Through the forest to the castle
Who: Ruka, Karasu, Ani Toguro
Where: Forest, Leap Castle
When: Evening
Summary: The trio arrives to the castle
The miniature shapeshifter treaded calmly, almost prancing with the Victorian doll sitting on one of his arms. "Well Karasu-kun, guide us!" he proposed eying one of the market posts at the end of the street.
Karasu eyed the minute leader with narrowed eyes, flipping the map before his face loudly to block out the other's grating voice. A quick scan before one long arm pointed upwards. "this way..."
Ruka glanced to the direction he pointed to. "..ok..." she murmured. "...and...if you don't mind me asking, exactly how far are we from this...castle?" she questioned.
"I'm sure we are closer to the castle than what your clothes are to being socially decent" he chimed and looked down at Miss Edith with beady yellow eyes. "We'll get there soon and you'll play with them"
The stately crow ignored their bickering, merely snorting once through the mask he wore to show his displeasure. Eyes fell to the map once more, scanning it thoughtfully. "There will be a fork in the road up ahead...to the left will be a forest...we'll take that route. The right leads to the next village." he said simply.
"..and the forest leads us to the castle..?" Ruka asked. She was clearly annoyed with walking, and the fact that she had to walk through a forest was annoying her even more.
Unless Karasu wants to take uf for a ride then... we'll get there." The shapeshifter stated as if the whole idea was amusing, always grinning and glanced down at Miss Edith. "There are creepy things in the forest aside the leader"
"It could be worse, Ruka...remember that...?" He said simply, turning to glance over his shoulder at the redhead meaningfully before continuing onwards. The thought of carrying them was not even answered.
Ruka pondered on that thought and gave a small nod. "...you have a point..." Glancing towards Ani, she gave a questioning look. "...creepy..things....in the forest...?" she asked.
"Of course! You have one ahead, but there will be more. Perhaps one or two" The demon shrugged and continued to follow. "The woods in this area of the ningenkai are filled with little critters"
"Don't listen to him, Ruka. The three of us will be more than capable of defense...in the event anything is...foolish enough to play with us."
Ruka also continued to follow, nodding at Karasu's comment. "....yes..."
The woods were quite fine for his taste, dark, humid and silent. If you didn't count the random owls of the evening. "It looks like if anything could pop out from the bushes. Maybe spiders."
"Spiders of the ningenkai are hardly threatening to us...hardly amusing either..." he murmured, glancing back once at Aniki before continuing forward, glancing to the map once or twice.
"..spiders.." Ruka said. "...those eight-legged things? Eh...they aren't frightening...I don't see why some ningens are terrified of them..." she wondered, looking around to see if there were some crawling around.
"They are lofty. And twitch when you rip their legs. But they are resistant. Enduring toys. Unlike humans." He shrugged and glanced at Karasu's back "Nothing is creepy enough to scare Karasu. Maybe oto-kun after bath tho."
Both you and your brother work well enough as deterrents, Aniki." he replied with an annoyed glance over his shoulder.
Ruka snickered quietly to herself and looked away, a small hint of amusement in her eyes.
The shapeshifter snickered "Until the day you can beat us, Karasu-kun". Beady yellow eyes glanced around at the forest, hoping to find a squirrel or a raccoon. Anything small and furry.
Eyes narrowed, straightening his spine as he continued walking, giving no answer. Surely enough though he had heard those words...and as always they struck a raw chord.
The enchantress remained silent, knowing it wasn't her place to butt in. Crossing her arms, she kept her pace, eying the trees and any other thing that looked interesting.
It was growing dark, and most ofthe furries were already safe in their burrows. So Ani shoved his hand in the pocket of his cloak and took out a disgusting lump of flesh and blue feathers. A bird mangled beyond recognition. "Always good to save for the future." But ahead the forest came to a clearing, a glade.
The darkness didn't bother the Crow, leading the way confidently, eyes glitteirng with the faint sheen of nightshine most predators posessed. Now and then he would glance back but upon reaching that clearing he paused, letting them catch up
Arms still crossed over her chest, Ruka walked up next to Karasu, looking over the clearing. "...so now what? Where are we now?"
"Hmmm" Yellow eyes glanced up, to the large tower looming in the distance, behind a ghostly curtain of mist. "Is that our destination, Karasu-kun?"
"I do believe so...." he breathed, peering outward at the tower visible faintly through the mist, a smile forming on unseen lips. "Mmm...indeed..."
A look of relief was painted on the enchantress's face as she eyed the tower Ani had spoken about. "...finally..." she mumbled quietly.
"Its so big and castle-y! We'll take weeks to find a small shard in there. We'll be together!" Ani said directing the last sentence to Miss Edith as he looked at the doll in his arm.
What joy. Surely the Crow looked elated! In that wholly unimpressed fashion.
Ruka sweatdropped at Ani's eagerness, and shook her head when he spoke to Miss Edith. ".....oh boy..."
"Well! The faster we arrive the more time we'll spend together between four walls." He took some steps ahead folding his arms behind him., under the long wavy hair. Miss Edith had vanished.
Karasu chose to let Aniki go first, hanging back for a moment, wondering where the damned doll had gotten to. Uneasily he followed, sparing a glance to Ruka before turning his gaze forward.
Sighing softly, Ruka followed after, officially creeped out by Ani's eagerness...and the sudden disappearance of Miss Edith. Not even wanting to know where the doll went, she shook her head and kept walking.
He kept walking noticing the two others had chosen to slow down. Ah well, it was their choice, not that they could prevent the whole quest from stopping. Time passed as they continued advancing and the curtain of mist progressively dissipated, until they found themselves before the large wooden door.
"How...quaint. I wonder how many humans we will find within...." Eyes gleamed for a moment, unseen lips forming a smirk at the prospect of some fun. He doubted there would be much else with Aniki around.
"..does anyone even live here anymore?" she asked, looking up as much as she could. She then brought her gaze back to the door, wondering if there was even an answer to her question.
"I suppose there must be a warden or something like that. Nothing we can't kill and mangle." Ani shrugged nonchalantly. "Shall we knock? Or make our own door"
"Perhaps...the shapeshifter should go first....?" he offered with a soft chuckle
Ruka gave an amused smile and nodded. "I don't think he'll mind..."
"Don't worry littel whelps, I'll face the ningens on my own." Ani chimed blatantly enjoying the idea. His body started melting, losing all shape until it was a puddle of hair and flesh in the ground, which slid under the door vanishing from sight.
It never ceased to make him shudder, if only a little at how the other morphed himself. Turning away as the other slid away he glanced to Ruka, arching a brow.
A disgusted look overcame Ruka as she watched Ani morph himself into a puddle and trickle himself under the door. Shaking herself from her disgusted look, she glanced over and noticed Karasu's eyes on her. "...what?"
Whatever sound had filled the castle quieted ominously. Perhaps some dreadful screams and noises a complete corpse could never do, all mixed with an amused cackle echoing insanely. The sound of bone and sinew.
"My apologies..." he paused for a moment at the noise before continuing. "Mmm...as I was saying, my dear. I have a bad habit of...studying...people."
It was now Ruka's turn to raise an eyebrow. "...studying people?" she repeated in a questioning manner. The noises hadn't bothered her one bit, and she firmly kept her gaze on him.
"It's become...a lot harder to indulge in other...passions...interests....whatever you wish to...refer to it as." he explained, ever polite, ever quiet, eyes glinting with amusement all the same.
"...and..why is that? If..you don't mind me asking..." she questioned again, curiosity filling her eyes.
"Murder is frowned on here...and harder to achieve without repercussions..." he murmured fondly.
"Ah.." she said with a small nod, understanding what he had said. "I see...it must be...difficult to go by in this world with that knowledge..." she wondered, glancing to him again, tilting her head to the side.
"I take my amusements elsewhere...culture....learning....biding my time..." he said simply, glancing once, hatefully towards the door before that mask slid over his eyes, keeping out too much emotion.
"..I see..." she replied softly, looking away, her arms still crossed over her chest.
"Come...." he said after a time, tearing his eyes away. "Let us go inside...find our...wayward aniki...."
The enchantress nodded in agreement. "..yes. A good idea..."
The shapeshifter was waiting inside, standing in the middle of a large hall, the walls and tapestries smeared with blood and corpses randomly scattered around the chamber. "Well, that was nice to begin with"
"Well...I can see that you had your amusements." he murmured, eying the other, shorter male for a moment before moving to investigate the corpses.
Ruka silently eyed the corpses, amused at how...entertained Ani was for killing the inhabitants of the castle.
"We can now look for the shard, shall we?" The demon grinned licking the blood from the tip of his nail. "Until that happens this will be our residence, ne?"
"Well then I suggest...you put your toys in your room...whichever you choose...I wonder if this place is...civilized..."
"..we'll never know until we find out..." she murmured, eying the ceiling before looking back to the corpses.
"Duh, Karasu should clean my mess, but today I'm feeling giddy so I'll take care of them later. I'll get a room surely! We could even share one"
".....I'll take my solitude instead." he said shortly, politely still, if cold. Eyes fell to Ruka as if to tell her to get used to this banter, it would happen often.
"..no thank you...I'll.....get one for myself..." she replied, sighing softly. It was going to take her a while to get used to this..she knew it...
"Oh whelps you are so un-amusing..." Ani shrugged and looked at a lateral corridor. "Maybe that takes to the rooms, or the kitchen! Its a shame we wont have servants."
Karasu eyed the corridor, nodding slowly. "Mmm...likely to the kitchens...rooms for sleeping....those would be upstairs...most likely, at least..."
Ruka silently eyed the area, wondering where each direction led. "...perhaps we should look for those rooms now.." she suggested, looking up slightly.
"Splendid!" The demon chimed and turned on his own. "We'll look for the shard then, this place is not very little. Until later" he snickered as if he was up to something.
Karasu turned away from them quietly and stalked across the hall and towards the stairwell, deciding to find a fortified room first and foremost.
Where: Forest, Leap Castle
When: Evening
Summary: The trio arrives to the castle
The miniature shapeshifter treaded calmly, almost prancing with the Victorian doll sitting on one of his arms. "Well Karasu-kun, guide us!" he proposed eying one of the market posts at the end of the street.
Karasu eyed the minute leader with narrowed eyes, flipping the map before his face loudly to block out the other's grating voice. A quick scan before one long arm pointed upwards. "this way..."
Ruka glanced to the direction he pointed to. "..ok..." she murmured. "...and...if you don't mind me asking, exactly how far are we from this...castle?" she questioned.
"I'm sure we are closer to the castle than what your clothes are to being socially decent" he chimed and looked down at Miss Edith with beady yellow eyes. "We'll get there soon and you'll play with them"
The stately crow ignored their bickering, merely snorting once through the mask he wore to show his displeasure. Eyes fell to the map once more, scanning it thoughtfully. "There will be a fork in the road up ahead...to the left will be a forest...we'll take that route. The right leads to the next village." he said simply.
"..and the forest leads us to the castle..?" Ruka asked. She was clearly annoyed with walking, and the fact that she had to walk through a forest was annoying her even more.
Unless Karasu wants to take uf for a ride then... we'll get there." The shapeshifter stated as if the whole idea was amusing, always grinning and glanced down at Miss Edith. "There are creepy things in the forest aside the leader"
"It could be worse, Ruka...remember that...?" He said simply, turning to glance over his shoulder at the redhead meaningfully before continuing onwards. The thought of carrying them was not even answered.
Ruka pondered on that thought and gave a small nod. "...you have a point..." Glancing towards Ani, she gave a questioning look. "...creepy..things....in the forest...?" she asked.
"Of course! You have one ahead, but there will be more. Perhaps one or two" The demon shrugged and continued to follow. "The woods in this area of the ningenkai are filled with little critters"
"Don't listen to him, Ruka. The three of us will be more than capable of defense...in the event anything is...foolish enough to play with us."
Ruka also continued to follow, nodding at Karasu's comment. "....yes..."
The woods were quite fine for his taste, dark, humid and silent. If you didn't count the random owls of the evening. "It looks like if anything could pop out from the bushes. Maybe spiders."
"Spiders of the ningenkai are hardly threatening to us...hardly amusing either..." he murmured, glancing back once at Aniki before continuing forward, glancing to the map once or twice.
"..spiders.." Ruka said. "...those eight-legged things? Eh...they aren't frightening...I don't see why some ningens are terrified of them..." she wondered, looking around to see if there were some crawling around.
"They are lofty. And twitch when you rip their legs. But they are resistant. Enduring toys. Unlike humans." He shrugged and glanced at Karasu's back "Nothing is creepy enough to scare Karasu. Maybe oto-kun after bath tho."
Both you and your brother work well enough as deterrents, Aniki." he replied with an annoyed glance over his shoulder.
Ruka snickered quietly to herself and looked away, a small hint of amusement in her eyes.
The shapeshifter snickered "Until the day you can beat us, Karasu-kun". Beady yellow eyes glanced around at the forest, hoping to find a squirrel or a raccoon. Anything small and furry.
Eyes narrowed, straightening his spine as he continued walking, giving no answer. Surely enough though he had heard those words...and as always they struck a raw chord.
The enchantress remained silent, knowing it wasn't her place to butt in. Crossing her arms, she kept her pace, eying the trees and any other thing that looked interesting.
It was growing dark, and most ofthe furries were already safe in their burrows. So Ani shoved his hand in the pocket of his cloak and took out a disgusting lump of flesh and blue feathers. A bird mangled beyond recognition. "Always good to save for the future." But ahead the forest came to a clearing, a glade.
The darkness didn't bother the Crow, leading the way confidently, eyes glitteirng with the faint sheen of nightshine most predators posessed. Now and then he would glance back but upon reaching that clearing he paused, letting them catch up
Arms still crossed over her chest, Ruka walked up next to Karasu, looking over the clearing. "...so now what? Where are we now?"
"Hmmm" Yellow eyes glanced up, to the large tower looming in the distance, behind a ghostly curtain of mist. "Is that our destination, Karasu-kun?"
"I do believe so...." he breathed, peering outward at the tower visible faintly through the mist, a smile forming on unseen lips. "Mmm...indeed..."
A look of relief was painted on the enchantress's face as she eyed the tower Ani had spoken about. "...finally..." she mumbled quietly.
"Its so big and castle-y! We'll take weeks to find a small shard in there. We'll be together!" Ani said directing the last sentence to Miss Edith as he looked at the doll in his arm.
What joy. Surely the Crow looked elated! In that wholly unimpressed fashion.
Ruka sweatdropped at Ani's eagerness, and shook her head when he spoke to Miss Edith. ".....oh boy..."
"Well! The faster we arrive the more time we'll spend together between four walls." He took some steps ahead folding his arms behind him., under the long wavy hair. Miss Edith had vanished.
Karasu chose to let Aniki go first, hanging back for a moment, wondering where the damned doll had gotten to. Uneasily he followed, sparing a glance to Ruka before turning his gaze forward.
Sighing softly, Ruka followed after, officially creeped out by Ani's eagerness...and the sudden disappearance of Miss Edith. Not even wanting to know where the doll went, she shook her head and kept walking.
He kept walking noticing the two others had chosen to slow down. Ah well, it was their choice, not that they could prevent the whole quest from stopping. Time passed as they continued advancing and the curtain of mist progressively dissipated, until they found themselves before the large wooden door.
"How...quaint. I wonder how many humans we will find within...." Eyes gleamed for a moment, unseen lips forming a smirk at the prospect of some fun. He doubted there would be much else with Aniki around.
"..does anyone even live here anymore?" she asked, looking up as much as she could. She then brought her gaze back to the door, wondering if there was even an answer to her question.
"I suppose there must be a warden or something like that. Nothing we can't kill and mangle." Ani shrugged nonchalantly. "Shall we knock? Or make our own door"
"Perhaps...the shapeshifter should go first....?" he offered with a soft chuckle
Ruka gave an amused smile and nodded. "I don't think he'll mind..."
"Don't worry littel whelps, I'll face the ningens on my own." Ani chimed blatantly enjoying the idea. His body started melting, losing all shape until it was a puddle of hair and flesh in the ground, which slid under the door vanishing from sight.
It never ceased to make him shudder, if only a little at how the other morphed himself. Turning away as the other slid away he glanced to Ruka, arching a brow.
A disgusted look overcame Ruka as she watched Ani morph himself into a puddle and trickle himself under the door. Shaking herself from her disgusted look, she glanced over and noticed Karasu's eyes on her. "...what?"
Whatever sound had filled the castle quieted ominously. Perhaps some dreadful screams and noises a complete corpse could never do, all mixed with an amused cackle echoing insanely. The sound of bone and sinew.
"My apologies..." he paused for a moment at the noise before continuing. "Mmm...as I was saying, my dear. I have a bad habit of...studying...people."
It was now Ruka's turn to raise an eyebrow. "...studying people?" she repeated in a questioning manner. The noises hadn't bothered her one bit, and she firmly kept her gaze on him.
"It's become...a lot harder to indulge in other...passions...interests....whatever you wish to...refer to it as." he explained, ever polite, ever quiet, eyes glinting with amusement all the same.
"...and..why is that? If..you don't mind me asking..." she questioned again, curiosity filling her eyes.
"Murder is frowned on here...and harder to achieve without repercussions..." he murmured fondly.
"Ah.." she said with a small nod, understanding what he had said. "I see...it must be...difficult to go by in this world with that knowledge..." she wondered, glancing to him again, tilting her head to the side.
"I take my amusements elsewhere...culture....learning....biding my time..." he said simply, glancing once, hatefully towards the door before that mask slid over his eyes, keeping out too much emotion.
"..I see..." she replied softly, looking away, her arms still crossed over her chest.
"Come...." he said after a time, tearing his eyes away. "Let us go inside...find our...wayward aniki...."
The enchantress nodded in agreement. "..yes. A good idea..."
The shapeshifter was waiting inside, standing in the middle of a large hall, the walls and tapestries smeared with blood and corpses randomly scattered around the chamber. "Well, that was nice to begin with"
"Well...I can see that you had your amusements." he murmured, eying the other, shorter male for a moment before moving to investigate the corpses.
Ruka silently eyed the corpses, amused at how...entertained Ani was for killing the inhabitants of the castle.
"We can now look for the shard, shall we?" The demon grinned licking the blood from the tip of his nail. "Until that happens this will be our residence, ne?"
"Well then I suggest...you put your toys in your room...whichever you choose...I wonder if this place is...civilized..."
"..we'll never know until we find out..." she murmured, eying the ceiling before looking back to the corpses.
"Duh, Karasu should clean my mess, but today I'm feeling giddy so I'll take care of them later. I'll get a room surely! We could even share one"
".....I'll take my solitude instead." he said shortly, politely still, if cold. Eyes fell to Ruka as if to tell her to get used to this banter, it would happen often.
"..no thank you...I'll.....get one for myself..." she replied, sighing softly. It was going to take her a while to get used to this..she knew it...
"Oh whelps you are so un-amusing..." Ani shrugged and looked at a lateral corridor. "Maybe that takes to the rooms, or the kitchen! Its a shame we wont have servants."
Karasu eyed the corridor, nodding slowly. "Mmm...likely to the kitchens...rooms for sleeping....those would be upstairs...most likely, at least..."
Ruka silently eyed the area, wondering where each direction led. "...perhaps we should look for those rooms now.." she suggested, looking up slightly.
"Splendid!" The demon chimed and turned on his own. "We'll look for the shard then, this place is not very little. Until later" he snickered as if he was up to something.
Karasu turned away from them quietly and stalked across the hall and towards the stairwell, deciding to find a fortified room first and foremost.