"No. No, no, no..." Kalinka crawled shakily towards the door, waiting for Utena to turn around, storming back with her sword at the ready. Instead, the footsteps simply continued further away as the doorway closed itself, and Kalinka's head hung down for a moment of silence. Her eyes saw nothing but concrete and her still half-pink hair, up until she leaned back into a crouch.
"I was upset, but... I just wanted her to..." Kalinka shook her head without looking up, her voice filled with enough worry not to need her expression. Besides that, her arms ached more than any other time, partly to blame for her uncharacteristic aggressiveness. "Why didn't you wait until she was gone? They, would try to... You shouldn't come to see me here."
"Kerokero." The demon said flatly in observation, though it was also a cryptic answer.
"That..." Kalinka started, looking down at the way she was sitting, and trying earnestly not to sound amused. "Be, quiet, and answer --"
"Kerokero." The demon repeated, offering Kalinka a hand to pull herself up.
The girl took his black-gloved hand hesitantly at first, but cooperated upon the realization that her own arms no longer were in pain, and it was nothing like the touch of his purely demonic limbs. "Kerokero..." It was an admission of defeat to humor, to ribbit at her friend in his own language. Standing, she couldn't help but smile. "There's nothing wrong, with sitting like a frog... But reminding me this very instant?"
"One cannot answer and be quiet." The demon replied to an earlier remark. "The Child-Slaying Prince was gone. Your words carried enough strength to defeat a Slayer without my help, but I could not simply watch." Holding her wrist, his crimson eyes scanned the scars on her hand, despite that she all but tugged it away. "These could not have helped your temperament. I am, still sorry..."
Shaken, the demon's senses turned all attention to the doorway again as another approached, and eventually flung the entrance open. Kalinka's easiness fell away, stunned again for a moment, looking instead to whatever was squirming to life underneath her friend's black coat before she thought to look at who had come.
(OOC: Demon or not, it's an odd man in a trench yanking on an upset girl's arm to anyone just showing up, I'd say. Not kosher.)
In the dead of night, the demon's voice was easily heard over the stillness that had fallen over the rest of the campus. Following the source of the voice before she even made eye contact with it's owner, Rei's chin lowered, her eyes drew narrow, and an even more stern expression than usual appeared on her face.
"The Child-Slaying Prince? Defeated? By whom?" Rei's stern voice was unwavering as she repeated a few of the words that caught her ear while she was standing atop the stairs. Her footsteps were slow and deliberate, not changing their pace in the slightest as they continued onward towards the two. Without looking, her gifts as a Seer could not detect Utena's aura anywhere on the otherwise empty rooftop. The already harsh voice grew louder as it demanded more information. "What in the Seven Hells did you do to Utena!"
She pulled one of her paper scrolls from under the edge of her yukata, not being fooled for one moment by the illusion. Though an unfamiliar man hiding himself within a trenchcoat was already enough to cause Rei to act, even if he was attacking someone that she had never really gotten along well with such as Kalinka, and her spiritual senses could easily detect the being's true nature. Not knowing or caring what the demon did to cause her green-clothed classmate to grow so upset, her muscles tensed as she held the ofuda up near shoulder level, ready to throw it at a moment's notice. "And just what the hell do you think you're about to do to Kalinka!"
"R-Rei..." Kalinka absently pulled at her own arm, though it didn't come free of her friend's steady grip. "No. Get away from here." It was almost a whisper, before Kalinka gathered up the thunder of her voice, almost pleading with her eyes. "Get away!"
The distinct sound of an unsheathing blade came as soon as Rei had begun to speak, though it was also very organic in nature. It protruded quickly from the man's unoccupied arm as if it were spring-loaded, dripping black blood down that sizzled and ate through solid concrete. Just as soon as he had slung it clean, bleeding tendrils began to grow out from his body, centered near his back. Each offered its own opinion of the situation in a demonic tongue. Fortunately for everyone concerned, he was never apt to listening to the many suggestions they gave him. His own voice was calm and dry, though the very air around him was glowing red with fury.
"'Utena' has had far less than she deserved done to her for being the Child-Slaying Prince. I have no intention of going out of my way to rectify this, at the moment. The temptation was difficult to resist after her attempts to lure Kali-chan into her indecent circles."
"Twisting, everything..." Kalinka clawed at the scars on her captured arm, quivering with weakness and pain as she both attempted to free and destroy it. It was soon her own voice speaking as much as it was not. "Mutilate them. All of them, made unto a river of blood, three fold the suffering of the lives they've ended and consumed. All the same. Monsters, innocent beasts, their own young..." Her head shook violently. "She's different. I know, there's something different about her, not like the others, who don't care, she, at least..."
Concentrating, the accosted girl managed to chase away the cloud of madness the demon seemed to wield against her, distracting her from her real concerns. "Rei, leave! Get away!"
Utena's anger was like a quick flash of flame, hot, but over quickly. Even as she drew even with her door, it was fading and she was beginning to feel badly for storming off as she had. Her behavior had been far from Princely, she thought, and she frowned at the thought of having to go apologize to two people the next day.
"Shou ga nai," she muttered under her breath.
Placing one hand on the doorknob to the room she shared with Minako, she drew in a quick breath, preparing to move as silently as possible so as not to disturb her roommate. Just as she was about to open the door, however, her Slayer instincts rose to the fore.
A demon? Here? On campus?
Wasting no time, she turned on her heel and headed back to the stairwell, running up the flights of stairs even faster than before.
*shortened version of "shikata ga nai" which translates approximately to "it can't be helped" or "no way to avoid it" etc.
"No." Rei's answer to Kalinka was direct and firm. As her eyes stared directly into those of the demon that stood in front of her, the Seer's mind raced through the hallways of St. Catherine's School, searching the dormitories for her friend. With all of the other students' minds at rest for the night, the one girl still awake and highly emotional was as easy to detect as a candle in the darkness.
"Hmm. She is safe," Rei reluctantly agreed, glad that she was unharmed but none to pleased to find her friend more angry than she had ever seen her before. In aggravation, she added "Furious, but safe..."
Though no doubt or uncertainty could be read on her face, the shrine maiden clutched her ofuda firmly as she doubted that would be enough for the situation she found herself in. Even with their holy energy, it would likely take more firepower to defeat this demonic warrior than blessed scraps of paper.
I can't just transform out here in the open, Rei thought to herself. But he's not letting go of Kalinka. And she is the girl that kept my diary for so long...she claimed not to have read it, but if she did, then she likely already knows...
"I'm not going anywhere," Rei snapped back at the unholy being. "So you let go of Kalinka. Right Now. Or else there's going to be trouble."
Amorphous limbs stealthily wormed their way out from underneath the dark clothing, dripping with the same acidic blood. They stretched and pulsed, some hardening their tips like blades, others akin to grappling tentacles, a few simply spewing the black liquid across the rooftop, all arranging themselves not unlike the legs of an insect towards the doorway. Even through such an array of aggression, not a one harmed the green girl to whom the man's human hand was still anchored.
"Kaeru believes you should be fleeing. Ignoring her is foolish." Their argument only served to fuel the demon and urge it forth from the man. "The Demon of Fury is not one to be threatened. Its survival through generations of your kind will not end with the scribbling a fledgling priestess." The man was speaking a warning the best way he could through the possession that laced his every word with malice.
Kalinka rushed forced words from her mouth through the pure anger spilling over into her, talking through her own gritted teeth with tightly clenched eyes. "Rei. You are not helping. You, have, to, leave." Her tongue could not move to say much more. Trembling as much as she was, the willingness to fight swelled up inside her. Even if she couldn't bring herself to strike either of the others, and if placing herself between them proved futile, she would not idly watch them try to kill one another.
"I was upset, but... I just wanted her to..." Kalinka shook her head without looking up, her voice filled with enough worry not to need her expression. Besides that, her arms ached more than any other time, partly to blame for her uncharacteristic aggressiveness. "Why didn't you wait until she was gone? They, would try to... You shouldn't come to see me here."
"Kerokero." The demon said flatly in observation, though it was also a cryptic answer.
"That..." Kalinka started, looking down at the way she was sitting, and trying earnestly not to sound amused. "Be, quiet, and answer --"
"Kerokero." The demon repeated, offering Kalinka a hand to pull herself up.
The girl took his black-gloved hand hesitantly at first, but cooperated upon the realization that her own arms no longer were in pain, and it was nothing like the touch of his purely demonic limbs. "Kerokero..." It was an admission of defeat to humor, to ribbit at her friend in his own language. Standing, she couldn't help but smile. "There's nothing wrong, with sitting like a frog... But reminding me this very instant?"
"One cannot answer and be quiet." The demon replied to an earlier remark. "The Child-Slaying Prince was gone. Your words carried enough strength to defeat a Slayer without my help, but I could not simply watch." Holding her wrist, his crimson eyes scanned the scars on her hand, despite that she all but tugged it away. "These could not have helped your temperament. I am, still sorry..."
Shaken, the demon's senses turned all attention to the doorway again as another approached, and eventually flung the entrance open. Kalinka's easiness fell away, stunned again for a moment, looking instead to whatever was squirming to life underneath her friend's black coat before she thought to look at who had come.
(OOC: Demon or not, it's an odd man in a trench yanking on an upset girl's arm to anyone just showing up, I'd say. Not kosher.)
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"The Child-Slaying Prince? Defeated? By whom?" Rei's stern voice was unwavering as she repeated a few of the words that caught her ear while she was standing atop the stairs. Her footsteps were slow and deliberate, not changing their pace in the slightest as they continued onward towards the two. Without looking, her gifts as a Seer could not detect Utena's aura anywhere on the otherwise empty rooftop. The already harsh voice grew louder as it demanded more information. "What in the Seven Hells did you do to Utena!"
She pulled one of her paper scrolls from under the edge of her yukata, not being fooled for one moment by the illusion. Though an unfamiliar man hiding himself within a trenchcoat was already enough to cause Rei to act, even if he was attacking someone that she had never really gotten along well with such as Kalinka, and her spiritual senses could easily detect the being's true nature. Not knowing or caring what the demon did to cause her green-clothed classmate to grow so upset, her muscles tensed as she held the ofuda up near shoulder level, ready to throw it at a moment's notice. "And just what the hell do you think you're about to do to Kalinka!"
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The distinct sound of an unsheathing blade came as soon as Rei had begun to speak, though it was also very organic in nature. It protruded quickly from the man's unoccupied arm as if it were spring-loaded, dripping black blood down that sizzled and ate through solid concrete. Just as soon as he had slung it clean, bleeding tendrils began to grow out from his body, centered near his back. Each offered its own opinion of the situation in a demonic tongue. Fortunately for everyone concerned, he was never apt to listening to the many suggestions they gave him. His own voice was calm and dry, though the very air around him was glowing red with fury.
"'Utena' has had far less than she deserved done to her for being the Child-Slaying Prince. I have no intention of going out of my way to rectify this, at the moment. The temptation was difficult to resist after her attempts to lure Kali-chan into her indecent circles."
"Twisting, everything..." Kalinka clawed at the scars on her captured arm, quivering with weakness and pain as she both attempted to free and destroy it. It was soon her own voice speaking as much as it was not. "Mutilate them. All of them, made unto a river of blood, three fold the suffering of the lives they've ended and consumed. All the same. Monsters, innocent beasts, their own young..." Her head shook violently. "She's different. I know, there's something different about her, not like the others, who don't care, she, at least..."
Concentrating, the accosted girl managed to chase away the cloud of madness the demon seemed to wield against her, distracting her from her real concerns. "Rei, leave! Get away!"
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"Shou ga nai," she muttered under her breath.
Placing one hand on the doorknob to the room she shared with Minako, she drew in a quick breath, preparing to move as silently as possible so as not to disturb her roommate. Just as she was about to open the door, however, her Slayer instincts rose to the fore.
A demon? Here? On campus?
Wasting no time, she turned on her heel and headed back to the stairwell, running up the flights of stairs even faster than before.
*shortened version of "shikata ga nai" which translates approximately to "it can't be helped" or "no way to avoid it" etc.
Reply
"Hmm. She is safe," Rei reluctantly agreed, glad that she was unharmed but none to pleased to find her friend more angry than she had ever seen her before. In aggravation, she added "Furious, but safe..."
Though no doubt or uncertainty could be read on her face, the shrine maiden clutched her ofuda firmly as she doubted that would be enough for the situation she found herself in. Even with their holy energy, it would likely take more firepower to defeat this demonic warrior than blessed scraps of paper.
I can't just transform out here in the open, Rei thought to herself. But he's not letting go of Kalinka. And she is the girl that kept my diary for so long...she claimed not to have read it, but if she did, then she likely already knows...
"I'm not going anywhere," Rei snapped back at the unholy being. "So you let go of Kalinka. Right Now. Or else there's going to be trouble."
Reply
"Kaeru believes you should be fleeing. Ignoring her is foolish." Their argument only served to fuel the demon and urge it forth from the man. "The Demon of Fury is not one to be threatened. Its survival through generations of your kind will not end with the scribbling a fledgling priestess." The man was speaking a warning the best way he could through the possession that laced his every word with malice.
Kalinka rushed forced words from her mouth through the pure anger spilling over into her, talking through her own gritted teeth with tightly clenched eyes. "Rei. You are not helping. You, have, to, leave." Her tongue could not move to say much more. Trembling as much as she was, the willingness to fight swelled up inside her. Even if she couldn't bring herself to strike either of the others, and if placing herself between them proved futile, she would not idly watch them try to kill one another.
Reply
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