[RP]Obake Blade

[Rogue Nine]

"She may have just put her foot in her mouth for the millionth time, but I'm not going to let her get away with it this time," Carwyn said, surprising himself with how pushy he'd suddenly become. He kept his eyes focused on her. "My question still stands."

[JasraLantill]

Maybe it was the ale she had consumed that evening, or maybe it was the tone of Carwyn's voice, but Aya's jaw set in response to his challenge. "You want an answer?" she asked, rising from her chair and moving towards him. "Fine." And with that, she took his face in her hands and kissed him hard on the lips.

 

"There," she said, with some finality, although she didn't move away. "Satisfied?"

[Rogue Nine]

Carwyn had always prided himself on always being alert and not letting anything take him by surprise, which was required in his line of work. But he had never encountered something like this before, so it was an incredible shock to him when Aya had gotten up, grabbed his head and kissed him. All cogent thought left his mind as his lips locked with hers and for a few blissful moments, he closed his eyes forgot everything around him. Then it ended, spiraling him back into reality as she pulled away. He opened his eyes and looked into Aya's, which were still mere inches from his.

 

"There," she said, with some finality, although she didn't move away. "Satisfied?"

 

Part of Carwyn's mind, the part he usually kept locked away, screamed "No!" in response to Aya's question Another part of his mind, the calm, logical part, said, "Everyone's watching. Figure this out later. Just don't say anything stupid, for all our sakes."

 

Carwyn blinked a few times. Aya was still holding his face, her hands warm, almost hot against his skin. She stared at him, expecting an answer. "Maybe," he replied, a hitch in his voice.

 

By the gods, if I'm lying in a ditch somewhere in a puddle of filth right now, I'm doing one hell of a job hallucinating that I'm not.

[JasraLantill]

"Maybe?" Aya let out a frustrated sigh. "So, what are you saying? No firey, life-reviving qualities in my kiss then?" She looked askance at Kyo and the others, then she kissed Carwyn again, just to make her point, any embarrassment now long passed. "See? Nothing special about me or my lips."

[ForceFightWMe12]

"That's because he wasn't dying and you weren't desperate." Kyo said, putting an arm between the merchant and ranger, shaking his head faintly and urging Aya back. In response to her heated look, he gave her a glare that seemed to say 'there are people here.' Once they were a decent distance appart, he continued.

 

"Strange and ancient magic has been at work all night." he said with a sigh, running a hand through his still-damp hair. He looked as if he were trying to sort things out as he spoke. "This...bone dragon. As far as I know, it was the last of its kind left on Earth - not one of them has been seen since the time of Obakenare in the Sunless Age. They're ghost-creatures - if any are truely left, they're locked up tight behind the Gate in the Kuro Realm. Something must have caused this one to go into some sort of hibernation or something of the sort. That also means that something had to have woken it up.

 

"But this kiss that you...supposedly shared with Toa, Miss Aya..." he shrugged off the glare she gave him, "It's proven that Toa's dragon was feeding off his soul - seeing as he was, technically, dead. The fight went on for quite a long time, and any of you out there," he looked to Carwyn and Kai, "Could testify that the fire dragon grew weaker as time went on, eventually becoming so weak that it could hardly fight. That indicates that Toa's soul was fading.

 

"But then came something unexpected. A kiss and the powers of a miko." he looked at Aya now as he continued, "You saw Toa dying, and there was nothing you could do. In your desperation, your instincts took over. My guess would be that this...kiss, was quite literally the kiss of life. Through the contact, you were able to use your powers to sustain, regenerate, and revive Toa's soul. Only...well, you don't remember, because the strain of using the power was unexpected, and you weren't able to handle it, causing you to pass out shortly after."

[Rogue Nine]

"See? Nothing special about me or my lips."

 

Carwyn had a vehement disagreement ready as a response, but was stopped from stating it by Kyo, who stepped between Carwyn and Aya, pushing the merchant back. Aya shot Kyo a scathing look and for a moment, Carwyn was inclined to do the same, but thought better of it as his mind restarted itself from its blissful haze.

 

Kyo was speaking, extrapolating on his ideas on ideas about what had happened in the fight with the bone dragon. "The fight went on for quite a long time, and any of you out there could testify that the fire dragon grew weaker as time went on, eventually becoming so weak that it could hardly fight. That indicates that Toa's soul was fading."

 

Carwyn nodded at this, as he remembered the flame dragon losing form and strength during the battle. Kyo then explained the kiss between Toa and Aya, which caused the ranger to arch an eyebrow. "So," he started, trying to keep his voice even, "you're saying that Aya has some sort of special life-giving power and she used it to revive Toa through a kiss, but she doesn't remember any of it because it overwhelmed her?"

 

Kyo nodded. "Basically."

 

Carwyn chuckled, then looked at Aya again. "So I guess you did end up kissing Toa before you did me." He licked his lips, which were still warm from the kisses. "Though I don't think I'll count it since you apparently don't remember doing it." He shot her a crooked smile, then leaned closer and lowered his voice. "And I'm still not too sure what everything Kyo said means, but I'll take them miko whatevers from you anyday."

 

****

 

Tellis observed the exchange after she'd revealed that Aya had in fact kissed Toa, smiling privately to herself as Carwyn and Aya yapped at each other like a pair of adolescents. She was mildly surprised when the merchant had taken up Carwyn's challenge and actually kissed him in full view of everyone. Her surprise grew when she did it a second time. Tellis knew that the two obviously had feelings for each other and she had intended to stir the pot a little with the revelation of Aya kissing Toa, but she had not expected it to come to a head so quickly.

 

As Carwyn spoke to Aya again, Tellis took the opportunity to stand up and come between the two of them, taking a position next to Kyo. "All right you two," she said, her voice slightly stern. "I think you both need cold showers and I won't hesitate to provide the cold water myself." She emphasized her statement by holding her glass up and freezing the water inside of it to solid ice.

 

Carwyn blinked several times at the frozen glass. He stared at Tellis, as if seeing her for the very first time. "I had no idea you could freeze water, Tel," he said incredulously.

 

Tellis smirked. "I can do that, and much more, my ranger friend."

 

"Why didn't you tell anyone before?"

 

"Because I was not sure how certain people would react," Tellis replied, glancing surreptitiously at Toa. "I prefer using my healing abilities more anyway."

[3yks]

Kai watched the exchange quietly, arching his brow faintly ... it was all very interesting, finally he reached up and flipped up his eye patch, as Tellis said "I prefer using my healing abilities more anyway." Kai filled the room with a brilliant glow, white and blue energy streamed from his eye, and he stared out at them ... at Aya standing there, with Kyo and Tellis between her and the ranger, Tao a little bit farther off, but also standing inside of Aya, and vice versa, Aya was standing in Tao. But he didn't really have a whole lot of time to interpret what he saw, as the mass of souls before him was overwhelming. Each of these people who he was looking at, had a very strong soul. The kind of soul's that make legends. Kai stumbled forward, reaching out and grabbing the chair, but he missed it, falling into Aya and pushing her into Kyo and Tellis.

 

"Eye ... patch," he murmured, as the swordsman moved and pickd him up off the two women, Kai's body was shutting down. It was hard enough seeing souls, but soo ... strong. He blacked out before Kyo or somebody else could replace his eye patch, as he blacked out the room exploded with light, his whole body released a white and blue glow, that was nearly blinding. But then the patch was put back into place, and it was gone.

[Rexraptor2000]

Toa was a bit surprised by Kai's bright light show, but shook it off as he said "Okay, so Aya kissed me." Then he threw a humorous glance at Aya. "That still doesn't explain how she 'revived' me. The first thing that contradicts this is the fact that she'd have to be a Sprite, which there hasn't been one since Obakenare, and the second would be that you can't 'revive' souls. Once a part is faded, it's gone. You would have to share your entire soul to save another."

 

Then Toa threw a glance at Tellis saying in a half-serious, half-joking manner "And I'll be keeping my eye on you. My last Hydromacer encounters have not been fun." He briefly remembered his old girlfriend and that Hydromacer in the streets.

[Master_Archon]

Old Yuri had followed the group inside, sitting a short distance away, close enough to hear what was being said, and far enough that his presence would not disturb them. Though it didn't mean he was invisible, he felt like he was though, he would have at least thought that one of them would have looked over at him, or even give him a dirty look, cosidering they were such rude, disrespectful people.

 

On the contrary, it was like he didn't exist, though he'd rather have his presence best left inconspicuous, until his presence was needed, maybe for another situation like what happened earlier. But for now he was content to be left alone, but this was the first time back in civilization in decades, he wanted some social interaction, but he guessed he wouldn't get it.

 

Yuri smiled at the serving boy from earlier, who came by with another alcohol free wine. He sipped it pensively, looking over at the group as they chattered like monkeys. He was enjoying the...'show', it was better than watching animals get tipsy off of boozeberries, though that sounded like simplistic entertainment, it was actually pretty funny.

 

Old Yuri just about spit his drink out when he saw what was going on between the merchant, Aya, and her man-friend, Carwyn, he heard his name was. They got into a mildly heated arguement, then Aya's impulses got the better of her common sense and, wham! Instant torrent of feelings. It was great fun for the old fellow.

 

Aya kissed him a second time for him to make sure, and that was all the more. Then the swordfellow stepped between the two, as if he could dictate others, and their emotions and such.

 

"Oh, don't be a spoil-sport, it was going pretty well," he said to himself at the disappointing behavior of the one named, Kyo.

 

The hydromancer, or healer, as she liked to guise herself as, though her ploy was an honest one, it didn't hide itself from him. She stood next to Kyo and asked for the moment to stop aswell, freezing a cup of water needlessly.

 

"Show-Off," he spat to himself, shaking his head with a light-hearted frown, a snort and a chuckle escaping.

 

Then the odd fighter, who proclaimed him to be crazy, when he was the crazy one, suddenly let off a 'soul-search' spectical, and blacked out.

 

"Show-Offs indeed," he reitorated.

 

"The first thing that contradicts this is the fact that she'd have to be a Sprite, which there hasn't been one since Obakenare, and the second would be that you can't 'revive' souls. Once a part is faded, it's gone. You would have to share your entire soul to save another."

 

Old Yuri's expression changed drastically; from smiling and jovial, to straight and stern. The laughter he had been trying to supress suddenly dissipated. This pyromancer knew quite a bit on the histories and ways of magic, both of his own mancy skill, others. But Yuri could scold the pyromancer for not knowing everything he should know, but he kept his mouth shut, his gaze gliding to his cup, taking another sip as he refrained from his urge to literally beat the mancer over the head with his staff. (())

[ForceFightWMe12]

Kyo shook his head. "She doesn't need to be a sprite." he said, setting Kai's limp body down in a chair and frowning, examening his eye patch. "She needs to be a miko. Perhaps better known as a preistess or a spirit-weilder. She can control the power of her soul much as you can control fire, Toa, or Hoshiko can control wind, or," he looked to Tellis for a moment, "Tellis controls water. In answer to your other point..."

 

The swordsman looked up at the pyromacer, "Do you feel any sort of..." he paused for a moment, trying to come up with a description, "Secondary emotions? Feelings that you can sense, but they don't seem to be yours?"

[Jason Skywalker]

"Who feels what?" Akira said, coming in from the bath, messing his wet hair up.

 

"So, what did i miss?" He asked, unknown to him what had just happened.

[3yks]

It didn't take too long for Kai to once again join the land of the awakened, as Akira returned he was stirring faintly, and reached up rubbing at his good eye faintly. "Kai is sorry he made such a commotion." He mummbled, mostly to himself, and then looked at the other's, he knew what he had seen though. Pausing a moment as he wasn't sure just how long he had been out. He looked at Kyo, who was stills tanding over him. "Kai can confirm that Tao and Aya have shared their souls, each stands in the others soul." He nodded to this faintly, "Kai will go and sleep now, when dawn comes in but a few hours, Kai will need strength, the rest of you will as well." He stood up and pushed himself toward the door. Then realized that his 'home' was gone. He turned instea dand went to the counter and Renn.

 

"Kai would like to rent one of this man's rooms." He went to get his coin purse but Renn held his hand up.

 

"You and the others who helped defeat the dragon aren't welcome to pay for rooms." He passed Kai a key, "Upstairs, end of the hall."

 

Kai nodded, and turned, wandering off to get some sleep.

[Jason Skywalker]

"What the hell did Kai meant?" Akira asked, once again.

 

(OOC: By the way, FF, Akira wasn't there, he had taken a bath.)

[JasraLantill]

Aya was just recovering from the extremely bright lights of Kai's spectacular light show, when a fresh-scented Akira approached the table.

 

"Who feels what? So, what did I miss?"

 

Aya turned to Akira, or at least to the spot that she thought Akira would most likely be as she could only see a pulsating yellow spot in front of her eyes, and was about to answer him when Kai answered instead.

 

"Kai can confirm that Tao and Aya have shared their souls, each stands in the others soul."

 

Aya's mouth closed abruptly. 'What?!' she thought. 'Sharing souls?!'

 

Akira obviously was confused as well. "What the hell did Kai mean?"

 

"I have no idea," Aya said to him, blinking as her vision began to return to normal. "Not. A. Clue." She looked at the people around her, and then slowly shook her head. "This is all a bit much for me to handle. Sharing souls? Life-giving kisses? Spirit-weilding mikos?" She looked at Tellis askance. "Undercover hydromancers...."

 

Renn began to serve their meal. "Now, now," he said quietly to Aya. "Tellis is a nice, helpful girl...."

 

"I'm not disputing that," Aya said to him. Her eyes left Tellis for Kyo. "Look, I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I am not a priestess, certainly not any spirit-weilding miko. I'm just the daughter of a merchant who faints at the sight of blood, not some 'other-worldly spirit-wielder with the power of life-giving kisses."

[Jason Skywalker]

(OOC: Those "life-giving kisses" remind me more of CPR xD)

 

"Life giving kisses?" He gasped, "That has got to be the stupidest thing i've ever heard."

 

Look, I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I am not a priestess, certainly not any spirit-weilding miko. I'm just the daughter of a merchant who faints at the sight of blood, not some 'other-worldly spirit-wielder with the power of life-giving kisses."

 

"Okay, now i am confused... Would some one care to give me the summary of the whole story or step by step, every single detail, tell me what has been going on after i left?"

[JasraLantill]

"Don't worry," Aya said to Akira. "I'm as confused as you are. Basically, I'm supposed to be some sort of 'spirit wielder' that brought Toa back from the dead by sharing my soul with him through a kiss." She raised a doubtful eyebrow. "And I don't remember anything of the sort."

[ForceFightWMe12]

"It's complicated." Kyo muttered to Akira, his eyes closed as he massaged a temple. He opened his eyes again to look at Aya as she spoke.

 

The swordsman shrugged, his jaw setting momentarily as a spasm of pain shot through his shoulder. He had forgotten about that.

 

"Believe it or don't. I don't know what else to do to convince you." he said, looking at Aya, "Just know that you did something tonight that caused Toa to live, and to apparently shelter parts of your soul in his body. Seeing as you refuse to believe what I - or anyone else tells you - I'll let you figure out how that happened for yourself.

 

"As for the rest of you," he looked to the others, his eyes purposefully missing Aya, "It would be best if you all got some sleep. It's been a long and exciting day - and those of you who are coming with me in the morning may find tomorrow just as hard."

[Grace]

The laughter he had been trying to supress suddenly dissipated. This pyromancer knew quite a bit on the histories and ways of magic, both of his own mancy skill, others. But Yuri could scold the pyromancer for not knowing everything he should know, but he kept his mouth shut, his gaze gliding to his cup, taking another sip as he refrained from his urge to literally beat the mancer over the head with his staff. (())

 

 

As Yuri's thoughts turned to scolding and beating, he heard soft laughter. Katsuro crossed the room to sit with the old man.

 

"You think quite loudly," he said quietly, "and you paint quite vivid mental pictures of what you wish to do."

 

((Archon, Takara made a mention of Katsuro being able to 'get in the mind'... I don't recall a post from you as to what Xan might have thought of that...))

[Master_Archon]

((Archon, Takara made a mention of Katsuro being able to 'get in the mind'... I don't recall a post from you as to what Xan might have thought of that...))

 

((Sorry about that, let's just say that Xan put some thought into the idea, and then decided to stay in the room with Takara and Akkan. ))

 

Old Yuri stared over at the boy who sat with him.

 

"You think quite loudly," the boy said quietly, "and you paint quite vivid mental pictures of what you wish to do."

 

Yuri smiled, "I try my best to keep my mind as fit as it was when I was your age, but that was a long time ago." He said with a wink.

 

Yuri knew what the boy meant by 'thinking loudly', it wasn't the first time in his life he had been around mind-readers, as they were known. He was careful to guard his thoughts constantly, for fear of evil spirits, or magicians who used spells to read minds, to protect his identity.

 

Besides, Old Yuri could have his mind as whatever he wanted it to be, he could transform physically, he had learned to do the same mentally. His form what was what he was at the moment, and at the moment, he was Old Yuri. He even had a past and memories to go along with his guise, so the boy, no matter how much prodding, wouldn't know who Yuri really was, or what he was.

 

Though he might find some tidbits that might slip out, or what Yuri might even let out to trail the boy along, it had no matter with Old Yuri, for even if the boy did penetrate, he wasn't a magic user for nothing, and mind reading, no matter how strong, couldn't get past magic mental barriers, only spirits and other magic users...strong magic users.

 

Old Yuri smiled, "how are you young fellow? And what's your name?" He asked, his eyes shining brightly at the welcome company of someone who wouldn't be quite so disrespectful, offering his hand in a friendly handshake.

[Rexraptor2000]

Toa shook his head and said "Whatever happened tonight, it's over. I would personally not like to see Jack again, even though he is a nice guy and such, and the idea of sharing souls with Aya is confusing more than anything else."

 

He motioned outside at the pouring rain and said "I don't know what caused that bone dragon to 'wake up', as you said Kyo, but I imagine it had to do with the puzzle of yours. Or more like when you solved it. I'm going to call it a night though. Between starving, doing 'fire works,' fighting dragons, dying, and being brought back to life again, I'd have to say that I've had a full day. So goodnight to you all."

 

Toa got up and smiled at everyone before grabbing his pack and heading towards the Wavering Wind, which was amazingly intact. Hedri, the little pygmy Hydra, stuck its three little heads out of the pack and was looking straight at Aya with unblinking eyes, as if seeing through her.

[ForceFightWMe12]

Kyo nodded to Toa as he left, then stood straight; pushing himself away from the wall.

 

"I'll talk to you all some time in the morning." he said, moving towards the door that led to the courtyard, "We'll meet here and make plans for the trip. Until then, sleep well."

 

He pushed the door open and stepped out into the warm rain.

[Grace]

"I'm Katsuro," the boy answered, shaking Yuri's hand. "And I'll be better once my mother wakes up, hungover though she'll be." He frowned and shook his head. "I shouldn't speak ill of her, but..." His voice trailed off and he began fiddling with a small stone from his pouch. As he did so, he carefully felt around the edges of Yuri's mind. Though he was a little suspicious of the old man, Katsuro determined he could trust him.

 

"I know you're more than just another old man," he said, his voice low so only Yuri could hear him. "Your mind is like none I've ever seen before... and you weren't at all surprised by anything you've seen me do or say this evening."

[Rogue Nine]

"Doesn't look like you're going to get your recap, Akira," Carwyn said, standing up and giving the freshly-bathed warrior a rueful grin. "You really had to have been here. Though your bath idea doesn't sound half bad, given tonight's events." He ran his hand through his still-damp hair and looked down at his clothing, which was still somewhat wet. "Too bad I didn't bring a change of clothes," he said resignedly.

 

He looked around at the table. "I dunno about the rest of you, but all that stuff about sharing souls, miko whatevers and crazy light shows just totally went over my head." Carwyn looked at Tellis. "I never did get to thank you for whatever it was that you gave me that cleared my head from all that alcohol. If it wasn't for that, I don't think I would've been much use against ol' Boney out there."

 

Tellis nodded, setting her frozen glass back down on the table. "I agree, you would not have faired very well against the dragon in the state you were in. So I had to clear your system of alcohol using a special kind of water." At Carwyn's inquisitive look, she held up a hand. "Please, do not ask me now, it would take far too long to explain."

 

"Sure, Tel," Carwyn said. He looked around at the people left in the room: Akira, still looking confused; Katsuro, who was conversing with the strange old man from before, which caused Carwyn to frown slightly; and finally to Aya, who had a strange expression on her face, as she was probably still trying to figure one where she fit into Kyo and Toa's ramblings. Part of him wanted to pick up where they'd left off before being separated by Kyo, but he knew that it would probably not be too wise to do so. Easy there, cowboy, he told himself. Let's not get too hasty. Take it slow, it's been a crazy night.

 

Approaching her slowly, he said, "Well, I'll be off too. And you've got your bed back all to yourself tonight." He jerked his thumb back towards the stables. "I've got to go commiserate with Bob on this wonderful weather we're having." He fidgeted, unsure of what to do next. As always, his instincts took over. Leaning close, he gave Aya a quick kiss on the cheek, then pulled back and said, "Good night and sorry for questioning you before."

 

****

 

Tellis left the common room quietly, figuring that Aya and Carwyn were mature enough adults to sort things out by themselves. She pushed open the door to the inn where she saw Kyo standing to the side, the rain beating down on him. His face was raised to the sky and his eyes were closed.

 

She sidled over to him, taking a position next to him, having the rain wash over her as well. After a few moments, she looked at him and asked, "How's your shoulder?"

[Jason Skywalker]

Akira's hand gripped thighter at the sight of Carwyn kissing Aya in the cheek, his shoulders stiffening and his face going from confused to no expression at all. Letting it go, his hands where red, maybe even a gash, his shoulders softened again but his no expressioned face continued.

 

"Hey Aya," Akira started, "Mind accompanying me? I want to show you something."

[Master_Archon]

"I'm Katsuro," the boy answered, shaking Yuri's hand. "And I'll be better once my mother wakes up, hungover though she'll be." He frowned and shook his head. "I shouldn't speak ill of her, but..." His voice trailed off and he began fiddling with a small stone from his pouch. As he did so, he carefully felt around the edges of Yuri's mind. Though he was a little suspicious of the old man, Katsuro determined he could trust him.

 

"I know you're more than just another old man," he said, his voice low so only Yuri could hear him. "Your mind is like none I've ever seen before... and you weren't at all surprised by anything you've seen me do or say this evening."

 

"Not surprised? Well, I've been around so long, not much surprises me anymore, even ressurected dragons," he said, mentioning the bone dragon. "Besides, I can see things I need to, such as the fact that you're a mind-reader, even though you practically told me," he said seriously, but he couldn't hold his expression for long, and the corners of his mouth pulled up into a smirk.

 

"As for normalsy, who ever said I was? Even the others," he motioned to the few remaining others in the inn, "can tell that I'm not quite so normal, but what, or who I am, is to remain...inconspicuous, for a time." He told the boy.

 

"Besides, you're more than just another young boy," Old Yuri repeated what the boy had said, only the context was changed.

 

Old Yuri smiled, then looked up to see what was going on. As he could tell, the inn was clearing out, those others were almost all gone.

 

"Well, I think it's getting late, even for you," he told Katsuro. "So off to bed with you," he ordered him with a kind smile.

 

Old Yuri thought for a moment, "oh yes! You said your mom was drunk, and would have a hangover, didn't you? Well, here," he handed Katsuro a tiny vial filled with an odd liquid.

 

"Put a drop in her mouth while she's asleep, then seep these with her tea when she wakes up," he told Katsuro, handing him a small silken packet, well folded. "They're boozeberry leaves, don't worry, the alcohol in the leaves will dissipate in the boiling water, but they'll act as the catalysts to start the process of that liquid," he instructed the boy.

 

"Once she's drunk the tea, she'll be right as rain, and sober as a priest. Infact, she won't even crave alcohol in the future for quite some time...usually two or three months," he told Katsuro. "She can even eat the leaves if she wants, for extra effect, they taste pretty good too," he said to the boy with a wink.

 

At this he turned, taking another sip of his drink.