The Curse of a Concept | Open

[calmed_demon]

CHARACTERS: Kouma Kishima & Open
DATE: May 15th, 2011
WHERE: The Forests of Ithir, bordering Muir
SUMMARY: Kouma feels a little of his Inversion becoming a problem and decides to snuff it out.
WARNING(S): V for violence in the intro. It could go either way.

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[calmed_demon]

The definition of a 'demon' had been read to him over and over when he was young. It was a strict reminder of his status. While the Kishima clan did very little with their strength, they were always eager to do work for their sibling clans, especially the Tohno. More than anything, the definition kept reciting itself in Kouma's head as Hiromi spoke. He was reminded of it over and over as she looked at him with eyes full of praise.

She was absolutely insane. If an angel were to appear, this woman would find it repulsive. To call Kouma a flawless existence would imply that anything purer than him would be, in turn, unappealing. There were dangerous things in the world, he suddenly realized, that were even more terrifying than he could have imagined.

Kouma hadn't realized the impact that a positive look upon him would have on him. Never once in his waking life had someone smiled in his direction. Never when he was before them or even remotely close. He had to ask, though--the madwoman standing before him must have been able to explain it. "You believe I would understand you... because I have a demon's blood?"

[evil_groupie]

"Yup! It feels kind of strange, but there's definitely no mistaking what I'm feeling from you, y'know!" She didn't even repress herself, bouncing from foot to foot in her glee, not mindful of the soft crunch of snow that was decimated in her eagerness.

"Because I thought there were nothing but humans here. Humans and whatever the natives here qualify for." And possibilities opened up now that she knew she wasn't completely outnumbered. Operating under Reine Devilla's command was hard enough--she didn't mind a disguise, certainly, but keeping tabs and monitoring people, even in this place away from Potamos's home and her mission, was a hard and outright mind-numbing task. Particularly since the proposed intended goal of Arawn was to get people to mate. Humans mated under the pretense of love.

The thought did more than turn the demon girl's stomach.

"Oh, but you can rest assured, I won't tell a soul of your secret, y'know. Humans get funny ideas when they think someone about isn't one of them, and I don't feel like dealing with their animosity in that way right now."

[calmed_demon]

Animosity. She was right, but Kouma knew it wasn't such a limited thing. Even among the demons of his clan, Kouma was feared and resented. A borderline indestructible killing machine wouldn't garner many friends on allied lands or on enemy lands. A killing machine that could go insane and kill anything and everything around it in moments was best left by itself.

Still, Kouma was a man in many regards. He didn't enjoy quiet mountains or hunting by himself. Even Kugamine was interesting in how he bragged and spoke to others without knowing them so easily. A man like that made good company, if only because he wasn't afraid of exposing his words to others. This woman was everything but afraid of him--and, she seemed to be asking for help, in a way. Kouma considered his options as she spoke, his simple gaze unchanging.

"About your own secret, then," The one-eyed demon looked at Hiromi plainly. "How strong are you?"

[evil_groupie]

"mmmm..." the sound was made with all the care of one who was attempting to decide the better bargain at a supermarket. What Kouma had asked was fair, and she only teetered on how much to reveal. That glimpse of his ability told her enough--he likely specialized in relentless destruction. That he was so calm and collected, as well as what he had admitted about his trials of self-control, reinforced her beliefs to that theory.

Potamos couldn't compare on such a feat. But then, her mind was sharp. Her wells were deep, and her energy was both versatile and potent. Maintaining that curious pose, hands clasped in front of her as she regarded the fire demon, the ground around her quickly...warped. It was the only way to describe it--what was once pure white became tainted and blotched an ugly, oxygen-deprived purple. And it spread like a virus.

The ground, the trees and shrubs. Animals that had been wary of Kouma's presence had no warning, no way of telling what horror was about to befall them. The corruption overtook everything, even the air all about them. Bunny and bird dropped in its wake instantly, choking from not being able to endure the pressure and radiation of Potamos's aura. Reality itself had shifted--anyone with insight could tell that the area about them, wide beyond the grounds that Kouma started hunting, was completely under the Water Devil's control, down to the animals that rose from their rests with ember red glowing eyes.

All this without moving one muscle, she smiled at Kouma joyfully. "I'm not bad at offensive, but I have my ways of getting things done, y'know."

[calmed_demon]

His eyes leveled with the 'trail' that he could not see. Hiromi's body let off a pure, noxious 'power' that killed everything within range that couldn't tolerate her existence. It was natural--her aura as a demon was more potent than his, a hybrid's. Though, what she was doing seemed excessive, even to the remaining member of the Kishima clan. Raising one hand, Kouma muttered a phrase.

"'Dai Enjoumon.'"

It sprang up in an instant. A perfect ring of flames cut off around Hiromi's aura and encased the area that the two of them stood in. Kouma's level of control kept the flames from getting remotely close to her, but he couldn't do much about the minor oxygen deprivation that would occur as a result. It may have seemed like a struggle to show strength, but in reality, Kouma's thoughts were far more simplistic.

The 'taint' she spread was risky. It could kill much more of the forest. Kouma killed everything he could around that taint, so that it had nothing living to spread to.

"I understand," He spoke coolly, almost forlorn. It wasn't what he imagined it would be like when he was first told that there were demons more pure than he was. "This is a true demon's curse, isn't it?"

[evil_groupie]

The purifying fire wasn't something she had been counting on. It was amusing that the fellow thought it necessary to enact some counter to her ability at all. Yet it did its job as she had pegged--he was certainly specialized in killing. It was her strength that kept her up in spite of that inferno, little more than dizzy and rather fascinated by the display.

He had jumped to a conclusion. Devil she may be, but nature was not her enemy--

"Curse?" It was the first thing he said that genuinely blindsided Potamos. "Where'd you get an idea like that?" Without a thought--indeed, more focused on Kouma and her confusion, Potamos's aura went away. And the land about that which she could immediately influence became normal again. Pure, pristine white. It no longer felt dark, or dead. What she could reach, in any case. The area outside of Kouma's technique would take longer yet.

He was good. Good and confusing. "This is my natural gift, y'know."

[calmed_demon]

She didn't seem to believe anything was 'wrong' with her, aside from the perception that humans had of her. That was irregular. Was it the mindset that she was the hero of her own story, illustrated by her desire to rank him as a karate movie master or something along those lines? She looked too simple and pure in comparison to his perception of what demons were supposed to be.

"If 'God' is the embodiment of perfection, then a demon is the embodiment of imperfection. The nature of a 'demon' is a curse, which changes the environment of the world around it, even at the passive level." It was an explanation spoken to him over and over when he was a child. When his family was killed out--Kouma recited it to himself over and over.

The flames began to snuff themselves out--only really fueled by Kouma's 'heat' in the first place. "Is your existence a poison that can be cured so willingly?" He was baffled. Kouma's lack of poetic tone made itself apparent.

"Though you can change the environment as a demon should be able to... You appear too lovely to be one."

[evil_groupie]

"Eh?" Confusion seeped in with every word. A blight that changed the environment around it? The imperfections of God? "That's...."

Who would come to such asinine conclusions? Who would be that self-depreciating? That gloomy? The girl was so befuddled that even the reversal of her magic was forgotten, leaving the remaining area very much like standing water.

"I don't get that," she admitted, almost in a childish whine. "I mean, I'm really happy you think I'm lovely, but something's really, really weird about that philosophy. Since when was God a perfection?"

Her nose scrunched up, Potamos put her energy to the challenge Kouma had given her. "Better, since when was god a boy, y'know?"

[calmed_demon]

"God is..." Moreover, Kouma was thrown for a loop entirely. What did Hiromi hope to achieve with such a base compliment? He went silent for a few moments, staring her down before he finally thought of what he needed to say to voice his confusion. "I don't understand why you believe so."

Raising one hand, Kouma tried to further emphasize the notion he started with before. "This is what I've been taught by generations of my clan. There is no other definition for 'God' other than perfection, just as 'demon' is synonymous with imperfection."

"'God' is a force of law and construct. 'Demon' is a force of destruction and imbalance." He held his hand aloft, unable to elaborate more than that. She had seen him in action. Kouma knew nothing more than the explanations given to him and the proof that came from the realization that all he knew how to do was destroy everything around him.

[evil_groupie]

She nodded along and carefully weighed his words, at a loss to take any other method. The moment she had discovered his heritage, Potamos had thought Kouma for a comrade...possibly from a land in the demon realms she had not visited.

That was fast becoming a false hope. "I...hmmm."

A hand met her chin and the brain turned itself into overdrive. That doctrine, that dogma that painted his very blood and flesh in such a hard, undesirable light, could only be made for a handful of sane reasons.

"And...you dislike the destruction? The imbalance brought? You think it's unnecessary?" The tone of her voice dictated in how carefully she weighed Kouma's words. Potamos was, at least out of respect for his power, giving the demon hybrid every consideration, as she was fast drawing a conclusion.

[calmed_demon]

"My clan houses the thickest demonic blood of all current families."

Extending his arm, Kouma held it out at full length. He didn't create flames. Instead--Kouma raised the temperature around his limb enough to make the air waver and flicker, bending his image to the point that his arm looked broken. His tone was droll and even more lifeless than it usually was. Even a man who suppressed every bit of his emotion down to the bone couldn't avoid sounding a little morose in response to such a life.

"I don't dislike destruction, nor do I lament my fate in being born this way," The waves of bending air seemed to grow even more unstable. "Of all 'demons' my clan has housed, I am the most unstable. The most unstable, powerful creatures in hybrid clans are called 'Crimson Vermillion'. Anyone with such a title is fated to become a mindless beast--capable only of destruction and environmental tampering."

He closed his fist and the air cooled immediately. "Clans are bred in order to force production of as many heirs that will become 'Crimson Vermillion' as possible. However, even among thick blooded clans, I am feared. As I last checked--the only time I've ever been contacted by neighboring clans has been for the chance to use me for slaughter."

His bleeding heart? He's never met anyone willing to show him such a grave secret. Just as one releases 'anger' with a punch, Kouma understands that voicing 'reason' and 'grudges' can calm him down.

[evil_groupie]

To be frank, she was hypnotized a moment at that flicker. The hazy illusion was enough to draw Potamos with its intent, though it wasn't aimed at her in the slightest. Kouma was an interesting entity like that. Amazing, a killing machine that was bred for little more than slaughtering, yet had developed such a mind....

"I think I see, now," she hazarded, locking back with that single eye and mess of hair. "I guess it'd be natural to think like that when you're told incorrect information, y'know."

Because who would fear their own weapons? What kind of weak, pathetic clan was he a part of was something she couldn't help but wonder. One that apparently needed a lot of clearing out...if he had not already done so himself, anyway.

"Listen, that's not what a demon is, y'know," She regarded the man quite kindly, thinking it was best to try and chisel as much of that ill-bred dogma out of him as possible. Lucky him. "We aren't God's shadow, and we aren't his imperfect creations. Those creatures are just there--spoiling and hoping to eradicate us one day.

"It's kinda weird that a whole clan would teach that kind of thing--were you guys trapped on Earth, somehow?" That had to be the reason--it seemed more like human depreciation than a distorted demon pride.

[calmed_demon]

Giving himself the time to think, Kouma let his hand settle at his side, limp. There was no reason in his years of living by the rules of his clan and by the rules of hybrids in general for him to believe such odd and encouraging words right away. This woman wanted him to believe that he was a great and admirable creature simply because of what he was. That he was part of a breed that had more that it deserved than it was getting. She sounded vaguely like a revolutionary.

Kouma had every right to disagree. His father would have hissed curses at him. His mother would have done the same--if either were alive. Perhaps Hiromi was right. This woman knew that demons were being threatened, but she must not have realized the level of it. Thoughtlessly, Kouma continued. "I'm unsure what you mean by 'trapped on Earth'. We're spirits of the Earth."

Adding briefly, he felt his wall of knowledge collapse by a single, rigid beam. He was willing to fall for it, even if he knew it was unreasonable. "I understand what you mean. You may be too late, though. As it stands, after the slaughter of the Kishima--I'm the only hybrid of that line left."

[evil_groupie]

The devil girl tilted her head just slightly to this admission. "Slaughter? Did you do it?" It was a question asked with no hesitation. Her mind came naturally to the conclusion: weaklings are to be ruled over or exposed of. What he had told her of their years of attempting to control something stronger than themselves, it made sense to her mind. Yet she wanted the confirmation from his own lips--there was a chance, after all, that those demons had somehow fallen to humans. Potamos had heard of a few spiritually inclined humans from her short stay in Japan. Those who would fight and seal away demons on sight.

The other thought had her pausing to stretch casually, fully certain that this was no more threat. Kouma didn't acknowledge her as an obstacle--her feet, therefore, padded through the snow to close that delicate meter. She wanted to see him up close, after all. He was a devil in a flock of humans. One that was not on assignment from higher powers. That alone was enough to make the little scheming girl's millennium.

"And I think you've got it a bit wrong--I wasn't born on Earth, y'know. For your clan to be, they must have been separated from the demon realm quite some time ago."

[calmed_demon]

He stared at Hiromi in response, though there was a sliver of malice in his eyes. It was something said nonchalantly, but it was one of the things that he realized stunted his growth as a child. Every single day--Kouma was reminded, by being left absolutely alone, that he was dangerous simply because he breathed. The entire clan seemed to realize that if he slipped and turned into a monster, that he would have rubbed their mark off of the world forever.

It made sense, though. She was a true 'demon', after all. If she came from the mythical realm of 'evil', then she would be just as powerful as she showed him. He answered, mentally exhausted, unable to push his line of thought any further.

"No. A human wiped out my clan and took my eye with him."

[evil_groupie]

There were very few things that could have possibly shocked her into outright fear and disbelief at that moment. His words easily slid past Potamos's every defense and soundly turned her entire world on its ear.

"Human!?" Her shock wasn't hidden--every inch of her was visibly shaken. Not a clan of hunters, not angels summoned by humans. One human had laid waste to his entire branch of family and managed to wound him. Were she not something of an empath, she'd have gladly, desperately called him a liar. Yet, the sliver of hostility peeking over the well of Kouma's emotions...

It was true. Unholy gods it was true. Who would even have that kind of strength against demonkind?