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Takeuchi Hiroto

"D-D-D-Did I miss something?"

0 · 354 views · located in Purgatory

a character in “Requiem for a Fallen”, as played by Ezarael

Description

The Unexpected Meister

Name: Takeuchi Hiroto (Surname/Given Name)

Age: 18

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Practically Non-existent (Presumably heterosexual)

Role: Meister

Image

[Haven’t found the name of the individuals who did the animation for Requiem from the Darkness yet]

Appearance:It’s pretty easy to tell by looking at Takeuchi that a good wind just might blow the boy away should he not fight it. He stands at about an average height, around 72 inches, but weighs a mere 140 lbs. His body also happens to be a bit more disproportionate than most as well. His torso and arms are rather lengthy and his legs much shorter than you might consider normal, and this anomaly leaves his fingers hanging down by his knobby-knees. The boy likes to dress in Eastern-style robes though, truckloads of them that swallow his thin frame whole. That takes attention away from his clubbed-foot, though if you were to pay attention you would notice he limps with his right leg and how the foot is nearly orthogonal to his body. The sound of the fabric brushing the ground also covers the sound of his foot dragging for the most part. His clubbed-hand is much more noticeable though, at least when he doesn’t have those long sleeves covering it up like he does for the majority of the time.

Personality: One of the best phrases to describe Takeuchi is high-strung. The poor boy is almost always on edge, and what with his thin frame he tends to resemble a startled cat you might see on cartoons most of the time. With this anxiety comes a heavy stutter as well, or at least it makes it much worse the more nervous he becomes, until it reaches the point where you might hear the same consonant repeated some 5 or 6 times, unless he screams of course. Screaming seems to suit the Meister’s visage well, even though it is fairly high-pitched and effeminate to say the least, but at least it helps him to kill the stutter. Being extremely shy makes it very difficult for him to want to scream or speak up though, as it draws attention, which inevitably makes him more nervous. Poor boy.

On top of that he’s extremely obsessive, to the point of being compulsively so, and you will find him fretting with clothing, utensils, furniture, or just random items trying to make sure there is some form of symmetry to be had. If you weren’t able to guess that means wearing more than one piece of clothing around his torso becomes a very tedious chore throughout the course of the day, you should seriously watch him fidget while looking in a mirror, classic. This obsession reaches to his relations with other people as well, for he grows attached to others much too quickly for anyone’s own good, especially his. He’s no stalker, but routines are important to him, and breaking those routines are life-shattering experiences he must endure each day. Just wait until you catch him waiting for someone running late, hilarious stuff that is.

It’s not all that bad though, he’s not stupid. Takeuchi isn’t what you consider very bright or quick on the draw, but he’s not dull either. The dyslexia slowed him down quite a bit while growing up, but it was just another hurdle he had to climb. When it comes to raw intelligence, you could put him at about above average, but perception is a whole ‘nother story. The boy ain’t too quick if ya know what I’m gettin’ at here. You should have seen how long it took him to figure out that kids aren’t grown in cabbage patches, that one stumped him for years it did. He’s a right, friendly boy too, kind down to his bones, of course it’s not like he had much of a choice in the matter, he couldn’t very well go around being gullible, lame, and mean now could he? He tries to do whatever he can to help those around him; of course this trait doesn’t always bode too well what with him being gullible as a two-year old.

You could word the next bit however you want to I reckon. Tenacious, willful, stubborn, bull-headed whatever you want to call it he has plenty of it to go around. If being born with more problems than a zebra has stripes does anything for a person it makes ‘em never want to give up, no matter what the cost might be. That mingles well with his kindness if you were wondering. Of course, all the willpower and good wishes in the world won’t make it any easier trying to get to your goal, but I’m thinking it makes it a hell of a lot more fun from certain perspectives.

Abilities:
-Qi Purification: Takeuchi’s form of purification may not be nearly as strong as a full-blown exorcist’s, but it’s still as effective as any other. He performs purifications by focusing and creating a Qi-field around his target’s body. Luckily this technique requires no chanting of any kind, just pure concentration. The time required for a successful purification depends upon the target’s spiritual power, but weaker spirits and wraiths usually take only a minute or two if not moving.

-Thousand Cherry-Blossom Cyclone: Unfortunately this creature does require a chant to perform, but not the most difficult. Hopefully if Takeuchi isn’t under too much duress he should be able to execute the chant flawlessly, hypothetically speaking that is to say. Another aspect of this ability is that it requires a number of paper talismans to initiate the spell. After repeating the short chant the numerous charms located within Takeuchi’s robes fly into the air and burst into a thousand shards of light which resemble cherry blossoms. This spell is useful in detaining a target more than anything else, but it could be used offensively if desired. The spell’s effectiveness does increase with the number of talismans used, but the required energy makes this a diminishing return.

-Flickering Blue-Flame of Healing: This is the most difficult spell Takeuchi can perform for several reasons, and the flickering aspect is probably the worst of them. He is still fairly new to this particular spell, which requires a relatively long and complicated chant to begin, and the drain upon his spiritual energy is extremely high. The flickering flame is dangerous for him though, if he were to open his eyes or not focus upon his own energy enough there is a high chance that it could trigger his epilepsy, something that would prove most unfortunate under the wrong circumstances. When performing this ritual the Meister must use the beaded necklace across his neck as a conduit for the flame, and the flame it produces it highly effective at healing minor wounds. This ability has a very unfortunate side-effect though, part of the healed wound is rebounded upon Takeuchi’s own body, not enough to prove dangerous to his health until the targeted wounds cross a certain threshold.

Bio:
There are many ways to describe the unfortunate circumstances that came about to bring the life into being that is known as Takeuchi Hiroto. The stars were not aligned, it was a draw with no mulligan, his existence was meant as a joke, and almost any other way you could imagine describing the culmination of an inconceivable number of unfortunate circumstances. Being born with a noticeable clubbed foot and mangled hand must have proven too ominous a sign for Takeuchi’s parents as they abandoned him at birth, or at least that’s what he was told growing up.

Things proceeded to grow progressively worse as he grew up in the orphanage as well, he proved somewhat slower with his studies than most of the other students thanks to a mild bout of dyslexia and the inevitable teasing he suffered led to the development of a noticeable stutter. Of course, life would obviously have been much too easy if he had only been born with a clubbed hand and foot, dyslexia, and a stutter, so then the real curve-ball was discovered when Takeuchi was around 8 years of age. The children at the orphanage were painting one morning, and Takeuchi thoroughly enjoyed using many, bright colors in his paintings, all of a sudden the unfortunate young boy fell to the ground and began convulsing.

Obviously not everything in life could have gone wrong for the poor boy, or else you wouldn’t be reading his story now would you? Between the ages of 12-13 certain changes started happening to the orphan boy, changes that would ultimately alter the course of his life forever. He began developing significant spiritual powers, enough so that an exorcist walking by the orphanage one day could sense his presence. The owners of the orphanage were quick to hide the boy’s defects which were not physically apparent, they had him stay keep quiet and still for the majority of the exorcist’s visit, hoping that he would not notice more than the clubbed appendages. Their plan did work, allowing Takeuchi to be taken into The Order’s custody for training and spiritual development.

Needless to say The Order was not so pleased with its acquisition after it found out about some of his other flaws, but there was not much it could do, even though his spiritual power was not ranked amongst the highest it was still very uncommon. The Western instructors were much too impatient with him to continue teaching him effectively, but several of the Eastern instructors proved much more capable with his disabilities than most. Luckily most of the techniques he learned do not interfere with his epilepsy, he needed to close his eyes to focus on them properly, but the problem of a precise pronunciation was not easily overcome most of the time. His training did end though, and he was assigned to a group of reluctant exorcists.

So begins...

Takeuchi Hiroto's Story

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Character Portrait: Takeuchi Hiroto
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#, as written by Ezarael
Takeuchi Hiroto


Takeuchi felt like he had been compacted to a much smaller space than his body was made to occupy and then forced into another smaller compartment with several other compacted beings like one would when packing sardines. This was actually a pretty close representation to what the carriage’s interior resembled at this moment, if only exaggerated somewhat due to overly-frazzled nerves and personal space issues. The carriage was of a moderate size, with the ability to seat some six people rather comfortably and only housing four, including the young Meister, at the moment. Something about the plush velvet, interior with gaudy wooden handles jutting out several inches from the doors. On this rather impromptu journey he found himself accompanied by a trio of noblemen who decided what they desired for entertainment was to trade in the telling of bawdy jokes and smoke what seemed to be an unending supply of cigars. It was all the poor, young boy to do just not to lose his non-existent lunch during the long, bumpy ride back to Resmyrd.

It was rather difficult to keep track of time when you had your head tucked away into the crook of your arm for the entirety of a journey, but he knew that he had suffered through some seven hours of cigar-smoke billowing, filthy joke telling madness. Considering his deformed extremities though, it was pretty much the only way he could realistically travel, walking by foot was a chore to say the least and horses always seemed to be much too fidgety for him to ride them. Naturally this was probably why his last teammates had chosen him to be the chosen one sent back to Resmyrd to fulfill a special task, they may not have explicitly said so but he had been through the routine enough by now to get the gist. True enough it had only been his first real mission, but he had been dealing with these kinds of circumstances his entire life, it was why only a handful of Exorcists would even take the time to train him in the slightest. To be fair though, the trip had not pleased Takeuchi at all, he was terrified that they might be attacked at any moment and he would not be able to perform as expected, his former teammates probably took that into consideration when the orders came in via carrier pigeon.

He couldn’t blame them for their decision, even if it was somewhat jarring to think that the people you were supposed to work with wanted nothing more than to send you back to headquarters at the first possible chance. What could he reasonably do under pressure though? He had no experience, luck, nerve, or intuition to call upon if anything were to happen. If the going were to get tough
he wouldn’t get going. That’s not to say he was a complete failure, his initiation trials had gone well enough, to an extent, he was able to keep relatively calm enough to subdue the wraith they had tasked him with capturing. Sure, the fact that Exorcists were not too far off should things go bad was in the back of his mind, but it was still a dangerous situation, they never said that his life was secure at the time. Still though, it said something of his ability as a Meister, didn’t it?

A wave of terror flooded over the young man as he felt the trundling carriage lurch to a squeaking halt, they had finally arrived at Resmyrd, or should have at least, and even though he was thankful to be rid of his fellow travelers, the prospect of this assignment was not to be taken lightly. They told him that he would be working with an angel and a demon on an assignment, something that could only mean failure would only come in epic proportions. He didn’t quite know where to start with his search, Resmyrd was not exactly a small city and even though he could sense spiritual presences of any magnitude, especially those of a demon or angel, but he could only do so within a limited radius. If they were moving as well, this could end up taking some time, and he still ran the risk of running into the wrong creatures as well. He had never met an angel or demon, but from what he heard most angels were overly-righteous and demons were the epitome of evil, what if he ran into the wrong demon?

“You getting’ off now or what kid?” The carriage-driver snarled at Takeuchi as he sat there, trapped in his despair at failing the mission before it even started.

“S-sorry, j-just a moment please.” He shuffled around just slightly so that he could use his right-hand to grasp the door-frame while utilizing his left foot to propel his body up and out of the cab.

The driver shoved the bag he used to carry his clothing and other assorted knick-knacks towards Takeuchi, unfortunately on the left-side of his body. When he put his clubbed, left-hand underneath the bag to help toss it behind his right-should the driver’s face curled into a noticeable snarl, something the Meister had grown accustomed to in his life. Being born with a deformed limb was considered a bad omen by the superstitious, and having two meant many refused his company if they knew about it. As he began limping away from the carriage the sound of the driver spitting and muttering something about “accursed luck,” he must not have noticed anything when Takeuchi first climbed aboard, luckily or he might not have let him ride. It would be how it would be though, all he could do was carry-on, and he did just that as he set out into the city of Resmryd.

Setting

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Character Portrait: Takeuchi Hiroto
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#, as written by Ezarael
Takeuchi Hiroto



The standard day-time sounds of Resmyrd had long since receded from Takeuchi’s hearing, seemingly gobbled up by the ever-encroaching darkness that was brought with the onslaught that was nighttime, they were replaced with a strange assortment of silence and hushed-goings on, undoubtedly much the more so given the current state of affairs in the world. His foot’s drag sounded something akin to rocky soil being torn by a rusty plow in comparison now, rather startling considering just how much he attempted to stifle the noise whilst walking, and it started bringing upon him the attention of people whom he would rather not take notice of him. It was not like he would meet their gaze directly at this time in the evening though, for a multitude of reasons, but the most daunting of which happened to be due to his affliction, despite the darkness smothering whatever light it could grasp there were still a fair amount of street-lamps, personal lanterns, and domicile lighting to be had, and the flickering flames could prove rather dangerous at the moment. So he contented himself with staring upon the cobbled-streets littering this area, proving very useful to the gimp as this particular road was littered with a plethora of pot-holes and puddles which could prove disastrous to his current trek, much more akin to a constitutional now.

In all honesty the poor, stuttering Meister was most assuredly lost at this point in time, currently having no clue as to either where he was wondering or which direction he was heading, the necessity of keeping his head down meant he could only see the majority of buildings he passed below their first-floor window, much less look up to those street signs so unfortunately placed beneath the street-lamps. Takeuchi knew as soon as he had stepped out of the carriage and saw the rapidly receding sun set over the horizon that this would happen, despite having lived in Resmyrd for quite some time he was very unfamiliar with the town, and all the much more so at nighttime, especially considering his lack of directional-sense compounded this problem exponentially. If he did not know any better, which he felt he did not at this particular moment, he could swear the stars were aligned against him on this oh so muggy of evenings, of course many would claim his afflictions were evidence enough of his fate in this world. Every limping step he took down the street instigated a more ragged intake of breath as his luggage began weighing his frail, distorted body down, and every labored breath seemed to trigger and equally disastrous increase in the burning pain his problematic leg experienced.

“‘ey cripple! Yea, you there, stumblin’ through the road like some lost li’l puppy-dog lookin’ fer yer master. I best advise you to be getting’ off my block ya ken?”

The grizzled voice startled Takeuchi from his silent fixation upon the fiery needles burying themselves even deeper into is bad leg at the moment just enough to turn his head far enough so that he could eye the figure quietly. His accoster seemed much like the thuggish type which roamed the streets after dark who always preached their devotion to protecting their neighborhood, but who never seemed to desire more than to steal and harass up-standing citizens, both inhabiting the area and passing-by. By the looks of it there was a small group of them loitering about, no doubt looking for trouble to either find or stir-up in hopes of filling their petty lives with what they considered entertainment. Takeuchi tried to return once again to his ever-lengthening expedition, but the hood must have taken a disliking to the Meister’s presumption of making visual contact with the individual threatening him.

“Wot in the bloody-blue ‘ell you be starin’ at cripple? I ought to thrash you a good one right about that cripple-head o’ yours to teach ye a lesson.”

“Yea, your bad-luck ain’t welcome ‘round these parts ye hear? We ought just put ‘im outta his misery and let the pigs et him, ya ken?”

“Right you are there, why don’t we just remedy this little situation we got on our hands.”

“Now that ye mention it boys, we might just hef’ta relieve this ‘un of our belongings he’s right draggin’ about with ‘im . . .”

“You trash best be leavin’ that boy alone, ya ken? That one’s an Exorcist, and ain’t a one of ya gonna be harmin’ him.”

The last voice boomed out from behind Takeuchi, causing him to swing around hurriedly to try and glimpse his defender. It turned out to be a mountain of a man who had to crouch and scrunch to fit through the door to, what seemed to be, the Inn behind him. The Meister was a bit too stunned by the sight of the giant standing in front of him to turn around again, but by the sounds of it the hoods were scrambling away quickly from the scene. All Takeuchi could think to do was bow deeply at the moment, a gesture made extremely awkward considering his luggage and extreme pain still pulsating through his leg. Before he had a chance to even open his mouth and stutter a response he could feel the weight of his luggage leaving his worn-out body, and afterwards another hand came out to slap him reassuringly upon his left shoulder.

“Now best you be comin’ inside boy. That trash ain’t gonna be leavin’ far from here, and if they catch you walkin’ any farther tonight ya won’t be knowin’ their comin’ before they strike. ‘Urry on now, you look like you need the rest and I need to be gettin’ asleep ‘fore the wife wakes up an wallops the both of us.”

With that the giant hurried back inside the establishment now looming in front of the young Meister, carrying his luggage inside as Takeuchi might his special charms, and there was not much to do but follow inside to leave the unfamiliar street, all-engulfing night, and vicious hoods behind him.

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#, as written by Ezarael
Takeuchi Hiroto



Something seemed very odd about the orphanage to Takeuchi, like someone had decided to white-wash the world him and muffle the sound, the ring of children gathered about him spoke in slow, deliberate whispers. If he had not heard the chanting on innumerable occasions he would not know what they were saying, but these words cut through the dense atmosphere like the proverbial hot-knife through butter, their venom-dripping resonance echoing throughout the room like a horrid cacophony of hate.

Cripplefreakdimwitworthlessunwantedlilyliverednogoodbadomenbadluckbadfate

They were only words, Takeuchi knew this, but he himself used chants to assist in the culmination of power for his duties as a Meister, yet even a careless word uttered with no intent could shatter a life in moments. Takeuchi highly doubted he could count the fragments of his heart that littered the trail of his lifetime, starting with his abandonment at an orphanage where the most vicious of people might call their home, in a fashion. The adults were not better than the children, maybe they did not snarl in his face, but their biting comments from turned heads were just as distinct, and those icy-glares that could bore holes down into the very depths of your quintessence had made the Meister wary of eye-contact from a young age.

All the child knew to do was sit there and take the punishment, curled up like he was with his head shielded between his arms and legs to hide the sight of his tears from the ravenous horde gathered round. They would not have the pleasure of knowing how they broke him so, which was all they ever wanted of him, even the ones who begged and pleaded for him to play with them when he first arrived.


A rather brusque knock sounded from the door, jolting Takeuchi from his slumbering state, the young Meister quickly brought a sleeve to his eyes to wipe away the tears that had been streaming down his face. Not everyone was cruel, he knew that, but receiving another’s pity seemed no better than their spite in the context of things, he wanted to prove that he was no different than anyone else, and the only way to do so was to work around and hide whatever was inherently flawed about his person. It took only a few moments for Takeuchi to rouse himself from the bed and make his way to the door, waking had never been of much difficulty for him and greatly shortened the time he needed to be exposed to others during his morning rituals.

The mountainous form of the Innkeeper loomed before the disturbed, but visibly amicable, Meister, his composure seemingly easing what may be the man’s worries for rousing a guest in the middle of the night, especially given the circumstances from earlier. “Sorry to bother ya sir, but there’s a missus downstairs requestin’ your assistance with some Exorcist matters. She said there was a young miss possessed and in danger. I wouldn’t have bothered you if it didn’t sound urgent sir.”

Takeuchi’s good hand came up to ruffle the back of his head slightly, trying to unsettle the somewhat squashed hair, and an innocent smile quickly spread across his mouth. “Please, no need to worries. This is what I am supposed to do after all. I will be down in just a minute sir, and please inform the lady I need a few moments to collect my things.” Despite his outward acceptance of this task Takeuchi was anxious to say the least concerning this turn of events. He had never actually performed an unsupervised exorcism before, and with being rattled from earlier he was afraid that he might do something wrong and fail The Order. With a deliberate sigh and determined gleam in his eyes the Meister set about to collect a few essential talismans, only taking a few minutes from when the Innkeeper left, and set about downstairs.

The setting changes from Resmyrd to Purgatory

Setting

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Character Portrait: Xana Druj Character Portrait: Takeuchi Hiroto
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The red-headed woman was sitting in a large armchair when the innkeeper returned from his quick journey to the next room. Perhaps she had thought about nodding off for a quick nap--it had been, after all, a rather trying day thus far: first Treylion's offer, then encountering a possessed human who would have been better off dead, then finally meeting the puppet of an angel that she would be working with after all of this time. Of course, nothing could be made easy for the demon; why else would she have had to return to Resmyrd to find a damn fleshbag to exorcise the spirit from this woman? Whoever had decided to invoke the seals that prevented demons from outright destroying spirits had been a damn fool all those millenia ago--it would have made this particular situation so much easier in the long run. On top of that, the angels would not have to intervene at all! Leave everything to the demons and things would get done... Now, however...

"Ma'am, the exorcis'll be here in a few minutes," the barkeep broke the silence. "Just woke 'im from his sleep. Didn't seem too upset by it, though..."

The woman nodded and smiled nervously. "Thank you--time is of the essence..." Of course, she was none too concerned about how the angel was having to deal with the spirit or if the spirit ultimately consumed and killed the vessel. The demon had already inflicted some nasty-looking burns on the flesh of the woman; who truly cared if another human's life was so quickly cut short? Between the three races, humans were the creatures that one could never tell if they had always been this vulnerable and powerless since the beginning of time or if they were purposely keeping themselves ignorant.

"...Yeah... I'm sorry to hear about her, by the way..." the barkeep continued. Funny enough, pity and sympathy were emotions that Xana rarely fed from, but they tasted rather dry and bitter to her. Those were things that she did not often solicit from her victims, but he appeared to be bringing them up to the fore. Perhaps it was time for a quick meal before her exorcist appeared--she was feeling rather peckish after the stick-up-its-ass angel utterly failed to show any sort of emotion at all.

"Do you often have people... come in asking for exorcists?" the woman continued, trying to play off the man's pity.

The barkeep shook his head quickly. "No, ma'am--most people jus' go to the cathedral and file the paperwork... damn waste of time in situations like this, though..."

And there it was--a spark inside of him, something a bit more than sympathy. There was a bit of passionate hatred in him after all, she realized. Before she could continue her emotional assault, however, she heard heavy footsteps coming from the darkened hallway. Was that her exorcist-to-be finally coming to get the damn job done? With whatever pathetic excuse for an exorcist she could grab, Xana would finally be able to continue her task and move on from there, even if she had to drag the stick-up-her-ass angel by the hair through the mud to do so.

The setting changes from Purgatory to Resmyrd

Setting

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Character Portrait: Xana Druj Character Portrait: Takeuchi Hiroto
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#, as written by Ezarael
Takeuchi Hiroto & Xana Druj


A soft thump accompanied each labored step Takeuchi took down the stairs, an ever-looming reminder of his deformities, while his good hand clutched desperately at the railing, using whatever strength his arm could to soften the impact of his every step, even though he could awaken fairly quickly after any period of sleep his body always seemed a little slower getting started, and it was being especially stubborn at the moment. The stairway was darker than either the hallway or the common room downstairs, not having any form of illumination dotting the walls for several feet before it started or ended, and it took him much longer than usual to venture downstairs, in the back of his mind he hoped that this would not prove detrimental to the crisis facing the poor, possessed girl at this moment. When he finally reached the bottom of the staircase, it took the young Meister several seconds to regain his composure, his long trek through the city earlier in the day having taken a great toll upon his not-so athletic body, but it merely took a few seconds to do so, and Takeuchi looked around the dim common room to find this woman of which the kindly Inn-Keeper had spoken.

Takeuchi had never met a demon before, but he had been told about their rather palpable presence, and the one emitted from the red-haired woman standing nearby sent cold shivers down his spine, it was like nothing he had ever encountered before in his life, and for a few moments he stood stupefied, trying to ease his disturbed mind. If it had not been for the sudden weight her presence forced upon his being, he might have taken notice of her appearance immediately, but now that he had settled himself, he was also astounded at her beauty, and disgusted that such a vile presence could take upon an attractive form.

The woman spied the exorcist at the bottom of the stairs, somewhat taken aback at her appearance. It was almost if he had never borne witness to a woman before, let alone a demon in human skin. She coyly looked away from the barkeep, sensing in the exorcist a bizarre mixture of attraction and disgust, sending a slurry of emotion through her system. While it was not the most filling of meals, it was something, and that was the most important thing--she had not fed much from these mortals; however, even if she had, she still would feel the need to consume their emotions. Putting on a smile, she looked pitifully at the exorcist.

"Oh my... I'm terribly sorry to disturb your rest, but it's... it's an emergency..." the woman explained, her words dripping with proverbial venom in an attempt to enrapture the young man and wrap him around her finger.

The realization of his continued silence finally dawned upon the young man, and a wave of embarrassment quickly washed over his body upon her words, he had forgotten the necessity of their current situation and allowed his immediate reaction to dictate his actions. He limped quickly to within several paces of the woman, feeling now much more at ease with her presence that previously, and bowed from the waist quickly, nearly forming a perfect "L" with his body. "A-A-Apologies ma'am. My name is T-T-Takeuchi Hiroto, and it's no t-t-trouble at all." His words came out in a hurry, or as hurried as they could be with his stutter, strengthened in part due to the slight unease still in the pit of his stomach, the idea of his first unsupervised exorcism was weighing heavily upon his shoulders at the moment. "P-p-please, l-l-lead the way."

"Oh... yes..." The woman batted her eyes as she turned back toward the barkeep and shot him a quick wink before opening the door for the exorcist. "She's outside of the city, unfortunately... A bit of a walk..."

Without another thought, for the moment at least, Takeuchi hurried outside the doorway, quickly lowering his eyes to avoid the rapid flickering of any flames lighting the street outside. "T-t-that's fine, ma'am. I'm s-sure the w-w-walk would be worse for h-her than either of us." He stopped momentarily to await the womanly form who had opened the door for him, he had heard that demons were hideous creatures, for the most part, with a form whose visage equaled the aura an exorcist could feel from their presence, this gave him pause for a moment, imagining what hideous body was hiding within the woman standing nearby. "I'm s-s-sorry ma'am. I d-d-don't believe I have asked your name?" It would be required eventually, and he would feel much less awkward being able to address her by name than "pretty, demon lady."

The woman closed the door to the inn and immediately turned toward the exorcist, a coy smile still across her face. "Lyliana... Lili will do, though..." she bent forward, gently taking one of the exorcist's hands and gently kissing the back of it, allowing the residual heat to linger slightly from her touch. If this exorcist was as easily manipulated as she believed him to be, then she could probably use him as a constant source of nourishment in a pinch... Of course, the very first thing she did with any new victim, especially one that would be stuck with her for a long-term engagement, was to see how far he could bend before breaking...

Takeuchi was taken aback by the demon's . . . Lili's, he doubt it would be hard to remember the name as it conjured images of flowers within his mind, kissing of his hand, and the warmth he felt dissipated through it slowly, he quickly turned his head as he felt a similar warmth spread throughout his cheeks as they began to blush slightly. He quickly began to march off, as quickly as he could manage, before realizing that he had no clue which direction they were to be heading, or where he was at in the city even. "Yes, L-L-Lili, uhm . . . which way to the woman in need?"

"Through the main gate and then straight to the east... maybe an hour's walk or so from here..." 'Lili' explained, the results of her little experiment flitting through her mind. Inwardly, she smirked--this exorcist would fall to her like putty. All she needed to do was manipulate him to do whatever she felt; it would at least be better than having to try and work with that damn angel.

A quizzical expression passed upon Takeuchi's downward-angled face, the directions she gave were meaningless to him at the moment, the sting of his incompetence throbbing in the back of his mind. "Uhm y-y-yes. C-c-could you lead the w-w-way please? I'm s-s-somewhat lost at the moment." His good hand reached up to scratch at the back of his head slightly, highlighting how embarrassed he felt for his ignorance.

He was flustered, embarrassed, dependent. All according to plan, she chuckled inwardly. On the outside, though, she frowned slightly, trying to feign a bit of pity as best as she could. "Oh, sure..." With that, she took the lead and beckoned for the exorcist to follow. "It's only a few minutes from here..." she looked back to the man once more.” Might I ask as to why you were in that inn and not at the main cathedral?"

He quickly took off after her, wincing slightly with each step as her pace was somewhat more brisk than to what he was wont, waiting until he had drawn up to her side to answer her previous inquiry. "I w-w-was at the i-i-inn due to travelling c-c-circumstances, Lili. I was o-o-out of town on an assignment when the O-O-Order called back about another assignment. Unfortunately it was l-l-late and I needed to rest for the evening." The Meister was unsure with how much he could trust the demon at the moment, deigning to leave out any particulars as to his mission or why exactly he had found his way to that particular inn. From what he heard you could only trust their kind with as little information as possible. "I c-c-could ask the same of you, Lili, the main cathedral would be a m-m-much more suitable place to f-f-find an exorcist."

"Well, it's an emergency... Besides, there was no time--I need an exorcist immediately, and they would make me go through some sort of selection process or something..." The woman brushed aside some hair as she turned back toward the exorcist. "Well, the main gate is just up ahead... and then we head straight east. Shall we?" She smiled, offering a hand for him once more.

"B-B-By all means, let us continue." The gesture was surprising, but not altogether unappreciated by the young Meister, the night had grown somewhat chiller since he was previously walking through the city, and the warmth of her hand did much to stave of the cold numbing his fingers. For being a demon and having such a horrid presence, Lili seemed quite amiable, Takeuchi was unsure what this meant exactly, but he was willing to take her kindness as genuine for the time being.

As soon as the two of them were clear of the city gate and clear of any other potential witnesses, the woman turned toward the exorcist, a smirk across her face more than a smile. "Alright, let's cut the damn cutesy crap, shall we? I know you know I'm a demon..." She took a few steps away from Hiroto and exploded in a flash of hellfire. In the woman's place was a large serpentine demon with fiery red skin and a long chitinous tail that trailed far behind her. "...so let's just get it out of the way then, shall we? You think I'm an abomination, a spawn of pure evil, yadda yadda yadda..." she flipped her hand lazily as if she had made this speech in the past. "If it weren't for those damn seals, know that you wouldn't even be out here with us now..."

The demon's short tirade had fallen upon deaf ears, as the sudden flash of hellfire had affected Takeuchi's illness; he stood there with glossy-eyes staring into nothingness for a few short moments before collapsing backwards. His body began to convulse slightly, but luckily this was only a short-spell which faded within several moments. It took some time before he could regain his senses enough to realize that he was now lying flat on his back in the mud, and the Meister stood himself up as quickly as he could, bowing deeply. "P-p-please l-l-let me know when y-y-you're going to do that m-m-ma'am. W-we b-b-both know why I am h-h-here. C-C-Can we just c-continue our business n-n-now?" He hoped that if she turned back it would not affect him as it just had now, and he made sure to keep his head averted from her, though that was also due in part to his distaste for her current appearance. After leaving the question hanging between them, Takeuchi attempted to wipe off as much of the mud covering his kimono as possible and checking to assure the safety of the talismans he had brought.

"Oh great... an exorcist who can't even keep himself together..." the demon rolled her eyes as she slithered closer toward the exorcist. "What, you like the flesh bag of a body I have but not this form?" she smirked, rubbing her fingers across the back of the young man's neck and letting the heat pulse across his flesh. "I should tell you, I'm much more potent in this body than I am the other..." Her words were dripping once more, hoping to entice some sort of feeling other than perpetual embarrassment.

Takeuchi flinched at the touch of his demon acquaintance, his body cringing from her presence as she brought herself closer, the way he felt her near him was like a foul taste coating the back of his mouth, or a putrid stench filling his nostrils, it was suffocating to say the least. "I-I-If you w-would like another exorcist, t-t-then I c-c-can be on my way. Or w-w-would you prefer to d-deal with the w-woman yourself?" Her jibes had aggravated his usually calm temperament greatly, lacing his words with an anger to which he was unaccustomed.

"Please... You and I both know that I can't do that, otherwise I'd have done so by now..." She could feel the anger behind his words--it was a nice change to the other embarrassment she had been leeching for some time now. "You've come this far already, why not continue forward? Then you can head back to your precious inn knowing that you've saved the life of another one of your kin... Isn't that nice that you have compassion and sympathy for your fellow man?"

With a frustrated sigh, Takeuchi nodded in acquiescence. She was right, he was duty-bound to help others in their time of need, and if he was not capable of making sacrifices for the sake of humanity then he would need to consider a change of career. "J-J-Just lead the w-way."

"With pleasure, Takeuchi..." she grinned, displaying a row of sharpened teeth. "Follow me, then..." With that, she continued to slither toward the east.

Takeuchi limped along quickly, wincing as he tried to keep up with her pace, hopefully this ordeal would not take much longer and he could rid himself of her insufferable presence.

The setting changes from Resmyrd to Arkanvale

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Xana Druj Character Portrait: Ilyana Ree Character Portrait: Takeuchi Hiroto Character Portrait: Liriael Amaryllis Character Portrait: Zilocke Thane
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#, as written by Ion


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Liri didn’t pretend to be offended when the demon left her behind to go find an exorcist. Why should she? It was probably what the woman wanted—to watch the staid angel get all righteously furious or who knew what else. She claimed no knowledge of demonkind, but it was apparent to her that this Xana was not overly fond of her, and would probably gain something from her displeasure, if only satisfaction. Liriael, however, simply felt no particular amount of displeasure, and saw no need to fake it. It was true that their inability to extract the spirit from this human woman was somewhat frustrating, and Xana’s treatment of the innocent vessel less than satisfactory, but that was nothing they could do anything about until they found an exorcist, and somebody needed to watch the possessed woman in the meantime.

So Liri planted herself on a clean patch of grass, the battered human lying prone beside her, and sang the Dirge of Binding beneath her breath—the woman was so weak that it scarcely took any effort to contain her, so the crosslegged angel placed a soft hand on her brow and smiled, just barely. The spirit was obviously unhappy with this, but it wasn’t it she sought to soothe, and even when it tried to fight the effects of her spellsong, it struggled in vain, the smooth flow of notes ensnaring the limbs of its host-body and rendering it worse than useless in the end. At least it couldn’t do any more damage to the human it enslaved, this way.

It was quite some time before she sensed the demon’s presence returning, and this time, Xana was accompanied by what seemed to be a spiritually-aware human. Not a full Exorcist, perhaps, but at least a Meister. She was almost certain that was what they were called, though the knowledge did not come from herself. It must be the Nightingale, though why her own host would know anything of such matters, she could not say.

At their approach, she stood, brushing stray grass from her fitted tan trousers and folding her hands behind her back. At this point, the spirit’s struggles had rendered it even weaker, and her soft singing dropped back to a hum, no more than that being necessary to keep it in line. She may have even risked speaking, but she did not want to take the chance. Besides, so bound, the woman would be easier to exorcise. She did, however, dip her head in greeting to the dark-haired young man behind Xana.



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Really, Zilocke thought to himself, it was all somebody else’s fault.

He’d been perfectly content to mind his own business while he passed through this town (or was it a city? He didn’t care enough to check), but apparently, not everyone was content to let him. He’d stopped in a tavern and purchased himself an ale—never mind that it was early in the morning, he’d been walking all night—and then left again, taking a turn through a rather rundown area of slums, when four gentlemen in raggedy clothes had stepped out in front of and behind him, wielding an assortment of nicked blades and rusted polearms. Amateurs, really.

He’d stopped and bid them all good morning, but of course, they were more interested in his belongings than his words. He could understand that, maybe: material items were quite interesting, and words so cheap. But he doubted very much they wanted the banded, engraved silver at his arms for the sake of its unique alchemical properties. Or maybe the reason they hadn’t talked to him was because they weren’t very good with words. They certainly hadn’t used many before the first one tried to jump him.

It was with a mildly-perturbed expression on his face that the Mad Alchemist stepped aside, raising an eyebrow at the loud whistle of the battered scimitar through the air. “My good sir,” he enunciated, as though genuinely shocked, “you really should be more careful. A blow like that could take a man’s arm off!” He shook his head and brought one hand up to rub absently at the stubble on his cheek. He knew he’d forgotten to do something before he left—apparently, shaving was it. He mused on the merits of using his silver wristband to fashion himself a straight-razor, ducking under the next swing with a casual ease that looked entirely accidental.

It was, without a doubt, infuriating, and all four of them were after him then, and dodging became entirely too much work for his lazy sensibilities. So he’d done what any reasonable man of moderate alchemical talent would have done in the same situation: dropped into a crouch, sketched a small circle in the dirt, and caused himself a nice, ground-rocking explosion. It was more noise and dirt than actual destruction, of course: he tended to vandalize only his own property, not the already-ramshackle dwellings of strangers.

Either way, the impressive plume of dust was more than he needed to make his escape, and he did, cackling to himself like a deranged person as he emerged from the cloud of smoke—laughter which ceased when two new pieces of information came to him at once: the crying of a child, and the sense that there was metaphysical matter nearby. Fortunately for his curiosity, they were in the same direction, and that was the one he picked, strolling along the street as though he belonged there—as though he owned it, even.

He didn’t like making children cry, and he had a feeling that this one’s distress was rather his fault. Not every day something exploded this close to you, and though the poor thing had been in no real danger, he supposed she had no way to know that. As he approached, however, he found that the metaphysical matter drew closer as well. Interesting: either the child was possessed by a spirit or
 no, this was definitely something different. Angel, if he had his guess. Not that he cared—he was actually more concerned with the fact that she was adorable. Kids were great, honestly. He liked them a hell of a lot better than grown-ups, and if this one just so happened to be celestial also, well
 no skin off his teeth.

Crouching in front of the girl with the faint chiming of bells, he folded one hand into a fist, then extended his index finger from it and poked her in the forehead, just gently. “Hey, kiddo. Pst.” Removing his hand, he reached into one of the many pouches at his belt and pinched a tiny bit of a bright blue powder. In the dirt between them, he sketched a tiny transmutation circle, then dropped the powder into it with a flourish. Rubbing his hands together dramatically, he clapped them, pressing both to the circle. Before their eyes, a delicate blue flower erupted from the ground, growing and unfolding its petals. The circle and the powder both disappeared, and Zilocke plucked the flower from its spot and held it out to the child. “See? Why cry when the world is so beautiful?” He grinned, and it might have even been genuine.

Really, it was just equivalent exchange. He'd made her cry, it was only fair that he do his best to make her smile, too. Even if it really was all somebody else's fault.

The setting changes from Arkanvale to Purgatory

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Xana Druj Character Portrait: Takeuchi Hiroto Character Portrait: Liriael Amaryllis Character Portrait: Leiriya
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#, as written by Siryn
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She stepped out of the portal, her booted feet touching upon purgatory for the first time in a millennium. Leiriya emerged from the doorway created by her superior in a matter of seconds. She'd been chosen to fill in a spot, but not much else was told to her when she'd heard the call from Treylion. As she left the doorway, it shuddered once and then closed abruptly.

"Leiriya," Treylion's voice called to her and she turned her face to look in his general direction. Her eyes were covered with leather cloth, far too sensitive to be looking directly at the sunlight for she was a being of the darkness, always having had her eyes covered.

"My lord, what need have you of me?"

"There is an angel and an exorcist who need your... abilities. You should know that the gates are being broken steadily and that this world is threatened to be overrun by our lost spirits and wraiths. If you can, return them to inferno. If not... allow the angel to kill them. If at all possible, avoid killing the humans, allow the exorcist to perform their purging to draw out the spirit."

Leiriya turned and began making her way to the door without saying anything. Even though she couldn't see with her eyes, she could still see through her sense. Her footfalls were steady, a nice even pace that didn't mark her being in a hurry, or being all that slow either.

"One more thing," Treylion called out and she halted in her steps, coming to a full stop instantly, "Tell Xana that I thought I had ordered all demons to not shed their human appearances unless absolutely necessary. She's testing her boundaries with me when she should not. Any further disobedience will be dealt in full by me."

A faint twitch in Leiriya's lips were the only indication that she perhaps found the notion amusing. Maybe she thought that Xana's getting on Treylion's bad side would be entertaining. Either way, she did not say anything and continued on her way outside of the exorcists home.

The demon left Resmyrd and headed out of the city. It didn't take her long to get passed the gates nor onto the road. She didn't know whom exactly she was to meet up with, but figured it would all fall into place one way or another. Leiriya wasn't one to ask questions about things when she knew she'd figure it out as time went. Moving passed a particular hill, she felt the presence of another demon not to far off.

Turning her head, she looked directly up it's slope to the top. Only then did her lips curl into a smile. It could have been described as chilling to look at, for it was far from amusement or even happiness. She didn't say anything, only letting the other demon know of her presence there. Leiriya was entirely sure that the one up there was Xana and that the demoness got the message very clearly as she was sending it off at a high level.

Turning away, she started down the dirt road without another look over her shoulder. She had someone to meet, if she wasn't mistaken. Perhaps luck would be on her side and she run into her party sooner rather than much later. Not that time mattered all that much to the demon. She was a being of eternity, after all.

Setting

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Character Portrait: Xana Druj Character Portrait: Takeuchi Hiroto Character Portrait: Liriael Amaryllis Character Portrait: Leiriya
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Over the crest of one final hill, Xana and her newest companion found the angel sitting with the vessel. Both of them seemed relatively calm, sitting down against the arid landscape and doing absolutely nothing. It seemed rather eerie to the demon--the world of the humans was rather diverse in its environments, much like Inferno, but even this was rather bizarre to see two bodies doing nothing in this wasteland, especially human shells like these two. The quicker they went through with this exorcism and dealt with this woman, the quicker they would be on their way to... where, exactly? There were no further orders than "Repair any gates you come across and exorcise any humans that might be possessed", but from here, where do they begin to look?

The angel nodded toward the exorcist, almost ignoring the demonic presence that led him to their location. This was the thanks she received for going back to that damn city to find this defective exorcist? She had absolutely no tact, this one... Perhaps she would be able to inquire as to why these imbecilic companions of hers could not appreciate the things she did for them all, but who would listen to her, exactly? She figured that the other demons called up were having some troubles of their own--Janus trying not to murder the angel and exorcist that had the misfortune to partner up with him, and Lucian trying not to let his overwhelming apathy and aloofness cause the others to do absolutely nothing--but nothing on this scale with a broken human and an angel with the biggest "holier-than-thou" complex she had ever had the misfortune of meeting...

Suddenly, another presence, this one demonic in nature. Had Janus come to slaughter someone for her? Perhaps Lucian had finally thought his companions insufferable enough to abandon them and seek some demonic company? When the demoness turned toward the horizon, however, the figure she spied was neither the juggernaut nor the mystic but someone else entirely. She could make it out from here--a lithe female figure that bore two thick leather straps around her eyes as to block her sight completely. A chilling smile slowly crept across the entity's face, something that would seem otherwise unnatural. Xana did not recognize this demon--had Treylion summoned her to keep an eye on her with regards to that folly of a promotion?

Xana sighed and rolled her eyes as she began her transformation back into her human guise. Why was Treylion all of a sudden so concerned about how she conducted herself? She had been on the surface for how many years now, and not once had he cared how she acted until now!? It was not as if she had no idea as to what she was doing--she had not been spawned from the birthing pits a century ago, she wasn't that naive--and she had been one of the most effective agents on the surface before all of Inferno broke loose. The Apokalyon had never before given a rat's ass about this--Xana had done things like this all the time, let herself a little bit loose on the reins when she was assured no humans were about, which she had assured herself there were none after a quick sweep. Was this solely about the promotion she now figured was a lie, or was this more about trying to control a 'rabid dog', in her 'master's' eyes?

In either case, there was work to be done. The newly-humanoid Xana stared at the 'companions' she was being forced to work with--the angel that had as much emotional energy to feed from as a rock, the exorcist that had nearly died from shock when she had transformed when he had already known that she was a demon--and screamed inwardly at the fate that had been bestowed on her. This was going to be a long and trying process...

The setting changes from Purgatory to Arkanvale

Setting

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Character Portrait: Xana Druj Character Portrait: Takeuchi Hiroto Character Portrait: Liriael Amaryllis
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#, as written by Ezarael
Takeuchi, Liriael, & Xana



The travel-worn and emotionally weary Takeuchi was glad for the sudden surge of the divine presence emanating from the . . . well honestly he could not tell if it was a man or woman seated nearby, with a calm composure that seemed all too natural to them, even if it meant he was greeted by the malign spirit’s presence as well. That one did not seem nearly as foul as that of the demon behind him, and hopefully the angel had a much more agreeable personality, though from what he had been told many tended to look down upon humans for being less than pure. His limp was much more pronounced now than it had been earlier today, mainly thanks to the demon’s brisk-pace to which he was unaccustomed, but luckily practice kept his wince concealed for the most part, although one who paid enough mind to it would notice how tense his face was at the moment. In an effort to keep some grace in front of the angel Takeuchi bowed down just a bit deeper than he would have normally, mainly to try and mask his body language for a few moments longer, and offered his greeting face-down.

“Greetings, I am Takeuchi Hiroto and I have come to assist in the exorcism and capture of this renegade spirit.”

A cold chill crept down the Meister’s neck as a somewhat noticeable shiver crawled up his spine while his stomach turned over at least twice upon feeling the entrance of another demonic presence, and even though it was not nearby the combined auras emanating from the two demon’s and the spirit were sickening to say the least. His bow ended abruptly as he shot-up straight as an arrow and his head turned slightly in the direction from whence this new aura originated, hoping that this new one was not going to join them in this exorcism, Takuechi was not quite sure if he would be able to concentrate on the exorcism enough with the bile creeping up the back of his throat. Strangely enough though, it started fading away, even if relatively slowly, and Lili began transforming back into her human form, luckily enough this way around seemed much less sudden and jolting than previously.

Takeuchi turned his head back towards the angel with a rather relieved, although still slightly nervous, smile spread across his lips. “So, shall we begin then?”

It was impossible for Liri to make or return any verbal greeting whilst still murmuring her binding spell, so instead she half-smiled kindly. She had not missed the slightly-awkward way the human youth moved, but like everything else, it was not her business unless someone else chose to make it so. Turning from both of them, she crouched near the body of the woman, lifting her into her arms and standing. She wasn't sure what method this Takeuchi used to exorcise, but she supposed it would be helpful to have an unmoving target, whatever that method may be.

The woman in her arms was breathing raggedly still, though the spirit inside her body was suppressed for the most part by Liriael's spell, and as such, she struggled not at all. She didn't appear to be in very good shape, though most of that damage had occurred whether before Xana arrived or between then and when Liri had, it was hard to say. The sword at the angel's hip remained sheathed and relatively unobtrusive; it was clear that she was trusting Xana to be able to find a gate to shove the spirit back through. She would destroy the being if she must, but she would much prefer not to.

Anxiety coursed through the Meister's body as he observed the angel quietly lift up and grasp the poor, possessed girl after his, somewhat, unnecessary question, and it felt as if his heart was straddling the back of his throat now while its rhythmic beating began to pound relentlessly between his ears. A series of deep, fluid breaths helped to calm this sensation, but only slightly, as he knew this would be a trial in and of itself, more so than either of his companions knew at the moment. The Meister paused momentarily to look over the poor girl's form, observing how fragile and ragged the human host looked at this moment, forcing a wave of guilt over Takeuchi at how focused he had been upon his own comfort earlier, this girl was suffering greatly and he had not right to even think about complaining at a time such as this.

"This should not take very long."

Despite the declarative structure of his statement, a hint of hesitation and doubt tinted his words, but Takeuchi stiffened his gaze considerably, setting his feet into the ground and clasping his hands together firmly. With a bowed head the young Meister began manipulating his Qi to begin forming a field around the poor girl, releasing his hands and using short but soft movements to help guide the energy and form it evenly around her body. Things were going about as well as they could at the moment; all he could do was hope that his reputable bad luck chose not to interfere the evening.

Darkness writhed at the touch of the Meister's spell. It flooded the woman's form, and then spilled forth from her every pore. The black mist like structure of the possession seemed to cover the woman entirely until she couldn't be seen. It was several minutes into the exorcism before the mist began to take shape. It pulled itself up from the center of the woman's body that quaked in the angels hold. The black mass curled in on itself several times before finally holding an upright position. The darkness shifted several times, forming arms and a head without features. Lifting completely out of the woman's body, it stretched its arms out and swiped at the barrier that the Meister had formed around the woman. Lips curled along the faceless head, jagged teeth emerged from between the darkness like tar. A cold laugh filled the air between them all. It was no spirit that left the woman's body, but a wraith instead.

Takeuchi had his eyes clenched tightly during the few minutes before the mist's transformation, focusing entirely upon the barrier he was trying to craft around the girl's body, sweat had started beading across his brow and his breath had grown much more laborious as this was proving to be a much more difficult exorcism than he had imagined any renegade spirit's would be. When the dark form brushed up against his Qi field it felt like a dagger had been pricked into his chest quickly, breaking this Meister's concentration entirely, and with it the field he had strived so diligently to create to force the spirit . . . no this was much more than that, it had to be a wraith, from the girl's body. A sensation of panic quickly spread through Takeuchi's body as he readied himself for what was to come, this was definitely going to be much more difficult than he had hoped for, and it seemed like his usual luck had reared its ugly head once again.

A Wraith
 Liri would have gritted her teeth had she the ability over the chanting she was performing, and when it seemed that the exorcist was slipping, she formed the cadence back into song, the binding spell this time moving to reinforce the barrier that the young man was forming with his own energy, suffusing it with angelic strength in addition to the spiritual powers of a human. She held her grip steady against the shaking of the host, her breathing even and calm, and hoped dearly that this would work. A Wraith was not something that anyone should take lightly.

Xana had remained silent over the course of these events--she would be useless until they required a gate. The closest one at this point was a gate she had repaired only a few nights before, but even that was still a few hours from their current position. That in and of itself would have been of little concern, but the appearance of a wraith complicated matters somewhat. Of course, either way, she was useless to this group without the gates; physical violence, as much as demons reveled in the bloodshed, was something that was impossible against a wraith--violence usually lead to utter destruction, and demons were barred from outright destroying spirits and wraiths. At Treylion's 'request', not only was she stuffed back into her fleshy meatbag form, but this barred her from using any sort of pyrokinetic ability without exposing herself.

The demon huffed as a new influx of fear and panic flooded her system, something a bit refreshing as the wraith's rage and malice threatened to overwhelm her senses. While the angel and exorcist continued holding the freed wraith inside of their own little bubble, she thought about potential options for this situation. While extremely dangerous, if not unheard of, they could attempt to stuff the wraith back into the vessel and proceed to perform the ritual at a gate instead of out in the middle of nowhere...

"Would it behoove you to know that the nearest gate is to the north?" she asked, her voice dripping with sweet sarcasm, realizing that this was probably all she was going to be good for in the long run. "A few hours north, no less?" She walked around the barrier, letting chills run down her flesh and enjoying every second of it for once--perhaps the physical reminder of Inferno was something that induced nostalgia in her, or maybe the presence of the wraith was affecting her mental integrity. "If you think you can contain it in your little bubble for that long, then we should get moving. Now."

Despite Takeuchi's best efforts to contain the wraith in his Qi field, something it was not necessarily meant to do in the first place, and the added angelic energy donated by his new companion, he was unable to continue keeping the barrier secure around the powerful wraith, and when the hideous being of darkness did finally burst through the resulting shockwave was enough to send the fragile Meister toppling backwards, head-over-heels. The wraith turned, towards its former angelic captor, that cold, empty laugh echoing through the area around them and lunged for her, hoping to take out the one that it knew could keep it held captive. Meanwhile, the dazed Meister did his best to regain his composure, shaking his head lightly to try and fend off the dull pain throbbing in his temples, and also grasping furiously into his the kimono sleeve which contained the paper talismans he needed next, hoping beyond all hope that he would be able to concentrate for long enough to conjure his next ability.

Liri would have sighed had she the opportunity, but instead she rolled her eyes in Xana's general direction. She'd kept the thing bound this long, she could manage a few more hours, but the important thing was saving the host. Xana also could have mentioned this fact earlier, perhaps before letting the boy start his work. As matters were, however, the wraith burst out of his sphere of energy, lunging for her. Liri evaded the swipe, then spared a breath to speak. "I can contain it. Just get us to the gate before I'm forced to kill it." Summoning her breath to her, she exhaled in a vibrato note, causing the wraith to stiffen, its joints locking up in paralysis. She could only hold the joints, however, not the entire being. Jerking her head, she indicated that they needed to get moving. This thing was a lot stronger than most of the foes she'd bound in the past-- if she was allowed to concentrate, she could make it, but she didn't look forward to the next few hours.

A wave of relief washed over Takeuchi as his angelic companion managed to rebind the wraith, no thanks to his complete failure, and inwardly the frustrated Meister was scolding himself for being so careless, letting the entity break his concentration and endanger others in such a fashion, a salty taste teased his palette as Takeuchi bit his inner-lip so hard it started bleeding slightly. With another determined step, this time clasping talismans in one, outstretched arm, Takeuchi brought his good hand up to his lips, his thumb, index, and middle fingers held straight while his ring-finger and pinky were bent at the second knuckle, he began whispering a soft chant. The paper talismans began glowing brightly, as Takeuchi began clenching his eyelids together forcefully, and burst into thousands of shards of light, swirling into the air and gathering around the wraith, forming around the entity's limbs and clasping them to its body tightly. After several moments the brilliant, white light dimmed to a dull pink color, with barely visible gaps between the shards at their juncture points, by now they resembled cherry blossoms. The Meister let a sigh escape his lips as his chant was finished, but he needed every ounce of concentration to keep the spell intact. "I hope this helps, but we must hurry." Takeuchi turned his head at the demon slightly, hoping that a brief look would help reinforce the hushed urgency in his voice, that was all he could spare before he was forced to start chanting quietly once again.

The demon did feel the urgency in the voice of the exorcist. She sensed the impatience growing in the angel--a good sign that she was actually capable of showing some emotion after all. With a quick flash of a grin, the red-headed woman beckoned the others to follow her. She would finally have a moment to shine, although the prospect of watching the angel slaughter the wraith was rather tempting as well... In any case, she tossed a quick wink toward the quivering exorcist as she slowly began heading toward the north. Hopefully they would be able to feed her for a bit as they made their way toward the gate.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Xana Druj Character Portrait: Ilyana Ree Character Portrait: Takeuchi Hiroto Character Portrait: Liriael Amaryllis Character Portrait: Zilocke Thane Character Portrait: Leiriya
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#, as written by Ion


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Before long had passed, at least by his reckoning of time, there was another influx of metaphysical stuff in his range, this a great deal more than little Ilyana produced, and he looked up at about the same time as she climbed down, apparently quite familiar with this new angel. Couldn’t well be anything else, what with the pearly-white wings and all. Now, maybe an average man would have felt a little put-off by all the supernatural happenings in one day, gone back to his house, and lived his life out peacefully until he died, equally peacefully but boring.

Fortunately, Zilocke had never really been an average man.

“I would be the magic man, yes,” he said with a bright grin, nodding his head more-or-less politely. The older angel seemed a lot less interesting than the little one, though, so when she challenged him to a race, he accepted immediately, catching up with her in a few easy, loping strides. “Oh, I almost have you!” he called dramatically, but the stooped in his run to catch her under the arms and hoist her before him. “But what’s this? She flies! And so quickly!” He feigned a great deal of shock and struggle, and indeed, it was ‘Ilyana’ who crossed the threshold first, and the loser obligingly set her down in a seat by the tray of biscuits and took an armchair himself, this a little further away from the sugary treats.

He presumed that the other angel would follow them in, but honestly, he wasn’t sure he had any business being here. Certainly, this was far too much of a coincidence to mean that he wasn’t intended to be here, but that wasn’t the important thing. If someone wanted him to be a certain place or a certain way, he was usually disposed not to be, just out of a certain kind of contrariness in his disposition. Still, he supposed he’d hear them out, see what they had to say. The whole ‘save the world’ pitch probably wasn’t going to work as well as they were expecting, but then, this fellow was an angel. It probably always worked on other angels.

Before anyone could properly get to speaking, though, there was a knock on the door, and it corresponded to yet more supernatural substance, this different in character from that exuded by the angels. Honestly, it was a bit cloying on his senses, and the eye with the patch over it itched uncomfortably.

So naturally, he ignored it, and his reservations, and went to open the door. Pulling it open, he blinked a few times just to make sure his uncovered eye was working properly, then smiled, the expression somewhere between pleasant and lascivious, though it could not quite be called either. “Well,” he commented lightly, “this just keeps getting more and more interesting, doesn’t it?” Apparently, there was now a demon in the company.

Stepping aside to admit the woman, who seemed to be blindfolded, he returned to his chair and waited for someone to start talking. He could do all of it himself, of course, though he didn’t really see the need as of yet, much as he did like to talk. They probably had different things to say than he would, after all, and letting them do so was only polite.



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The terrain they covered on their way to the gate was thankfully mostly flat, and the most predominant emotion leaking from Liriael at the moment was relief. The less the steps of herself and the concentrating Meister were interrupted by stones or inclines, the better chance they had of maintaining their hold. Their progress was somewhat slowed for the boy, who seemed not to move with utmost haste, but upon closer inspection, she decided that he was not sluggish on purpose, but rather because he had to be.

So she walked at his pace, keeping sight on the demon leading them northward. This would simply have to be the way of it for now, and though she’d never been forced to keep a foe this powerful bound for this long, her voice did not let up, and her efforts were bolstered by those of the human who walked beside her. Sweat beaded on Liri’s brow, and fatigue slowly, insidiously, began to creep up on her, but she pushed it aside. She had fought battles longer and harder than this one before, and though she knew she could end it by simply slaying the Wraith, she had no desire to remove it from existence when it could be returned with a little more effort to the plane on which it belonged.

Eventually, Xana stopped, and this was something Liri was unspeakably grateful for. She stopped as well, standing back far enough that the demon would have plenty of room to work. She did not know what was entailed in opening a gate, as she had never seen it done before, but she didn’t want herself or Takeuchi getting in the way, inadvertently or otherwise.

The setting changes from Arkanvale to Purgatory

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Xana Druj Character Portrait: Takeuchi Hiroto Character Portrait: Liriael Amaryllis
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#, as written by Ezarael
Takeuchi Hiroto & Liriael Amaryllis




It seemed like an eternity had passed before they came within reach of the promised gateway, and by the time both Takeuchi and his angelic companion had caught up with the demon Lili with their charge he was sweating profusely, his breath coming in long, ragged draws that slowly lengthened with each gasp for air. It had taken every ounce of concentration for him to make it this far, and they end of their journey was just around the corner as some would put it, but it still looked like they were miles away. His limbs felt as if they were weighed down by lead chains, forcing his once shuffling-step into an awkward drag that was continuously slowed them down, something he might worry about if he wasn't pouring every ounce of concentration into confining the powerful wraith in the combined auric field. A sigh of relief might have escaped his lips if the wraith hadn't targeted him, suddenly bursting forth with an unknown swell of power, taking advantage of his weakened state.

The malevolent spirit had been biding its time patiently, waiting and watching as its captors dragged it to some unknown destination, presumably the location of a gate the demon would then open to hurl it through. The Meister was weak though, and every step had been taking its toll on his crippled body, so it decided to save its energy for the right moment would it could burst forth and overwhelm the pitiful creatures trying to send it somewhere it didn't want to go in the first placed. They would pay, albiet the angel and demon had to be finished quickly, the human could die a slow, agonizing death, something that seemed only fitting giving the already inevitable, drawn-out deaths destined for them. After bursting forth from its bonds the dark entity swiped a vicious claw at the Meister, hurling him backwards into a nearby tree, and then it launch at the angel in a flash, wanting to eliminate any threat it had of being captured again. Once it dealt with the angel . . . the demon would be of no consequence.

That was it. Liri's patience was wearing thin, and when the Wraith at last burst from the body it was contained in, overwhelming the human's part of their defenses, Liriael set the body on the ground and drew the sword at her hip. The first thrust it made in her direction was parried by the silvery steel of the divine blade, and Liri whirled the instrument of death in a broad circle, slicing up and into the Wraith's arm at the elbow. The heavensmade sword did what ordinary steel could not, and wounded the creature, causing it to stagger backwards a few steps. That was all Liriael really required, and she stepped forward again, trying to get in underneath its guard and put it down.

Unfortunately, the creature moved to the side, its reach seeming to stretch supernaturally long, and a talonlike claw dug visciously into Liri's shoulder, making her turn to stumble back, shifting her grip to her other hand. Cackling madly, the Wraith went in to hit her exposed side, but she was quite ready for that, and pivoted, slashing at its abdomen to distract it, then abruptly redirecting, slamming her uninjured shoulder into its midsection and successfully knocking it prone. Her sword, she used to stake it to the ground by stabbing it between collarbone and pectoral muscle on the right side, or what would have been the collarbones and pectorals had it been human. The anatomy was close enough for the analogy to work, anyway, and though it thrashed around, it couldn't get free.

Glancing over at Xana, Liri narrowed her eyes just slightly. "Now... would perhaps be a good time to open that gate." She just hoped the delay had not killed their exorcist, but she couldn't exactly check when her blade was all that was keeping the thing in place.