The Wyvern under the Guillotine

Posts : 1940 Join date : 2012-08-03 Location : Las Vegas

Tatara was resting from her travels for the evening in a little town in the land of Paradox. Normally she'd sleep in the wild under the stars, but she felt like sleeping a real bed this time around. Every week or so she liked to spend the afternoon and evening in a town to rest up, get some supplies for the road, and hear any news about the state of the war. The war didn't concern her too much, it seemed it would go on no matter what, there wasn't anything she could do about it, but she still liked to know what was going on out there. It didn't seem like anything incredibly important had happened recently, although it was hard to say, as it took a while for a little town like the one she was in to hear word of the state of the world.

Tatara sat on a stool at the counter of a coffee shop, it was around 1 pm and a little chilly out. She took a sip of the drink that had just been brought out to her and then smiled. "Thank you, it's delightful." she said to the woman behind the counter who was eyeing Minerva cautiously, which was currently leaning against the wall next to Tatara's stool. Tatara watched as the woman went back to work and started working on a new coffee. Such was the day to day life of this woman it seemed. Work through the day and have some time for recreation towards the end of the day, which was half-assed recreation because after she got off work she was likely too tired to fully enjoy it. Civilian life seemed like such a bore. Some had it a little better, but for the most part there was very little difference between them. It saddened Tatara to think about how even what little happiness they had in life was loomed over by the troubles of the war. She sighed and took another sip of her coffee.

Posts : 3780 Join date : 2012-05-06

"It's not fair... We could have done it... It didn't have to end like that..." Arikiko's voice was soft to his own ears, almost far away, somewhere else in the waking world that he didn't want to inhabit, not just now at least. He didn't want to think about it but the memory came back, it clawed at the edges of his already frayed mind, trying to drive him deeper into the darkness but no... He wasn't like that anymore, was he? He had only vague recollections of the times before he broke free of Morghul's control, the blood that soaked his face as he fought without abandon, only wishing to kill and bleed and flay... It was all a haze though, as though it wasn't really him and just a thing he had seen somewhere else, a third person view almost. He was brought back to reality by a small, soft hand coming to rest on his shoulder.

Blue eyes met Arikiko's pink as he turned his head to look at the girl beside him. Her skin was pale but she was beautiful, white hair flowing down over her body and a tiny serene smile sat on her lips even as she tried to look forlorn and worried. Had it been Arikiko's own perception that made her like that? Or was it her own view on herself? "I'm sorry Chromia, I am lost in my own machinations once more, you know how I am."

"I know Arikiko, doesn't mean I can't be worried about you, that's all." He chuckled and nodded, lifting his left hand to her cheek as she exploded into little shards that turned to liquid and flowed through his pores into his arm, settling as Chromia's weapon form within his body. The odd feeling of wires shifting through his muscles and skin was certainly uncomfortable but he was used to it now... At least it wasn't painful. It was only then that he actually looked up and realised where he was, a little coffee house. With a quiet sigh the Vanir entered, his steps slow and measured as he went to the counter and took a seat, next to a pink-haired female, and then ordering a fruit tea. It took only moments for it to arrive and once it did, Arikiko lifted it to his lips and murmured to himself... "For the fallen, for the End..." Before taking a sip and enjoying the taste.

Posts : 1940 Join date : 2012-08-03 Location : Las Vegas

Tatara drank slowly, savoring the flavor of the coffee. She liked hers sweet, a lot of people drank black coffee in order to wake up or for a burst of energy or whatever, but she didn't like that. She had always enjoyed the taste and drank it as if it was a normal beverage. Tatara wondered where she would go after leaving this town on the morning. "Hmm what kind of weather am I in the mood for..." she thought as she leaned her head on her palm. She was enjoying the cold weather currently, so perhaps colder? Tatara didn't see why not, so it was decided then, come morning she would start heading north. Where to exactly? Didn't matter, as long as it was somewhere she hadn't been yet. Hopefully she wouldn't run into any blockades again. Last month it was fairly difficult explaining to the shogunate how exactly she found herself in a restricted training ground.

Someone came into the shop from behind Tatara and sat down on the stool next to her. She glanced at him momentarily, taking notice of his rather large axe. Seemed she wasn't the only merc in town. He seemed pretty deep in thought, and then out of no where he said something aloud. "Pardon sir?" she asked. Perhaps she had been looking at him longer than she thought and he noticed. Tatara looked away from him in an effort to make sure he wasn't uncomfortable under her gaze. She had a habit of being overly friendly with strangers, some of them didn't take too well to it. She was even quite friendly to those whom she was meeting to collect a bounty on, which had confused quite a few in the past. She believed everyone deserved the honor of dying in a fair fight, no matter their sins. She had committed plenty of her own, although she tried to stay on the path of righteousness when possible. Some things however just couldn't be solved through strict adherence to Kami's rules.

Posts : 3780 Join date : 2012-05-06

The fruit tea was surprisingly nice, he hadn't even asked for a particular flavour but he received cranberry which was nice, it had been a while since he'd tasted something quite so sweet. The darkness pulsed for a second but he pushed it away and only then realised that someone had spoken to him. How long had it been? Five seconds? Ten? Arikiko quickly shook his head and turned to his left, looking at the girl who was still looking at him, probably waiting for a reply... At least he knew who actually spoke to him. What had she said to him? Was she bothered by what he had said... Oh well, better safe than sorry. "Oh, my apologies! I was just talking to myself... Sometimes it's the only way to get a half decent conversation! Most of the time people either want to stab me up something awful or hire me to stab someone ELSE up! Have you ever tried stabbing someone with an axe? It's surprisingly difficult." He leaned in conspiratorially for the last sentence before chuckling to himself and taking a drink of his tea.

"I was making a little oath to myself though, it's usually done over alcohol but... Fruit tea works, doesn't it? I was making a promise that if I can stop my friends and allies from dying horribly then I will, even if it means killing the world's leaders or somehow stopping death." He smiled wistfully, hand closing tighter around the cup. Admittedly he was thankful that he didn't have adrenaline running through his body just now or else he would have shattered the cup. "I'm Arikiko by the way, generally known from my Academy days for murdering people as an Academy student... Bit grim, I know but I wasn't who I was now." His eyes, neon pink almost, seemed to flash at that, his grin turning wicked before falling to a smile again. "Who are you?"

Posts : 1940 Join date : 2012-08-03 Location : Las Vegas

The man turned to her and apologized, apparently he was talking to himself and explained why. Was he insane? He didn't particularly seem that way, but the way he talked was quite odd. Tatara couldn't hold back a light giggle. He was really humorous but in a morbid way. He was very different form everyday people which was enough to get her attention, after all, she liked new things. "I can imagine... If it alleviates anything whatsoever, I have no inclination to stab you, nor to have you stab someone else." she replied. He went on to explain what he had said meant, and it was quite odd sounding, but in an almost good way while still being morbid. One thing was for certain, it seemed he cared about his friends and allies. Tatara hadn't had either of those in a long time, not since the end of her tribe, and even then the people there were more like family than friends or allies.

"That seems like a perfectly pleasant oath. Alcohol or tea, its the thought that matters I suppose." she said. Tatara took another sip of her coffee. She wasn't a big fan of tea herself, the only time she drank it was back when she was younger and got a sore throat and her mother had told her to drink hot honey lemon tea to feel better. She hated the taste but it had gotten the job down the majority of the time. The man introduced himself as Arikiko alongside handing out a bit of information that she could have done without, but apparently he changed now, so that was good. Of course it wouldn't be a bad idea to be wary around him, Tatara was very aware of the fact that a large amount of missing nin weren't quite as upright as herself. Her attention returned to the conversation when he asked her for her name, to which she replied "I'm Tatara Alexandria Kukinorite. You may refer to me as Tatara, or Alex, but please refrain from calling me cookie, as the last man who did that may or may not be a man anymore. Also, I never went to the academy but it sounds quite like a drag."

Posts : 3780 Join date : 2012-05-06

"You don't want to stab me? And you don't want me to stab someone else?" He leaned in to the girl, closing one of his eyes over and staring at her with the other one, scanning over her for a moment. "Hm... Then what is it you want of me? Then again, I started talking to you didn't I? So maybe you don't want anything to do with me except a small chat and perhaps some exchange of information. I know some people and perhaps you know some people, there could in fact be much to learn!" He drained his cup of tea and placed it down on the counter in front of him, resting a few xel coins down beside it in order to pay for the tea. Taking a deep breath afterwards he turned around in his chair to face her, resting his elbows on his knees and his chin on his fists.

"Thoughts are important are they not? The one thing that separates us from the normal beasts. It's also the only place that some people can continue to exist, no?" He smiled to her, raising an eyebrow before looking down at the floor, staring at it intensely for a moment. "It's also the most terrifying place that we can imagine for it contains everything that we are, everything we might be, everything that we wish to hide away from the world..." Running his hand over his face he brushed his blue fringe out of the way before stroking his fingers through his hair, the strands falling lank afterwards. He needed a shower... He hadn't really been thinking about that sort of thing for a while, maybe a bath would be a good idea if he could find somewhere that would run him one. "Bathhouse... Hm..." He said out loud before a voice whispered into his head. "You need to be more careful with what you keep in your thoughts, silly..." At least she was still looking out for him.

"Bah! Sorry, let one of my thoughts slip out into the waking world, need to be careful with that sort of thing, yeah?" He chuckled and tilted his head to the side. After listening to her last thing about her name he finally spoke again. "...Cookie? Why would anyone call you coo-... Oh! Kukinorite, Kuki! That kind of makes sense now! I'll just call you Tara, nice and simple. You can come up with a fun nickname for me! Then we can talk about stuff and other such things... Or if you want to do something else that's fine..." He shook his head, opening his palms so that he could faceplant into his hands.

Posts : 1940 Join date : 2012-08-03 Location : Las Vegas

Tatara watched as he finished his tea and then changed his posture. He looked silly sitting next to Tatara, who's legs were crossed with her hands neatly placed in her lap and her back straight. "I do not have a large amount of information, but I've seen many lands far and wide, more than most people see in a lifetime, but that's probably the only subject I'm particularly knowledgeable on... other than combat of course." she said before gesturing towards Minerva which was still leaning against the wall. Arikiko began talking about thoughts and seemed to go really deep into the subject really quickly, and it was all out of no where. She wasn't quite sure how to respond and had to think about what he had said for a moment. After a pause she replied, saying "I think they are fascinating really, the complexity of our minds to be able to hold something that can best be described as a world within ourselves it amazing. It's quite unfortunate that some are too simpleminded to fully use it though."

"Bathhouse..."

"Oh you want to visit a bathhouse? My evening is otherwise unoccupied so I don't see why not. I've been on the road for a while so I wouldn't mind it myself." she said, completely oblivious to the awkwardness of going to a bathhouse with a stranger. "Umm... I'm not very good with that sort of thing." she said in reply to him asking her to come up with a nickname for him. Tara? She hadn't been called that before, her parents had always used Tatara, and friends tended to use Tatara as well, although a few called her Alex. "Tara works just fine." she said with a warm smile.

Posts : 3780 Join date : 2012-05-06

"Combat... Combat is something that I have been doing for a long time now, both as myself and not. That's an odd story though so we won't get into that. Although just looking at me that it's probably quite obvious that I am versed in fighting and killing." He gestured to the massive axe resting against the counter beside him, the black metal gleaming wickedly and backlit by the red leylines of energy that covered the massive weapon. "He's called Morghul, he's a pretty odd weapon, doesn't talk very much anymore after I broke free of his influence and he almost broke his own mind fighting against a being that could not be fought against. Thankfully he's still around." He flicked the blade of the axe, the massive executioner style edge flaring up for a second with the red light before fading away once more. "I have another weapon but... She happens to be quite shy, her name is Chromia." He moved his right hand over and tapped his left forearm, a few small wires sliding out of his skin and wrapping around his wrist, drawing taut for a second before finally freeing his limb from their grasp and flooding back into his arm, settling within his muscles once more.

He took a few moments to think though and let her talk. Was he talking too much? Was that a bother? He wasn't entirely sure.... Oh well, he would try and mitigate the amount that he spoke from now on! "Well I'm sure that there is a public bathhouse around here somewhere, there generally is or even a hotel with bathing facilities. If need be I could just go collect a bounty and throw money at someone for a bath. Look at me! Talking as if it's certain..." He smiled to her and scratching his chin for a moment. "You seem pretty friendly and trusting though... Which is good, too many people nowadays are scared to trust someone or even be nice, I'm not going to stab anyone without good reason after all... And you aren't worth enough to be a good reason otherwise I'd've heard of you." He winked at Tara after that before hopping to his feet and dusting his clothing down. "So then, want to go searching for a bathhouse?"

Posts : 1940 Join date : 2012-08-03 Location : Las Vegas

He? She? Arikiko spoke of his weapons as if they were people. It didn't really take Tatara long to understand what he was. "Ahh so you're a yoroi then? Fascinating race. Wait... two living weapons. That makes you a Vanir then? Quite rare you're kind. I'd question how you came to be transcended but others who have gone through such a thing don't seem to be particularly open about it." she said. "Your weapons are gorgeous though." she added with a kind smile towards Morghul. "Unfortunately Minerva here isn't of the living variety of weapons, but I like to believe she has a soul in there somewhere.". Minerva had been granted to Tatara by the head of her tribe long ago, and she had never parted with Minerva since then. The weapon was kind of like the last thing she had left of her tribe.

He complimented her on her friendliness, to which she smiled. "I don't worry I just live." she replied "Though if you did stab me it would hurt my feelings." she said with a playful frown. Oh bounties, that's right... there was a bounty on her head for being what she was and not under one of the worlds factions. Though said factions were too worried about each other currently to be too worried about hunting down missing nin. In time of war they were able to relax a bit more. So far Tatara had managed to keep her bounty fairly low, it was mainly because she didn't really engage in shenanigans, and the bounties she took were generally only criminals. Tatara finished her drink and put her payment on the counter before standing up and picking up Minerva. "Lead the way good sir." she replied, leaning Minerva on her shoulder.

Posts : 3780 Join date : 2012-05-06

The awakening... Arikiko's fingers dug into the counter for a moment, red bleeding into his irises as he fought to maintain control, to hold back the evil that threatened to overwhelm him. He raised a hand and dug the heel of his hand into his eye, gritting his teeth and then taking a deep breath before releasing it. "Transcendence is an odd thing, a dangerous thing. Every person takes to it differently and when you have more than one person... More than one being that might be affected, they all take it in different ways, some of them... Surprisingly dangerous." Arikiko tilted his head slightly, revealing the scar tissue at the base of his throat, looking almost like a set of fingers. He then cracked his neck and reached up, tapping the blade of Morghul. "Morghul may look pretty but he's a bit of a dick, Chromia as I said is nice..."

He held out his left hand, wires stretching out of his skin, wrapping around his hand and glittering softly. "This is Chromia, she is a series of wires that reside under my left arm... Or at least this is her true weapon form. She's got a couple of other weapon forms but they aren't used quite so often...." He shrugged and rubbed his head before wandering out of the cafe and scanning around. He then pointed in a random direction and started walking until he found a sign pointing him towards the bathhouse... And he then started to follow the signs, leading the way with occasional cartwheels and flips onto his hands, even walking on them sometimes... It seemed that he never wanted to do anything... Normally. "You know, life is a lot of fun if you make everything you do into a little game or a challenge. Like 'How many cartwheels can I do in ten seconds?' or 'How long can I balance on my pinkie?'." He let out a little giggle before reaching the entrance to the bathhouse and looking at Tara. "So then... What do you want to do? Sauna, bath perhaps? Maybe a massage, I think they do massages..." He scratched his chin, narrowing his eyes at the sign, convicting it of many crimes.

Spoiler:

Posts : 1940 Join date : 2012-08-03 Location : Las Vegas

Tatara listened with interest as he talked about the subject. He didn't have a lot to say about it, but any information was more than others had bothered to give her. She decided it would be best not to question him further, or about the scar, and followed along behind him. "You seem quite fond of Chromia, well both of your weapons really. It's good to see such nice relationships between you, you don't just view them as tools like some yoroi do." she observed. Tatara watched with amusement as he walked around like a circus clown. "The Inakamono would be jealous!" she said with a giggle. After a little bit they finally made their way to the bathhouse and found themselves at the sign. Tatara thought for a moment after he asked her what she wanted to do. "A bath sounds like a lovely place to start for now." she said as she held open the door for him. Usually she didn't spoil herself with things like massages and such, but perhaps today she would go out of her comfort zone a little bit and try to enjoy herself. After all what was the point of life if you didn't take a day to relax and enjoy yourself every once in a while?

Posts : 3780 Join date : 2012-05-06

"My weapons have saved my life many times and when something has a soul... Well it's as much a person as you or me." He smiled at Tatara whilst upside down before flipping off of his hands onto his feet and walking into the spa, looking around for a moment before rolling his shoulders and nodding. It would seem that, just by reading the surface emotions of his weapons, that both of them would like to come into the spa as well... Which meant that Arikiko would have to reveal one of his special techniques to Tatara, not that it bothered him, she was nice enough. So with that he held out his arms and smiled at Tara. "Now then let me show you some /real/ magic." And he flicked his left arm, his other hand reaching up and tossing Morghul into the air.

Two things happened simultaneously. The first of the two was that the flying axe started to glow a bright white before shattering into a million shards of white glass that formed together to reveal a figure that landed in a crouch. He rose up to his seven foot height, wrapping his arms over his chest. The figure appeared like a massive armoured warrior, black plate with deep silver, almost iron grey filigree. Vine like shapes and flowers wrapped around the edges of the armour plates although nothing could be seen between the plates. Two blue orbs stared out of the visor and the being then gave an elaborate bow. "Greetings to you, my lady, I am Morghul."

At the same time a thick black liquid dripped out of Arikiko's left hand, pooling on the ground before rising upwards to a petit five foot height and then bursting. The liquid turns to small shards of obsidian in the air before vanishing like smoke revealing a female. Long silver hair stretched from her head, a pair of bangs framing crimson eyes and snow-white skin. A long shift covered her body, flowing and soft and she gave a smile before nodding to Tatara. "Hello there! I'm Chromia." With that Arikiko chuckled softly and bowed to Tara. "Arikiko and Company, at your pleasure~!" With that he then brushed past the woman, his weapons following in order to actually talk to someone and pay for passes for the bath... Or however this worked...

Spoiler:

» Shinikaru the Wyvern(Meru)

Road Trip

With the first round of classes complete and the students already acclimated to life at the academy. The school has organized a field trip in order to give the students a taste of what …

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