Having rested, got her drink on, and decided with the upcoming tournaments she had entered herself into, Red had been in the training groove. Especially with how much trouble she had managed to throw herself in the middle of it was about time she actually worked on her flaws. Red was going to be training the kid Zeo, but how would she be able to effectively do that if she herself wasn't that great a fighter?
So here she was, standing on the roof of the Bravot Mansion that he had so graciously allowed her to call home, with her bow in one hand facing out in the woods. There were targets strategically placed poking out from behind trees, on limbs, very far out, different ranges and difficulties. Being out of practice with this type of weapon, Red felt the practice was well needed. After she was done here she was going to go to a training arena and punch dummies for a bit.
Standing shots were all she was doing at the moment, giving her practice on still targets in order to master at least that aspect of shooting. Soon enough she would rig up moving targets, and after that she would be the one moving as well as the targets. She had a long way to go.
Twwaaaap!
Her sensitive ears picked up on the sound of the arrow head digging into the wooden target, about an inch off center. Sighing heavily to herself, she plucked another shaft from the quiver and knocked it, bringing the bow up and aiming at a target that was half poking out from behind an old tree.
Slash Zinrai
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⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙There are secrets you may never know.....
The archer would pick up another sound within the wind; a rustling of fabric...caught in the dance of unseen currents.
If her eyes tracked up, and to the left, she would see a cloak of deep crimson; its wearer crouched atop the crenelation with one, delicate, hand wrapped around the stone. Only her lower face lay bare beneath the confines of her hood, an intrigued smile teasing at the corners of ruby lips.
"I see I was not mistaken..."
She, as her voice was undoubtedly feminine, would conclude her partial thought by slipping from the wall; gracefully catching her feet on the roof below as she rose to her full measure. Not especially tall, she teased the space between five feet...and six...her lithe, and toned, body visible in the way she moved against the underlying fabric. A body suit, paired with bits of darkened plate, to accentuate her womanly form...
Even as it protected her from harm.
Like Athena, a Goddess of War before Beauty, she did not pale in either realm.
Just as she felt her grip on the bow string begin to loosen, the faintest of sounds caught her attention. With the string pressed against her flushed cheek, the weapon was quickly repositioned towards the woman in the cloak, Red being unsure of the reasoning behind her appearance. She watched and followed her movements, the arrow never swaying from pointing towards the other. She may be off on shooting vitals, but at least she knew she wasn't as bad a shot to completely miss.
"Who are you?"
Her soft voice filled the gap between the two, crimson eyes locked on the crimson figure. Oddly fitting the situation, but still a random coincidence. Being that she had simply been training Red hadn't bothered to braid or pull back her hair, the full length swaying in the gentle breeze around her. Simple blue jeans and a black t-shirt, nothing of combat attire minus the combat boots made up her outfit.
Slash Zinrai
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⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙There are secrets you may never know.....
The cloaked female would begin to move, almost as if unconcerned by the arrow nocked in her direction. Each step drew her closer, and closer, to the targets themselves; as if she meant to stand in Red's former line-of-fire.
"A fighter...like your self...unafraid to stand in the face of danger."
By that point, she had certainly done just that...her body positioned just ahead of the projectile still lodged within its victim. Strangely, the unknown woman locked her hands behind her back; widening her stance -just- so.
"But evil does not sit motionless...it is cunning, and swift!!"
Her final word, erupting as a hiss, would see the flash of twin Daggers; red hilts clutched in either hand, with blades reversed. The specter, as that is what she would seem, would shift into a forward run...but immediately staggered her steps, anticipating the shot she knew was soon to come!
The reasoning behind this woman's appearance seemed to become even more clear by the second. As she stepped closer and closer to the target's she had been shooting at, Red was starting to realize that this crimson cloaked woman was acting a a target, to help Red train as she had been doing before. Although putting oneself in harms way was never the smart move, and since Red wasn't using practice arrows, this woman must have been rather confident in her ability to dodge a life threatening attack.
As the other darted forward, daggers in hand, Red felt a surge of power iminating from herself, like a buildup of energy that would be released when the time was right. For now though she took aim and released the arrow, trying to place the arrow directly between her collar bones at the base of her neck. Her aim was shaky, but under pressure she was forced to think just that much more at needing to place the arrow perfectly at her target.
Whether or not the arrow missed or struck, Red would have started to move backwards right as the arrow was released, stepping back at an almost jogging pace to keep some distance between herself and the other as she pulled another arrow free and attempted to knock it whilst back up.
Slash Zinrai
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⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙There are secrets you may never know.....
Zeonis shook his head as the woman spoke. He knew some of what he put her through. It was his fault after all. “You’re a tough woman. I’m grateful to have run into you.” He sat next to her and stared at the floor, only breaking from his thoughts when she spoke again. He cringed when she said that she knew all of his secrets.“Well…we can start with your name, family, and your favorite things.”
Anticipation had oft been her ally, and she deftly slipped to her right side; the tip of Red's arrow vanishing into the shadow of her hood...
Before clattering to the ground at the dashing woman's feet.
The last few steps of her forward jaunt became a baseball-slide, her cloak trailing upon the roof. It was obvious that her momentum would send her crashing into Red's feet, and likely bring the archer down on top of her self; unless, of course, the ranger moved.
Regardless, the shrouded warrior did not falter; dedicated to her assault.
Red noticed the small pang of guilt that the young man was giving off, for a split second it made her heart ache but just as soon as she felt it, it was gone. Pouring another shot, Red slid it across the bar to Zeo.
"My names Red. I have no family, they are all dead. I like drinking and trying to compensate for what little social life I have by helping people out, namely friends of mine and well, you. Fighting is fun, and trying to master psychic mumbo jumbo help pass the time. My life isn't a box of rainbows and puppies, but I make it as good as I can. Now..."
Crossing her arms below her chest, Red turned to face him.
"You, lad, have a lot of latent abilities just waiting to be unlocked in that brain of yours. I don't know what they are, but clearly you have no clue they are there."
| Bravot Mansion--->Rooftop the Next Day|
As soon as the other had lowered and started her slide, five tendrils of solidified air manifested around her, much like vectors in almost every property possible. As the next arrow dropped into place, Red narrowed her eyes as her mind split between not tripping and falling and controlling two of the tendrils, which she was about to use and a neat little evasive maneuver.
The two bottom tendrils shot at a diagonal downwards behind her at about a 45 degree angle, the rounded tips slamming into the roof and locking into place, the length of the tendrils going rigid to hold her weight as Red pushed her weight off the ground with her feet.
This would keep her elevated into the air longer then a normal jump would, being that the two tendrils were holding her weight, and with her backwards momentum still in motion she would end up being picked up about three feet off the roof and swing back like an upside down pendulum.
Pulling the string back on the arrow, the woman steadied her hand as much as she possibly could whilst in motion, taking a wild guess about when to release the arrow, and then praying she made a correct assessment as the arrow would fly in the general direction if the others' upwards waist as she were to finish the slide.
Zeonis Mierbia
Slash Zinrai
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⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙There are secrets you may never know.....
Muffled sounds came from the pillow as she clutched it harder. Sure, it was her old room, but she needed some time away from Magnesium. While her bedroom was set up over there for the time being, she still had things from the Halo sitting in the corner of her old room in the Underworld. She hadn't taken the time to open them, after all it had also taken her a great deal to get some of them out. She -needed- her clothing and weapons after all. Bigger things really didn't matter, and she still didn't understand the whole thing.
The blonde twirled her hair around her polished nail while she chewed gum. For a vampire she looked like a classic 90's goth girl. Spiky necklace, ripped shirt, the whole fish net thing. Kat adjusted her glasses so her ruby eyes could focus on the demon. "Like really, what are you even doing?"
Slowly the woman lifted her head from the pillow. "I don't even know anymore. Running a bar with Kaji?"
Maybe it was too fast for her to rush in to trying something like that.
Dreamer sighed, "Do I go out and adventure, or what? I have contracts to fill, I'm still making money."
Somehow Kat was trying to wrap her head around, why killing people didn't satisfy Dreamer's anger. But apparently it had done nothing, maybe that's because she had done it a million times and at this point it was like flaying a fish. She sighed, "Well maybe you need to get away from this area, it's a little close, no?"
"Right, maybe I should." The demon looked over at her dresser at a book, she still needed some answers. But where to find them? Maybe someone of a more holy devotion would know.
Tenkai? Surely her 'run in to from time to time' friend would know what to do. Dreamer bit her thumb nail. Where would one even start looking for a monk?
----
Sigil: Market Ward
The demon wasn't exactly sure how she ended up here, a portal maybe, it was easy access. This place was huge, and she had only heard rumors about it. Feeling like an anxious teenager Dreamer clutched her fists together. It was by mere word of mouth that she might find the Samurai looking man. Although she hadn't a clue where to start at, all she knew was that she was standing in the middle of a market place.
Dreamer stood about 5'7 with a slender yet athletic build to her. Smooth sun kissed skin had been tarnished by various scars spread through out her body. The largest one visible was right under her left eye in an X mark. There were various tattoos on the woman, a TBD with a black wing on her right arm, a Dream kanji on her left breast, and a round 666 mark on the left side of her neck. Long midnight hair stretched to the middle of her back, completely straight. Long elvish looking ears poked out from her thick mane, pierced and gauged. The most prominent things to tell others what race she belonged to was the long black horns that curved towards eachother on the top of her head, as well as the sharp black tail trailing behind her. Obviously this told others she was some kind of demon.
Her attire was simple, a black tank top clung to her upper body, gray skinny jeans that looked a little worn, well worn black boots, and fingerless gloves with a few hidden surprises. Strapped to her back were twin katanas.
Cloud gray eyes lifted to the various stands in the market place. It looked like it could sell even the most rare things Gaia had to offer. Dreamer pursed her lips, trying to think about where she would look first. Maybe asking around might help, looking for temples, did he just stay in temples? Did he live in one? Unlikely since she had seen him show up a couple times in the Underworld and Halo.
((Hope that works. ><'))
(( Not sure where to put this chronologically, but it doesn't really matter. lol I'll play it by ear. ))
The Market Ward
Dreamer would soon find that Sigil was unlike most places she had visited in the past. While many cities upon the world of Gaia were home to as many strange sights as any other, it wasn't too difficult for people to stand out if they really wanted to. The architecture more often than not followed some sort of concrete theme, such as the grand, gothic Durem or the heavily industrial Aekea. Many demons, vampires and other creatures of the night sought refuge within the comfort of the shadows and the underground night life, removed from the day to day movements of mortals living out their relatively banal lives. Even if horns and wings were common enough there to not leave people running for the hills, they would always catch a few eyes.
Sigil, on the other hand, was almost alien in comparison. The architecture was a hodgepodge of so many different cultures that staked their claim in the City of Doors that the only thing that seemed consistent was the relative level of wealth in each building as one traveled from ward to ward. The Market Ward was not lavish like the sequestered Lady's Ward, but it was certainly well above the squalor that the Hive represented before the coming of the Archlich Ursan and his golden kingdom, the Empyreae. It was, however, the busiest ward by far, with commerce ranging from flea markets to open air bazaars, to small shops and modest businesses. Many of the far more wealthy corporations that made their stake in Sigil would be found in wealthier locations, but there were still a few large buildings where companies from other worlds, including Gaia, set up their own operations.
Of course, commerce on this level was not out of the ordinary in any sense. What was truly strange was the sheer diversity of the people, both buyers and sellers, wandering about in the streets. From the half-demon tieflings to dwarves and dark elves, orcs and ogres to lizardmen and werewolves, and just about everything else in between. Even vampires walked about in broad daylight, if the city's artificial sun could be considered daylight to begin with. It was not the same as the natural beauty of the sun, but it was a substitute that could be tolerated.
Here, Dreamer would feel as if she had somehow wandered into a place that managed to hold on to its age-old history even as the touch of modern times took hold of it here and there. In the Market Ward, that feeling was all the more present.
The unfortunate truth was that finding Tenkai in a city so vast would be like finding a needle in a stack of needles. The monk's choice of attire was strange and stuck out well, but in a place like this, everything seemed to stick out. Who was to say that looking for a samurai might end up leading her to any number of katana-wielding adventurer wandering through the city. Tenkai normally went around in the appearance of a monk, but the word "monk" would only be met with questions of what god or alignment said monk prayed to. Sigil wasn't lacking in the religious department in spite of the Lady of Pain barring any gods entry into the city.
Whether he be samurai or monk, Dreamer would at least remember that Tenkai's appearance was overwhelmingly Japanese. Much to her fortune, even though Sigil was diverse, that only meant that individual races tended to stick out in their own way even as everything else stuck out with them. All she'd need to know is what she was looking for, and it would eventually hit her.
If she did, she would find her eyes wandering onto a small, noticeably Japanese looking building built of wood and stone, with sliding doors that were all too common among rural Japanese settings. It stuck out well amongst the elegant elven and sturdy dwarven buildings surrounding it, though her sense of smell would clue her in to the fact that she had wandered into a street full of craftsmen just off the side of one of the bazaars. The smell of burning coals let her know that these were blacksmiths, though the Japanese smithy was far smaller than the much more established elven and dwarven counterparts.
Tenkai didn't look like a blacksmith, but this house was perhaps the only thing in the Market Ward that even resembled something related to Tenkai. If the monk was not there, perhaps someone inside would know of him?
Tenkai listened as Sivak spoke about her views of magic and science, and for the moment Tenkai could only smile at it. This was certainly a subject she had spent a good amount of time thinking about. He wondered if she would get along well with Dr. Queensborough, or if they would end up at each other's throats in disagreement over some scientific or alchemical discussion. As a man of faith, neither magic nor science were considered to be his strong suits, but he respected the both of them as being academic studies. Pursuing knowledge was an admirable and arduous journey, but whether it be magic or science, it was easy for one to get lost in their own travels.
Truth be told, Sivak wasn't completely off the mark in terms of the relationship between magic and science. In these days you saw mages employing the scientific method and using technology to perfect their magic, while scientists studied magical artifacts in order to break down the physical and chemical processes involved in their use. But between these two approaches, there was one common thread that Sivak would do well to consider.
"When two roads are similar enough, the only thing that matters is where they intersect. ," said the monk, "Both the mage and the scientist strive to enlighten themselves through their work so that they may discover the truths of reality. Their approaches and methods differ, but they ultimately accomplish the same thing. Whether you were to replace all magic with science or do away with science in favor of magic, you'll still be left with the same risks and reliability. The mad scientist is no different from the dark sorcerer, and opening a portal to Hell isn't that far off from tearing a hole in reality. Mages and scientists will always blame the other side for their hubris, but that only serves to cloud them of the hubris born from their own certainty. In the end, knowledge is nothing without wisdom and humility, and without those two, there is only chaos."
Tenkai would allow his words to sink in before he was immediately distracted by a far lighter subject...or at least relatively so.
"How I 'got a hold of him'?" he asked as the panda bleated again, gnawing on his paws. "Well, it's more like the other way around, I suppose. I saved him from a black market dealer back when I first visited the world of Gaia. After that, he decided to follow me, and I've traveled from here to there with him ever since."
Truth be told, in spite of Tenkai's peaceful, Buddhist demeanor, he wasn't exactly what people would call a "hippie". While not a fan of taking the life of another, he didn't exactly go around throwing paint on fur coats or picketing outside hunting goods stores. The animals he had set free that day were mostly rare and endangered species acquired through ill-gotten means such as theft and poaching. It also didn't help that he was also trafficking homeless people and supplying them to illegal blood banks and flesh farms that just so happened to be connected to the vampires he was pursuing at the time, so saving Kuroshiro was simply one of the added benefits of looking at the big picture. One good deed branching off into others.
Our boots hit the ground and they scatter away;
They fall all around like they've made a mistake;
And what have we done to keep up the charade?
The Blacker Swan - Sigil, City of Doors
The floor of the Blacker Swan had exploded into utter chaos, and if the screams coming mutedly from below Kae's feet were any indication, she now had their undivided attention. The sound of panic was music to her ears, and she licked her lips briefly before wincing in pain at the sudden backblast of pressure on her vines. Though they weren't strictly part of her body, the psychic feedback from the Rose was enough to elicit phantom pain in the extremity. Lightning arced across the surface of the brown-green appendage, charring it... it was time to go.
With a splitting CRACK!, the barbed point of the tendril exploded out into a star shape of smaller, woody shards, hooking into the poor sergeant's chest cavity with a disgusting crunch of flesh and bone, before whipping him bodily up into the ceiling, and then through it, leaving his battered body to absorb the shrapnel of his comrades' efforts from below.
KAE!
The vine slowly furled back along the temptress' arm, soothing aloe bubbling along seared plant flesh, even as she drew Katos' body in close to her, the scent of roses in bloom washing over him with a lusty, heady scent, suffocating but yet intoxicating. Her arms wrapped around him gently, cradling his head against her straining bosom, full lips bending down to brush lightly against blood-soaked lips.
"Do you hear that, mon amour? She doesn't care about you... only revenge. But I... ahhngh... I care. Your agony... those tender beats of your heart, they are so vivid... so wonderful. I'll keep you safe.... A breathy inhalation... and Katos exhaled his last, his life escaping like a soft wisp of smoke drawn between plush violet lips.
------------------------------------
A dull thud upon the pavement responded eventually to the Empath's battle cries... the corpse of Sergeant Katos cratering onto the flagstones mercilessly, perfectly collapsing in front of her very feet. From above, the green shrouded woman stretched languidly, her arched legs splayed provocatively along the roof's edge, heels locked onto the protruding edge with a casual playfulness that hinted at a cruel evil.
"My my... you're far too upset to fight, my dearest Blackbird. I'll come back when you're calmed down... we have much to talk about! It's a date, okay? Call me!" A cheeky wave of a wooden clawed hand... and the seductress had withdrawn, her sillhouette lingering briefly before vanishing out of sight, the brief rustle of wind marking her taking to the air, and dropping off the back of the roof to lose herself into the bustle of the great planar city.
Step over the masses who whisper our name;
Restrain all our voices and swallow the pain;
Deadly and gorgeous, we're coming through...
We're coming for you.
((Maybe somehow will eventually tie in to where you are.))
Horns, angelic wings, markings, ears, how strange.
Dreamer's head seemed to wander right and left, seeing that each person here had something different about them. She couldn't really determine which one stuck out more to her. Looking down at her clothing she felt a little mundane, for the first time in her life. Sharp teeth gaped open like she was going to ask a question, but to whom? They walked while she stood in the middle of the road like an idiot. Like New Yorkers they didn't seem to care or have time to stop. What a strange environment, it was much more fast paced then she was used to in the rural mountain ranges.
She watched vampires pass her and realized that it was daylight, maybe they were hybrids? What baffled her more was the fact that warmth didn't come to her, at least not the type of warmth the sun gave off when she was dozing off in it. This place was beyond foreign to her, but she wasn't about to get a tour.
"FRESH FRUIT!"
"SWORDS! SWORDS OF ALL KINDS! ENCHANTED!"
"SPELLS! COME AND GET'EM!"
Some shop keepers seemed to be drawing an audience with their many trinkets. The demon moved forward following the flow like a river. This place reminded her of something, but what, where else had she been in a city this big?
Dreamer stopped and looked down at her TBD mark.
It hit her then, it had been so long ago since she had thought about Paris. This was just like that, exception of not being in a war. Paris market places were teeming with people, shops, and strange people. Although this time she wasn't looking for any sire, and she wasn't going to run in to a Chaos Dragon God.
'Let's think, if he was here then his attire might at least stick out.' She thought about the times she did see him around, Japanese attire was at least a little out of the ordinary here. Maybe?
As she walked she started to look for any signs of culture that might be attributed to him. Dreamer sighed, the thought of labeling didn't make her feel better, but it gave her some kind of direction.
"MAPS! MAPS!"
"Excuse me, can I get one of those?" Maybe it would help her.
"Sure lady." After exchanging currency she turned to open the large paper up. Her eyes lit up, looking around at just how big this was. "The Market Ward." She read off at the top, this was only one piece of Sigil. 'Consider me impressed.'
Through her looking, she seemed frustrated, folding up the paper she seemed to have wandered farther then where she first started. Wherever her body had taken her she found herself standing near a few buildings. They all seemed a little different, her gray hues lingered on each until she found herself staring at what appeared to be a Japanese looking building. It's structure reminded her of an old tea building, completely untouched by modernization.
The smell of smoke hit her first, not just any smoke, the kind that harbored steel, "Weapons?"
Was she in an area that made them? She looked back, seeing the handle of one of her katanas. Maybe they had some answers for her. If anything, maybe they could direct her to other places. The demon shrugged, taking a chance and wandered her way in.
His ears picked up the lightning making impact to the vines, and to the now manic man it was music to his ears. The cackling of electricity bouncing off of the vines before they quickly retracted back up into the roof. He tilted his head up, his eyes making complete note of the aura’s on the roof, Three of them, His lone eye was staring at the roof. His ears were only picking up white noise, white noise and chattering, right into his head, His mind already began forming the picture of the scene, Aarin standing on top of the roof holding two of his comrades hostage. Even if it wasn’t actually there the thought of the now out of sorts Alien was more than enough to get him to react. He knelt down, his hand only slightly touching the ground. Electricity surround his body again, and suddenly the ground began to shake.
He then leaped, and quite the distance, his right hand still holding his axe, His eye looked closely at the wood and pipes that were on his way toward the roof, He simply turned his head and braced himself, closing his eye and turning his head in the process. He would burst through the ceiling, his head taking the brunt of the force, his face cutting itself up from the wood, his head seemed to be discolored in many places, possibly from the bruising of his body, but he didn’t seem to react to it much, he landed himself on the roof but with a stumble, his body slowly swaying as he stared at the opposition, axe still in hand, blood still pouring across his face. The grin stretched across his face along with the blood covering his face made him seem a bit too enthusiastic about ripping his current target’s apart.
“WHO SAID YOU CAN RUN AWAY FROM MY AARIN!?!?” He continued to stumble, but kept his guitar in his hand. The mention of Aarin yet again would tell raven and others where his head was at currently. Aarin was all Leon could see, a constant haunt to his psyche it would see. Raven would instantly be able to tell his dialated pupil and manic smile was the only tell that was needed.
Carefully stepping through the portal gate she created, she hears the soft 'pop' of its disappearance as she looks around. Realizing her current placement, she softly groans and rubs her head. "Again with the misplacement. I'm about to give up on these portals."
Fixing her bangs, she straightens and breathes deeply. "Well, I suppose some time here would be good."
A voice came from within the shop, one that she would not recognize as the monk that she sought, but it was a friendly voice nonetheless. As she passed through the sliding doors, she would find herself first in a small hallway with sliding doors on each side of it. The hallway led to the back of the shop where, based on the smell, it seemed that the actual workplace resided.
"Oh, and leave your shoes at the door."
The floor of the hall was made of hard wood rather than tatami, but it would still make sense to remove one's shoes as a matter of keeping it clean. The floor, along with some other parts of the house, seemed newer than other fixtures. Perhaps the blacksmith had some construction done recently? In spite of this, the house seemed no less humble than the outside, elegant in its simplicity and laid back in appearance.
The voice wouldn't be difficult to follow, with the daily chatter of the Market Ward reduced to a murmur inside the walls. Once she passed through the slightly ajar sliding door that the voice had traveled from, she'd find herself in the quaint living quarters of the household and its owner sitting on the floor within.
"Ho...well now," he said in a tone far brighter than what she had heard earlier, his manner of speech changing as soon as he saw Dreamer, "This is a surprise. Welcome."
The blacksmith looked to be a man somewhere in his early thirties, just slightly older than what she would remember of Tenkai's apparent age. He was probably taller than the monk, or at least it was likely that he was based on the length of his limbs. He wasn't exactly standing for her to make that judgement, though it was hard to call his overly relaxed posture "sitting" either. His noticeably black hair was mostly tied up in a white bandana covering the top of his head, with long strands spilling out the sides and back. The light played against the edge of the glasses resting on the bridge of his nose, a somewhat intellectual accessory that stuck out against the rest of his appearance. His clothes were gray, though whether that was intentional or if they used to be white was a hard thing to determine. He wasn't filthy or anything, but it was clear that he spent a lot of time at the forge.
The rest of the room seemed to match his demeanor. Unlike much of the rest of the house, the blacksmith's living quarters weren't the tidiest of places. Magazines and periodicals were strewn about in one corner with a cluttered western drawer to the side of it. A half-empty bottle of imported beer was resting on a small black table in front of him, and the wall to his right had an off-centered calendar and a few haphazardly placed notes pinned to it. He seemed to be the only one living here, so odds were likely that he was the owner of this place.
Yet somehow he seemed oddly unprofessional, with his room being only a few steps cleaner than a college dormitory.
"I don't get many female visitors," he said, rubbing his partially shaven chin, "Demons even less so." He took in a breath and sighed, leaning forward into a proper sitting position and shrugging. "'Course it's best not to think so hard when a beautiful woman comes walking into your home. My name is Hidemitsu. Shintogo Hidemitsu of the Soshu school, at your humble service."
He bowed his head to her respectfully before gesturing for her to sit.
