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 Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 5:27 pm
Almost a week had passed before Riyo dared to look out her window again.
The so-called field trip had taken so many things from her. So many things that had structured Riyo into some resemblance of function. Her physical health, her mental health (okay so that was never exactly great to begin with), and most importantly, her ability to take comfort in herself.
She didn't know what was holding her together anymore... And the fact that she had almost failed to do something for someone other than herself opened her eyes to something important...
Though whatever it was, fog still shrouded an important epiphany.
It had taken almost a week, but there she was. Standing at her window with a bandage wrapped around her head, not thinking of herself, but of someone else. He had warned her. Given her what he could so she could protect herself.
... It was time to give back.
'Jericho. When you have time, I need to talk to you. Come to my room.'
That was all the text she sent to the dragon said. Everything else needed to be discussed face to face.
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Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 5:32 pm
The text received had Jericho a little worried so he made his way over towards the demon dorms promptly. It didn't quite seem like Riyo to want to talk really. At least, that was one of the vibes he had gotten from her. But he was aware that she had been on the most recent nightmare of a fieldtrip.
He had his suspicions this had to do with that but he could never be too sure. But if his gut feeling was right, then this likely is a serious matter. The dragon remembered how he felt returning from the last one.. and he didn't have to witness the death of a faculty member.
A real death.
Finding the cat demon's room, he knocked lightly on the door, waiting for her to open up.
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Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 5:43 pm
The sound of a tea kettle letting out a high-pitched hiss answered the dragon before the feline could, though it stopped soon after.
A soft padding of footsteps followed, until the knob finally turned in acknowledgement of Jericho. What appeared before him was a disheveled looking cat demon, almost unrecognizable as the prim and proper business woman everybody was used to seeing. Her hair was a mess (it was hard to keep up with bandages wrapped around her head anyways), her eyes were bloodshot, and her clothes...
Wait...
Was she wearing pajamas? Yes... Cat pajamas. And what seemed more disturbing is... She didn't care. Riyo had been NAKED in front of people. Long sleeved pajamas... Didn't really seem like a big deal anymore.
"Thanks for coming Jericho." The ghoul said honestly, her ears folded back. "I'm sorry if I look a little..." The ghoul cringed. "... Unacceptable. I just... Haven't been sleeping very well since I got back."
Stepping to the side, she offered the dragon a way in. Holy s**t the floor was shiny. She had been obsessively polishing it, hadn't she? Oh, most definitely. "Have a seat at the table, please. I made tea."
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Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 5:52 pm
The appearance Riyo had surprised the dragon. She always seemed the sort to look out for her appearance (to an extent), so it was almost disturbing to find her so disheveled and in her pajamas at that.
"Yeah no problem," he said while walking on in, taking a moment to look around. While the demon was a mess, her room certainly was not.
"And don't worry about it.. I kinda know the feeling.."
He had trouble sleeping well upon his return from the island after all. Nodding to Riyo, he made his way over towards the table and sat down, minding his wings.
"Um.. how've your injuries been healing?"
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Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 6:22 pm
After the dragon made it in, Riyo looked out into the hallway, then down both ways. Rumors that people were trying to cover up the truth made her nervous, so a little extra caution went a long way.
Slowly, the door shut behind the feline, and a couple of locks were set in place... Just in case.
"The physical injuries are getting better." Riyo replied simply, her bare feet practically sliding across the wood as she made her way into the kitchen. There were two teacups already setting out on the counter. Two adorable, kitten-covered teacups. And yes, the teapot was equally kittenified.
There were a few moments of silence as Riyo turned her back to the dragon and filled the cups with water and added the bags. It looked like there was a bandage wrapped around her tail, too. Jeez.
"I'm sure you have an idea as to why I asked you over here." the demoness admitted, her tone soft and almost weak. "But... Before spill all that on you, I want you to know if you don't want to hear it, tell me." In many cases, Riyo hated ignorance. She didn't like the idea of opting out of information to remain blissful...
But this... This was an entirely different subject. It was unfair to force these things on anybody. "You've always been straightforward with me..." As she turned around, the ghoul carried over the teacups to the table, gently sitting the saucer with a spoon and the cup in front of the dragon. "So let me tell you right now Jericho, the things I learned on that awful day are anything but what you'd want to hear."
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Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 6:38 pm
Seeing the cups of tea, Jericho curiously examined them but he didn't take one just yet. Since Riyo just poured it out, the tea probably wasn't quite ready just yet. At least, that's what he assumed. He didn't drink tea all too often for the most part. Or if he did, it was pre-brewed iced tea. Not that he wouldn't mind this.
"I'm willing to hear whatever you have to say," he said while shifting his gaze back to her. From the sounds of things, this extended beyond just watching Red die.
"One thing I've learned from Riley.. information is powerful. The more we know, the better off we are," he added with a weak smile, "So then.. whenever you're ready."
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Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 7:03 pm
When Jericho confirmed that he was willing to listen, the feline had a seat across from the dragon. Riyo's gaze seemed very focused on the liquid in the cup, and continued to be as she stirred.
"I'll start where you left off." The ghoul began after a few more moments of silence, a soft ding as she tapped the liquid off her spoon and returned it to the saucer. "With the false reapers. I know what they are now. Why they are." The fact that this was coming from her mouth surprised her for a brief moment. The shoe was on the other foot now. Instead of being the one in the dark, she now had more information than she knew what to do with.
"It's funny. For once, I wish I didn't know something. But those... Those things. Jericho... They're humans."
Riyo took a moment to lean back into her seat. "They're terrible creatures that care nothing about the structure of the world... Only the success of their own race. Their goal... Is to eliminate fear entirely. You know how they want to do that?" Her head started shaking. "They want to eliminate us..."
The cat ghoul let that sink in for a moment before continuing.
"And this... Isn't even the worst of it."
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Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 7:08 pm
Leaning forward in his seat, Jericho awaited for her to begin. As she began to speak, it was nothing quite new to him. After his initial talk with Riyo, he had done some sleuthing with Riley. Nox had told them, as well as Bul and Sammy that these were humans they were dealing with. The next bit however, was something he wasn't as familiar with as far as information went.
"One of the ToT'ers have mentioned that these hunters are human and that they have some vendetta against us. I didn't quite realize that was the extent of it," he said with a frown, "So they're using FEAR to fight FEAR.. literally."
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Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 7:24 pm
"Yeah..." Riyo replied softly, her fingers interlocking on the table as her tired eyes stared off into the distance of the teacup. "Well... About that FEAR..."
It was hard for Riyo to relive this part. Relive the terror of learning about such a terrible thing. "Those... Those weapons they use... They used to be..."
The feline's eyes painfully closed shut. "Like us. They were creatures of Halloween. Stripped of their bodies and forced into the shape of a weapon. Jericho... The worst part is, they're not even dead in there. Those damn humans were gonna do that to some of the students, Jericho! They were forced to watch others turn!" Riyo's hands started shaking at the thought. "C-can you imagine? Being like that? Unable to do anything but watch someone use you?" It was obvious the thought did more than bother the cat ghoul. It terrified her.
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Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 7:34 pm
Just as before, the first bit of information was not quite new. But it seemed that Riyo had a little more of the details than he did. Jericho's eyes widened for the moment as she mentioned that those who were turned were still alive in their weapon forms.
For a moment, his memory flashed back to the lighthouse on the island. The hunter they encountered there... there were a few times that it seemed like he was talking to himself. At the time the dragon thought the guy was just crazy but now he realized that.. he was likely talking to the weapon.
Furthermore, some of the students actually witnessed this happening? That sounded.. horrific.
"If they were able to do that there... they must have a portable way of doing it..." he murmured. The original thought was that they were turned through means of torture lasting at least several days. That didn't quite seem to be the case. He was going to need to trade notes with Riley later on. No doubt she was learning things from people who had witnessed things first hand as well.
"I'm sorry you had to go through that," he added before reaching for his cup of tea.
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Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 8:57 pm
"N-no Jericho. Don't say that." Riyo finally managed to stop her shaking long enough to take a sip of tea. "Many other students had it worse than I did. Feel bad for them, not me." She never wanted to feel sorry for herself. And more than that, she didn't want others to feel sorry for her. Even after all this...
"There was another loss... Besides Red." Her hands gripped the hot cup tightly. "She was called... The Soul Harvester. And... She had charged in to try and save the captured students."
It was stupid that she felt so bad for someone she didn't even know. "I didn't even know her purpose for being there... But we all struggled to free her... Only to watch her die in the end." The shriek still haunted her when she woke up sometimes. "I feel so stupid... All of it seemed ridiculous at first, going through these dumb rooms and using the power of 'teamwork'. Now I wish I would've taken it seriously from the beginning."
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Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 9:05 pm
Well, other students might have had it harder than what Riyo went through, but it didn't mean that what she experienced was easy. Letting out a sigh, Jericho just listened as she continued to tell him what went on. Now as far as the Soul Harvester went, he knew nothing of her.
She seemed like a mysterious entity and from the sounds of it, the feline didn't know much of her either. Perhaps this would be worth looking into, though he supposed she could have just taken the house as her haunting grounds. It was hard to say.
"Well, at the very least you learned something, didn't you?"
From what he gathered, Riyo was a very independent person. She struggled just to ask him for help before. He wouldn't doubt if she had trouble in a team sort of environment as well.
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Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 6:06 am
Learn something? LEARN SOMETHING?
That actually made her laugh.
"Yeah." The ghoul scoffed after she was done laughing, the teacup coming back down on the saucer with a hard 'clink'. "Not to go on ******** field trips." Not that people hadn't warned her before. Though, as they say, curiosity kills the cat. It actually had LITERALLY this time.
After a short sigh, she seemed to calm back down. "I suppose I learned a lot of things... Most of them I could do without." Riyo quietly pivoted in her seat so she could look towards the window behind her. "I don't think my situation is as desirable as it was when I first started here. And... I don't know what I want anymore." Not a single clue. The feline was torn in two, and it was maddening. "The lonely feeling faded out for a long, long time, and while I wasn't what you'd call happy, it was livable. I figured that would be all I ever needed..."
She paused, reaching a hand up to the slightly sensitive side of her head. "My Jack I could really use some booze right now. Even cheap wine would do."
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Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 8:38 am
Jericho shifted his wings as Riyo burst out into laughter. Well, that wasn't quite the reaction he had expected. That was for certain. Letting out a sigh, he placed his teacup down as well before leaning back in his seat. From the sounds of it, she was actually torn on whether she should continue to push people away and the like.
"There's nothing wrong in wanting companionship, if that's what you're talking about," he said before raising a brow as she mentioned wanting booze.
"Somehow I get the feeling that wouldn't help with the whole recovery process a whole lot," he chuckled. Then again, he didn't know what sort of drunk she was. For some reason, he was imagining the wild sort.
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Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 3:07 pm
Nothing wrong with companionship... Hah, Jericho didn't even know the half of it.
"Oh, liquor fixes everything if you use it right." Riyo smirked and shook her pointer finger at Jericho, as if she was talking from experience. Though really, she knew it fixed nothing. Only prolonged the pain.
... But that was a completely different topic.
"Anyways." Riyo started and turned back to face the dragon. "I really don't know if that's what I want, Jericho. I don't like people invading my personal space, and isn't that half of what companionship is about? Gettng up in your face and your business?"
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