Neuro's own rivals took it as an opportunity to try and beat him to it and claim credit; they mostly succeeded at being useful tools causing just enough distraction and damage for Neuro to complete the job and get rid of some of them at the same time, limping back with the distinct feeling that there had been a very large target sign painted on his back. <---- This did not amuse the hellparrot. Neuro realized he'd been set up and changed his tactics from there out, putting his own plot into motion to outmaneuver the Emperor himself. Taking advantage of his position, he started doing what he could to encourage the tendency toward chaos and backbiting that came so easily to the demon race. It took depressingly little effort to encourage things to start turning in on themselves enough for Neuro to pick the Emperor off in the confusion and disarray. Even His Majesty's Weapons had inexplicably disappeared, swiped out from under any other claimants by a certain Parrot who, rather than using them to take over, simply “removed” them from play, holding them in reserve. As the dust settled and the survivors tried to figure out what the Hell had just happened over the course of the last couple hundred years, Neuro pondered what options were open to him now that he, himself, could claim the title of “Emperor” and even defend it enough to build a power base. Claiming it himself didn't sound that entertaining to him. Going to work for one of the Emperor's old rivals or wandering as a complete free agent were sounding stale as well; more of the same that he'd been doing for the entirety of his life, with the same kinds of power-plays, back-stabbings, front-stabbings, and posturing as always. It was hard to think of anything left in the demon world that would be interesting, different, or even a challenge anymore; the same diet of the same finger-pointings and open malice. There was, however, one place he'd only gotten a few brief glimpses of thanks to idiots mucking about with summoning spells a few times. It would be completely different, and all of the plotting and malice and nommy things he'd caught hints of during his short visits were less open and more intricately hidden, with more cautiously constructed ploys to avoid notice that would be more of a challenge to unravel- So Neuro gathered up his toys and went to the mortal world. (Here we go to canon timeline and I can stop bullshitting and go into 30 Seconds With Bunnies mode!) Of course, it would be utterly amateurish, idiotic, and a good way to find out what retribution was possible if he acted openly, so his first order of business was finding a proxy; some human that he could shunt the spotlight onto and let take the credit among other mortals, who would be obedient, and malleable, and not talk back too much, yet clever enough for other humans to believe they were responsible, and adaptable enough to deal with whatever they walked into without panicking or getting killed too easily - and hopefully one that would provide some entertainment while he was at it. So it was that a high school student by the name of Katsuragi Yako, whose family was still recovering from the brutal murder of her father, suddenly found herself claimed as the pawn and front for a demon, herded into detective work and drug to any crime scene where Neuro caught the scent of something interesting and edible. After using a petty poisoning and her father's own murder as demonstrations, the next agenda was establishing a business front to function from so that food would come to him, enough to save him too much effort and expended energy in the far lower-magic mortal realm.
With Yako in tow, he managed to claim an office in a high-rise building right out from under a small band of underworld money-collectors, with the bonus of taking on one of the ex-mob-legbreakers as another pet to run errands. Soon after, the key to making their name as a detective agency walked in the door, in the form of Aya Asia, internationally renowned singer, requesting an investigation of the “suicides” of her former manager and producer - a request that turned out to be a gamble on her own guilty conscience. The fame they gained from that case was enough impetus to keep Neuro well-fed while he continued looking for the greatest mystery, the greatest challenge the mortal world could offer. Of course that wouldn't be found among 'normal' homicides. The major cases ended up including an artificial intelligence replica of a multidisciplinary scientific genius that nearly brought the world to its knees via a signal that removed inhibitions and self-control and turned people into either useful soldiers or just flat criminals, and the case of X, a shapeshifter capable of mimicking any person and even some animals that sought clues to hir own identity via taking apart others to see how they work, the remains filled into bloody glass “red boxes”. X ended up being the first sign of one of the largest conflicts Neuro was involved in while in the mortal world, when hir creator swept in to reclaim hir. That individual, Sicks, was the leader of a clan specialized toward malice and cruelty until they were becoming something other than human, with X having been an escaped experimental clone of theirs. Sicks attempted to recruit Neuro to his cause... and failed miserably, with a mutual declaration that only one of them could claim the top of the food chain and neither was willing to share it. After that came a lull, as Sicks and his clan prepared to begin wiping out normal humanity as “evolutionary competition and prey”, and Neuro began conserving energy and chasing as many scraps of edible “mysteries” as he could to prepare for the coming confrontation. The first major blow struck by the Bloodline came in the form of sabotaging Tokyo's flood control system in the middle of a typhoon; while Neuro managed to prevent the worst of the damage, large areas of the city were still left in ruins, with an astronomical death toll, and Neuro had burned a large amount of energy in the conflict with just one of the Bloodline. He found himself facing an enemy that had a very clear and obvious shot at simply wearing him down and running him out of power to fight them, and began to turn to the idea of further cultivating a circle of human allies (or at least semi-willing pawns), counting on human self-preservation instinct and ability to cooperate to gain the edge against the Bloodline. Thanks to trying-to-keep-track-of-canon and several things where I FAILED at fudging “he's from end of canon and just hasn't said anything”, assume he cuts off somewhere around chapter 164-165. There's also the events of the previous session - he still has the scars from his squabbles with Moonie, and is well aware that he's slipped back in against the system and is in a very touchy situation. By slipping back in, he's lost any contact with Yako after their escape, but is basically relying on her to be able to keep herself in one piece.
Third-person RP sample: The office door opened for the second time that morning, to Neuro, feigning sleep on the couch. It wasn't hard to know it was Yako; he stayed still while she took stock of the room, the odd fact that he was sleeping on the couch and not the ceiling, and the whimpering from said ceiling. “... ... Higuuchi?” The response was a gagged mumble from the hacker, who had snooped into the office a good hour or so previous and encountered the Tool Neuro had let out on “guard duty”. Or maybe to prank Yako. Or both. A small, fanged smirk twitched the corners of Neuro's mouth while he continued to feign sleep. “How long have you - how did you get -” More mumbling. There was a higher-pitched moment, likely the large arachnid-ish Tool that had thoroughly webbed him to the ceiling (and his mouth, because the screaming would disturb Master!) chewing on his shoulder again. Yako started to walk to the couch...then stopped, and Neuro sat up suddenly at the sense that something (a pillow) had just been thrown at him. “Why is he-” she pointed up at the hapless snoop - “Webbed to the ceiling?” “Oh dear, when did he get here?” He flashed a half-blank grin with all his fangs. “He must have tried to sneak in while I was asleep and ran into the trap!” He leaned back against the couch chuckling, while Higuuchi whine-mumbled something that may've been “get me down please oh god it's gonna eat me”. “...Neuro... Who was the trap FOR?” The blank face turned even blanker, as she twitched at the all too obvious answer.
Anything else? ...the scientists probably still shouldn't trust him with anything beyond a goldfish.
Neuro realized he'd been set up and changed his tactics from there out, putting his own plot into motion to outmaneuver the Emperor himself. Taking advantage of his position, he started doing what he could to encourage the tendency toward chaos and backbiting that came so easily to the demon race. It took depressingly little effort to encourage things to start turning in on themselves enough for Neuro to pick the Emperor off in the confusion and disarray. Even His Majesty's Weapons had inexplicably disappeared, swiped out from under any other claimants by a certain Parrot who, rather than using them to take over, simply “removed” them from play, holding them in reserve.
As the dust settled and the survivors tried to figure out what the Hell had just happened over the course of the last couple hundred years, Neuro pondered what options were open to him now that he, himself, could claim the title of “Emperor” and even defend it enough to build a power base. Claiming it himself didn't sound that entertaining to him. Going to work for one of the Emperor's old rivals or wandering as a complete free agent were sounding stale as well; more of the same that he'd been doing for the entirety of his life, with the same kinds of power-plays, back-stabbings, front-stabbings, and posturing as always. It was hard to think of anything left in the demon world that would be interesting, different, or even a challenge anymore; the same diet of the same finger-pointings and open malice.
There was, however, one place he'd only gotten a few brief glimpses of thanks to idiots mucking about with summoning spells a few times. It would be completely different, and all of the plotting and malice and nommy things he'd caught hints of during his short visits were less open and more intricately hidden, with more cautiously constructed ploys to avoid notice that would be more of a challenge to unravel-
So Neuro gathered up his toys and went to the mortal world.
(Here we go to canon timeline and I can stop bullshitting and go into 30 Seconds With Bunnies mode!)
Of course, it would be utterly amateurish, idiotic, and a good way to find out what retribution was possible if he acted openly, so his first order of business was finding a proxy; some human that he could shunt the spotlight onto and let take the credit among other mortals, who would be obedient, and malleable, and not talk back too much, yet clever enough for other humans to believe they were responsible, and adaptable enough to deal with whatever they walked into without panicking or getting killed too easily - and hopefully one that would provide some entertainment while he was at it.
So it was that a high school student by the name of Katsuragi Yako, whose family was still recovering from the brutal murder of her father, suddenly found herself claimed as the pawn and front for a demon, herded into detective work and drug to any crime scene where Neuro caught the scent of something interesting and edible. After using a petty poisoning and her father's own murder as demonstrations, the next agenda was establishing a business front to function from so that food would come to him, enough to save him too much effort and expended energy in the far lower-magic mortal realm.
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Of course that wouldn't be found among 'normal' homicides. The major cases ended up including an artificial intelligence replica of a multidisciplinary scientific genius that nearly brought the world to its knees via a signal that removed inhibitions and self-control and turned people into either useful soldiers or just flat criminals, and the case of X, a shapeshifter capable of mimicking any person and even some animals that sought clues to hir own identity via taking apart others to see how they work, the remains filled into bloody glass “red boxes”.
X ended up being the first sign of one of the largest conflicts Neuro was involved in while in the mortal world, when hir creator swept in to reclaim hir. That individual, Sicks, was the leader of a clan specialized toward malice and cruelty until they were becoming something other than human, with X having been an escaped experimental clone of theirs. Sicks attempted to recruit Neuro to his cause... and failed miserably, with a mutual declaration that only one of them could claim the top of the food chain and neither was willing to share it.
After that came a lull, as Sicks and his clan prepared to begin wiping out normal humanity as “evolutionary competition and prey”, and Neuro began conserving energy and chasing as many scraps of edible “mysteries” as he could to prepare for the coming confrontation. The first major blow struck by the Bloodline came in the form of sabotaging Tokyo's flood control system in the middle of a typhoon; while Neuro managed to prevent the worst of the damage, large areas of the city were still left in ruins, with an astronomical death toll, and Neuro had burned a large amount of energy in the conflict with just one of the Bloodline. He found himself facing an enemy that had a very clear and obvious shot at simply wearing him down and running him out of power to fight them, and began to turn to the idea of further cultivating a circle of human allies (or at least semi-willing pawns), counting on human self-preservation instinct and ability to cooperate to gain the edge against the Bloodline. Thanks to trying-to-keep-track-of-canon and several things where I FAILED at fudging “he's from end of canon and just hasn't said anything”, assume he cuts off somewhere around chapter 164-165.
There's also the events of the previous session - he still has the scars from his squabbles with Moonie, and is well aware that he's slipped back in against the system and is in a very touchy situation. By slipping back in, he's lost any contact with Yako after their escape, but is basically relying on her to be able to keep herself in one piece.
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“... ... Higuuchi?”
The response was a gagged mumble from the hacker, who had snooped into the office a good hour or so previous and encountered the Tool Neuro had let out on “guard duty”. Or maybe to prank Yako. Or both.
A small, fanged smirk twitched the corners of Neuro's mouth while he continued to feign sleep.
“How long have you - how did you get -”
More mumbling. There was a higher-pitched moment, likely the large arachnid-ish Tool that had thoroughly webbed him to the ceiling (and his mouth, because the screaming would disturb Master!) chewing on his shoulder again.
Yako started to walk to the couch...then stopped, and Neuro sat up suddenly at the sense that something (a pillow) had just been thrown at him.
“Why is he-” she pointed up at the hapless snoop - “Webbed to the ceiling?”
“Oh dear, when did he get here?” He flashed a half-blank grin with all his fangs. “He must have tried to sneak in while I was asleep and ran into the trap!” He leaned back against the couch chuckling, while Higuuchi whine-mumbled something that may've been “get me down please oh god it's gonna eat me”.
“...Neuro... Who was the trap FOR?”
The blank face turned even blanker, as she twitched at the all too obvious answer.
Anything else? ...the scientists probably still shouldn't trust him with anything beyond a goldfish.
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