[Crack Plot] "An alleluia echoes within the shadow of a collapsed dream "

[silvereyedphage]

Muraki has been a bit invisible for the past few weeks, digging in the esoteric section of the library and researching what might be called 'grey magic'. Something easier said than done: there's only a handful of books by Christian Day and Constantinos's style puts his teeth on edge: too "dark of the darkity dark darkness of the darkity dark dark

Comments

[shinraco]

Out for a walk, Rufus notices the tall man with the silvery hair and decides to follow him. More out of boredom than curiosity.

Silently, he watches, frowning to himself.

[silvereyedphage]

The path leads well under the trees, far enough from the house that one cannot be seen from the house, but not so deep into the woods that one is at risk of meeting any wildlife. The moonlight still filters through the branches, catching on the pale figure advancing up the path.

At length, the path opens into a clearing with a flat rock half-sunk in the ground in the middle. Around it, at a short distance, stand five small bonfires, which he approaches, carefully lighting each in turn.

[shinraco]

Glancing up, Rufus frowns at the colour of the moon before continuing to trail Muraki. He may be without his Turks but he's not afraid to be alone; he can take care of himself and he's quiet enough that he thinks he won't be spotted until he wants to be.

[silvereyedphage]

Muraki is focused, humming a simple chant under his breath as he mounts the stone table, setting down the satchel and opening it, taking out first a small portable altar and setting on it a pair candleholders with candles, an incense burner with incense, a ceramic cup and a flask, then a sheathed switchblade knife, and a length of black fabric. Next he takes out five more candleholders and a thick piece of chalk. With the latter, he sets to work tracing a large pentagram (right side up for a change) on the stone, setting the candle holders inside the points of the star.

[in_summer_leaf]

Hisoka is at his boatbuilding shed, chalking out the dimensions of his next watercraft project (a rowboat), on the wooden floor, and setting up the wood and steel jig that will hold the boat as he builds it. He has a thermos of coffee with him, and he takes a break after the sun is well down, hitching his katana to his shoulder harness. As he steps outside, cup in hand, his eyes are drawn to the rising moon -- which is blood red.

He stands unnaturally still on the doorstep. His heart begins to speed and then to pound. He sets the cup down, bangs the door shut and padlocks it, and starts into the forest. He heads downhill towards the lake. His shinigami nature begins to manifest; he can tell this because his tracking senses are suddenly wide open, alert and strong.

[silvereyedphage]

He might see the moonlight glowing on something pale on the lakeshore, something gliding along the edge of the water. It's likely indistinct, given the mist rising off the lake, but it's clearly a tall, slender figure, its movements slow and graceful. There's likely an illusion that it's hovering along the edge of the water.

It hasn't turned toward him yet: in the quiet after the ritual, Muraki is meditating, reordering what energies he's absorbed in the process.

[in_summer_leaf]

Hisoka sees a slender white figure in the mist, and as he draws nearer, it becomes clear that it is Muraki, who is strangely dressed in what appears to be a burial garment. He stops where he is and watches for a moment. For all its strangeness, the atmosphere is quiet and peaceful, and Hisoka feels, almost, that he should not interrupt. But he speaks, softly. "Muraki?"

[silvereyedphage]

For a moment, Muraki does not move, as if he might be unaware of the young man's presence, or he might be ignoring him. At length, he turns his head to look at him, his gaze somehow at the same time intent and distant.

"Does it bother you, the red moon?" he asks, his voice a thoughtful murmur.

[survivingson]

Brett hasn't quite settled to Mansion life yet; he's spending most of his time on four feet out in the woods, trying to find the way he got here and having little success. It's while he's out and about doing just that that he encounters the man moving alone into the woods at night; he smells strange, he feels stranger, and it's an odd enough sight that Brett takes the time to try to follow him and see what will happen. Key word there is try: he loses him shortly, and then shortly after that the moon has gone red. Panicking, the young werewolf heads back up to the Mansion and shifts back to his human form, but is still lingering outside on the porch, just watching. Probably for the man to come back.

[daddyissuesjnr]

Melou was relaxing out on the porch, then the moon went red, and now he's standing by the railing, trying to look nonchalant and pretend he doesn't find this incredibly unnerving. He's not doing a very good job of it. He keeps glancing warily at the sky, and every so often he glances around to see if there's anyone, or anything, nearby.

He's not entirely sure what he should do. If he should stay out here, go back inside, or what.

[silvereyedphage]

He might spy something pale gliding along the edge of the pond, something tall and slender, dressed in white, though given the strange moonlight, it almost looks as though it's covered in blood. It likely looks like something spectral his way coming....

[daddyissuesjnr]

Melou stiffens and grips the railing. He's just going to watch whatever it is, for now, but he's ready to run or draw his sword if he has to.

[silvereyedphage]

The pale figure pauses, turning toward him, one eye obscured by it's pale mane of hair. It doesn't move, but it's gaze is piercing, intent and fixed yet at the same time distant and thoughtful.

[drownedfuchsia]

Fuchsia is anything but calm about the moon and in an act of great sense -- which means none at all -- she heads outside, as if, for some reason, through sheer power of will, she can change it back.

Missed this one somehow. Sorry about that >.<

[silvereyedphage]

If she's on the porch, she might hear the sound of someone sighing a bit, and if she looks in the direction of the sound, she'll spy Muraki, sitting on a porch swing, clad in a quilted grey silk dressing gown over white flannel pyjamas, sipping from a steaming cup of tea. Despite the weird moonlight, he seems perfectly at ease.

Re: Missed this one somehow. Sorry about that >.<

[drownedfuchsia]

"The moon is wrong!" Fuchsia's upset has overcome her sometimes manners.

As for her -- she's in nightgown. A dressing gown, in her panic, is beyond her.

Re: Missed this one somehow. Sorry about that >.<

[silvereyedphage]

He looks up at it. "Mmm, from an astronomical view, it really isn't: it's a purely normal-looking full lunar eclipse," he says, calmly. "But the timing is strange, and it usually doesn't last this long."