(Untitled)

[tall_dark_and]

There is one Riku, outside the bar, sitting at the lakeside. His shoes are off and his pantslegs are rolled up, his feet in the water. His eyes are closed and he seems to be reflecting on something.

But even if he's thinking a lot about something, he wouldn't be opposed to company. It'd probably be a lot better than his thoughts.

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[mogget_cat]

Here's someone Riku wouldn't want to see, even if he could.

He smells of blood and fire and ashes, and makes no sound as he crosses the grassy area beyond the lakeshore. The demon bunnies have found the weakest of their population culled yet again, tonight.

[tall_dark_and]

The most powerful scent in the air is the blood, and this is a fact that makes Riku extremely wary. His eyes open and he's on his feet within seconds, his body forgetting to stumble over his lack of sight in the face of possible danger.

"Who's there?" he asks, his voice loud and sharp. He's not really used to dealing with a blank sense, yet, and Yrael is still a fair distance away, which means that the little details below the blood and fire aren't apparent yet. Not of an identity, and not of the mood of the person wearing these scents, either. In a moment, probably so.

But not just yet.

[mogget_cat]

He doesn't answer, nor does he move closer. He sits and begins to wash the blood from his fur.

It mats the fur if you let it dry, and that's a lot of blood.

[tall_dark_and]

"If you're trying to freak me out by not answering," Riku says, "That's not going to work." Even though it actually is, uh, unsettling him. "I don't have a reason to be scared of anything."

[mogget_cat]

Uh-huh.

He takes his time. It's a long silence.

Then, after what might seem like an eternity, the pebbles and sand that line the thin shore area can be heard to shift slightly under light steps.

[tall_dark_and]

Riku's entire body is taunt with tightened muscles, and he's frozen in place as he tries to assess exactly what's going on. He sniffs the air again, concentrating on it, trying to find the elements that he's missing - listens closer, trying to place the weight and distance of this being.

Finally, it clicks, but only in a way that he's not really sure of it. It's only a guess, and somehow that makes him even more disoriented than before.

"Shove off," he growls, assuming that his guess is right that this is Yrael. "I don't need you coming around."

[mogget_cat]

Pebbles shift as someone takes a surprised step back. A young voice says, apologetically, from behind him, "Oh! I'm sorry, sir. I didn't know I was bothering you."

[tall_dark_and]

Riku twists around, momentarily confused, as he tries to make sense of this new addition to the circumstances. "You - " he starts, and his voice cracks, something it hasn't done since the advent of puberty. " - what the hell is going on?"

There's a buzz of curiousity in the back of his head, but he represses it. It's not his own, and it doesn't belong there.

[mogget_cat]

"I-" the boy, for the voice sounds no older than seven, "I'd just been hunting, sir. There were these strange looking rabbits in th'woods, but I thought they'd make a nice stew for when I got home..."

"...but this... doesn't look like home at all, sir," he sounds confused and the first little tendrils of worry are creeping into his voice.

[tall_dark_and]

"Yeah, because you're not home, you're -- " Riku trails off. He's still suspicious of this, and his brow furrows. He can't make sense of any of this at all. "Did you see anyone else out there? Maybe someone stupid and suspicious?"

[mogget_cat]

Only you, Riku, Yrael doesn't say.

"No?" the boy says, sounding worried. "Should I have? I didn't see anyone out there, no. There was a cat that stole one of my rabbits before I could get to it, but I didn't see anyone wandering about."

[tall_dark_and]

"How were you even hunting these rabbits?" Riku asks, suspiciously. He almost grabs onto the mention of 'cat', almost - but something inside of him nudges to ask this, instead.

[mogget_cat]

"I win the archery tourney every year in my village!" the boy says, a note of pride coloring his voice. "...in my age group, at least."

[tall_dark_and]

"Archery?" Riku raises an eyebrow. He reachs out with his hand, trying to grab onto the boy's shirt, onto whatever expanse of cloth he can find. "That's not a tactile form of hunting. So why do you smell like blood?"

[mogget_cat]

The boy makes a small sound of alarm as Riku grabs his shirt.

"I-I had to retrieve the arrows and carry the rabbits, sir! I'm not that great a shot, so some of them weren't clean kills... I hid them up a tree, when I saw this wasn't home- I'm sorry- I don't even know where I am, sir!"

The voice is a young boy's, rapidly filling with unease and growing fear. A young kid's out helping with providing supper and suddenly finds himself in a strange place, being grabbed by strange older boys and being accused of doing something that he had been told by his mother to do. You'd be frightened, too.

[tall_dark_and]

Riku growls a little, under his breath. The longer this goes on, the greater the unease inside of him grows, and it feels as if he's being pushed in two different directions. The grip on what he feels himself to be is slipping, and he can't even keep a straight hold for this possible child.

"Go away," he says darkly, prying his hand off of the cloth. "Now."