feet, he could finally see the creature for what it actually was. "What is this? Genjutsu? Are you the one planting these memories in my head? I'm Atsuma...I never hurt anyone from my own village! I'M A GOOD PERSON!" He shouting while his grip on the rusty blade grew tighter. He pointed the blade at the creature with an expression of rage which was different for both Toya and Atsuma. Toya never showed any emotion and Atsuma was meant to be a kind individual. "Stop this trickery, demon!" Yet his threat would end when a sharp pulse in his brain made him drop the blade and fall to his knees. "Agh!" He shouted in pain while more memories resurfaced. "MAKE THESE THOUGHTS GO AWAY! PLEASE!!"

 

[Royal Taorito]

_______________The Narrator Whispers... ||
The boy hesitated, again unsure of how to handle the response he was given. "You don't have to repay me," he said quickly, again holding up a hand with a panicked look. "I'm not..." He trailed off, and didn't finish the statement. However, he did perk up a bit when Hono introduced himself, seeming to take that as an invitation to give his own name. "I am Servio Vanerus, the... Servant of Vanerus in translation. I am often just called Servus, though."

Shifting slightly, Servus turned his gaze away from Hono back toward the city. "The Fades are moving. I think they are becoming aware of humans waking. They feed off of human emotions and desires. But there are others here who may be as confused as we are." Tearing his gaze away, he looked instead toward the road leading out of the city. "There are others waking outside of the village, too. The lands are no less inhabited than the city is." Finally, he turned back to Hono. "Whichever you choose, I will follow."

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BlackFruity

Lanfaer

 

[Royal Taorito]

_______________The Narrator Whispers... ||
Servus blinked in confusion, head tilting slightly to the side as he thought of the best way to answer. "Fades are... souls that were corrupted by man's dark desires. They represent things like greed, pride, lust...They control these lands." He gently gripped the arm that was still covered, the sleeve the claws had extended from. "They are not quite demons, though. I guess they could have potential to be good. But usually not." His gaze fell to his bare feet as Hono continued, one of which he shook snow off of. "The snow? I'm... not sure. It doesn't bother me much." As for the statement regarding Hono's friends, he didn't answer, though it didn't seem like he knew where either were.

At Hono's apology, though, his gaze returned to the older male. No particular emotion registered on his scarred face, very different from a moment before. "This world isn't the one you knew before. I cannot lie that it will be difficult to survive here, but... I will protect you at least until we have found your companions." Servus pointed toward the road leading out of the village. "I would advise leaving, at least for now. The longer we stay in the city, the more likely something... stronger might appear." Waiting briefly to see if the option provided was alright, he turned on his heels to lead the way out.

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BlackFruity

Lanfaer

 

[Lanfaer]

_______________The Narrator Whispers... ||
tab Slowly did Atsuma lose his mind, and even slower did the beast watch him from the shadows. Madness was not foreign to it, and most certainly neither was fear and main. The boy's memories were fractured, confused, and from their depths came the emotion it had saught: lust, desire, and fear. It was quite obvious that the boy was going to kill himself if he wasn't helped, and who could use a human that was broken? Instead of ignoring it and leaving the leviathan reached forward and splayed a tentacle a mere foot from the boy's location. "Know this, Yang. I shall remove your memories, suppress them for a time. But to learn mastery you must confront them again." And with that the memories were...squashed. Pushed back, shoved deep down, the flashes and flickers were suppressed down into the blackest depths of the boy's mind. Instant freedom from pain, concern, and fear.
tab The tentacle clenched upon itself and moved back towards the shadows where the Leviathan waited, and there it spoke again, this time with amusement heavy in its voice. "Remember not your thoughts moments before, boy. However, they will surface at your command. Absolute control, that is what I offer. Will you accept it?"

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malavaes

Quote:

 

[Dopy Grimes]

Lanfaer

All of those memories gone just like that. From his fight at the tournament to his search for power and havoc. What would happen now? The boy known as Toya Takahashi reborn. Firstly his eyes blinked in confusion at first. Like before when he awoke from the crystal he studied his hands. Marks covered them. Where these marks came from were now foreign to him. He would not remember that his parents covered his body with scars. Torturing him amused them. The abuse he suffered was gone yet the damage was done. What did that mean exactly? His eyes moved away from his hands and towards the monster. His expression showing nothing until his lips grew into a genuine smile. "Th...They're gone! Thank you so much!" Toya shouted in absolute happiness. The words the monster spoke were practically ignored in his enthusiasm. "Yes yes but first let me give you something to show you my gratitude!" Toya grabbed his backpack and began ruffling through it. "Mother and Father always told me to show respect and thanks to those that showed the same for me! I sure do miss them!" He rambled while he continued looking aimlessly for something. "So you say I can control my memories at my command huh? That's pretty neat! I just..." With his hands in the bag for whatever odd reason, it looked like his hands were performing specific seals. Seals he had made earlier. The monster would probably find his world broken like shattered glass. "Ah yes. Here it is." Toya announced proudly without making any statement on the genjutsu currently. In his hands were about 4 cans of yam. "Catch." He added throwing them towards the area where the beast hid itself.

If all worked the way Toya planned and he immobilized the Fae successfully the following would happen. "Oh dear oh dear. I seem to have underestimated the thing that was using my mind to hitch a ride. Haha. I let him take over control to keep my own conscious from expiring hoping that eventually his would expire. But the genius managed to find someone to erase his existence about an hour in haha! Truly marvelous." The scarf around Toyas neck swirled around it while picking up the rusty blade off of the floor. "You Fae are truly marvelous creatures. But not the brightest. You truly believed the words that fool spat? Hahaha! He isn't real. I am the default and he is the deviance. There is no yin or yang." The scarf extended towards the creature from where Toya stood. "You Fae and your kind. You are all truly terrifying. BUT YOU HAVE NO CLUE WHAT HAS STEPPED INTO YOUR WORLD HAHA!!" Toya would proceed to repeatedly stab the monster while laughing sadistically.

Now to put things clearly Toya had in fact lost his memories from before awakening. Yet that simple fact also erased Atsuma from his mind from before. There were no memories for Atsuma to use as a base for his existence. Atsuma as a singular being was gone. Toya was in control of his mind once again. Atsuma was now something to be used as a decoy.

 

[Lanfaer]

_______________The Narrator Whispers... ||
tab "And there, finally, is the darkness."
tab The world resounded from the darkness as Toya charged towards it, following the candied yams it threw through. As the scarf raised its blades and readied the strike and the yams erupted, crusting the limbs in place, the darkness did not move, and the eyes within them did not blink.
tab Until the scarf lunged into the shadow and reached for the core of the beast and ran out of length before it could.
tab The eye had not changed in size, and for all intent and purposes it looked like it truly did exist within that corner. Yet as something grabbed a hold of the ends of the scarf and slowly began to pull Toya towards that horrible eye a light chuckle issued forth from it. "You underestimate that which you do not understand, boy," rumbled the leviathan waiting for its pray to come closer. Every yank brought him closer at a rapid pace. Again the eye did not blink, did not change, as it continued. "You speak of worlds, and yet you foolishly reach into my domain, my world, and expect to do what, exactly? I have lived for centuries against whelps like you, yet...perhaps there is hope." Each step brought him closer, and just as the boy was closing on the tendrils that still stuck to the side something else became apparent: the shadows were deep, for the thing that lay within? That thing which had freed him?
tab That eye lay at a distance within a mass of writhing tendrils that were barely perceptible due to the extreme size of its bulk.

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malavaes

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