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 Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 6:40 pm
...That hadn't been her smartest idea.
Still, to be fair, she had been driven by panic and concern when she had decided to roll down after Erebus. It only took seconds of rolling until an unpleasant dizziness set in, but just as the baku was beginning to wonder when (and desperately hope) she would come to a stop, she suddenly felt herself slamming hard into something...soft.
And furry.
...And breathing.
Although it immediately clicked that she must have just tumbled straight into Erebus, she couldn't bring herself to say anything yet, the world spinning around her. At the very least, she dizzily pushed herself off to the side so that she could roll off of Erebus, faceplanting in the dirt.
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Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 7:49 am
He bit back a yelp as the baku collided right into him. Sure it hurt, but it didn't hurt as much as rolling right into a tree, and he certainly was glad that Xiu didn't have to experience that. Relief tingled within him at that thought, but in all honesty?
Wow, he just had his breath knocked right out of him again. Erebus couldn't help but flop right down on the grass besides his friend, staring up at the sky. "Hey... you okay?" His chest heaved with pants to refill his lungs with oxygen, and with a few more breaths, a small chuckle escaped him. "Well, I suppose... both bakus and puppies are fast, huh?"
He certainly hadn't expected this to be such an interesting day.
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Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 10:24 pm
"I-I'm okay," She managed to wheeze out, forcing herself to take slow, deep breaths, "And I'm really...really sorry about rolling into you like that. I saw you trip, so I panicked and went after you, and then..."
And then he could probably guess what had happened. At the very least, his comment about both bakus and puppies being fast earned a bright laugh from the ghoul, who nodded enthusiastically. Rolling onto her stomach, Xiu stood up on wobbly legs which she lifted one by one and shook out.
"Though the next time we race...we should make sure to do it around even ground and designate a finish line first."
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Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 11:39 pm
"Nah, I..." He drew in a few deep pants, his tongue sticking out. "I should be the one apologizing. After all, I wasn't looking where I was going..." There was an itch on his back, but Erebus was too lazy (and too winded) to get up, instead choosing to wiggle his body and let the grass do the job for him.
...Well, not as effective as his paws, but it was the best he could manage.
"Yeah." He agreed, as he forced himself up on his feet and carefully tried to shake any bits of grass that may have stuck to his fur. "And maybe ask others along too. Like our companions in the tower; Clyde and Wilson, was it?"
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Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2013 9:33 pm
"Accidents happen!" She chirped dismissively, moving forward to boop Erebus on the nose, "We'll just have to be careful next time." Because apparently she was certain that there would be (or at least, was determined for there to be) a rematch someday in the future.
One that involved less rolling.
The two familiar names made Xiu perk up, though she deflated a moment later, ears flattening against her head. "Clyde is in Amity, but Wilson..." He was a hunter, wasn't he? That made things a lot more complicated. He seemed like a nice guy, but...would he really want to be friends now that they were back to their usual lives? And other than that--
"There would be no way to contact him or plan a meet up," The baku lamented, ears still pinned down as she flopped onto her side on the grass.
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Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2013 10:20 pm
"Definitely." Erebus agreed. Next time, they would set up a proper path to follow and make sure there weren't any tree roots in the way. Or rocks. Or just anything that would make a distracted puppy and/or baku be as clumsy as they were today.
"Huh?" The only problem here for Erebus was that he did not understand what Xiu was talking about. Why would Wilson be uncontactable? They were all students at Amityville, right? "Did he get expelled?" But even so, they could write letters and meet outside school... Erebus scrunched up his nose and tried to think, his tail drooping. Did something bad happen to Wilson?
"I don't get it." He said finally, shaking his head.
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Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2013 1:08 am
Xiu flopped onto the other side so that she could face Erebus, staring at him blankly. W-wait a minute, did he not know about...? Slowly pushing herself back up into a sitting position, the ghoul tilted her head, frowning as best as a baku could frown.
"W-wait. Erebus, didn't you know...? Wilson is a Hunter." She let that hang in the air for a moment before hesitantly adding a little more, just in case he wasn't entirely up to date with all this Hunter business. "The...the humans who have been capturing Halloween citizens to turn them into weapons...?"
She carefully added that most of these conversions failed--leading to the permanent loss of the creature--before letting out a sigh. "They've been...our enemies for a long time now. It doesn't seem like they're all bad, though..." Wilson, for instance. That, and it seemed like the vast majority of them were fighting just to protect themselves and survive, but...
Laying down on her stomach, Xiu set her head on her forelegs and drooped. She still wanted to still Wilson with Erebus sometime.
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Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2013 2:23 am
There was nothing but blank silence from the puppy as he stared at Xiu, taking in her words. Hunter? Turning citizens into... weapons?
His legs felt weak, tail curling up between his legs as he flopped back down on the grass. "W-woah." Erebus breathed, blowing out a sigh. He had really no clue about what had been going around the times he was holed up in his room and the library, huh? "But that's just..." He didn't even know what to think. All those poor Halloween creatures. Why would humans just... all they did was to scare them, after all, right?
He couldn't help but let out a dejected little whine. And Wilson was caught up in all this? But they had been friends, comrades even, helping each other get up the tower with the keys and the strange gargoyles. "That's just... sad." Erebus finished, his whole body feeling utterly drained, and it wasn't because he was exhausted from running.
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Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2013 12:37 am
Maybe she shouldn't have said anything at all? But it felt best to at least warn the boil, lest he ever find himself in a bad situation in the future. Scrambling up to the feet, she hastily trotted up to him, sitting down beside him and patting his head with her tail (since she couldn't really reach with her stubby forelegs).
"A lot of things have happened in the past few months. Everyone seemed to be working together pretty well during the recent incident because the world was at stake, but now that things are back to normal..." She couldn't be so sure that the next time they met Wilson, it would be as friendly acquaintances. There was that possibility that they would have to fight, especially if that head hunter--Caelius--was present...
But it was best not to think of that right now. Still patting the puppy with the puffy end of her tail, the baku shook her head. "Maybe things will stay peaceful for a bit. If you'd like, we can always drop by the Haunted House every now and then to check if Wilson is around?"
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Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2013 12:48 am
It was certainly the first time he was being patted with a tail, and a baku tail at that. Under normal circumstances, he would have thought it amusing and probably chuckled, but...
The facts were sobering. After all, Xiu had no reason to lie to him, and well, if you couldn't trust some ghoul that went through a whole tower to get keys for their whole team, who could you trust?
But Wilson had done the same too, hadn't he? Depressed, Erebus sighed. It had been nice to work together even if he hadn't known about the whole Hunter situation. Just how many creeple he had met were Hunters? All of them fighting together, defeating those monsters, intent on saving their worlds...
He had thought that being back to normal was a good thing. But he still couldn't shake off the sorrow that had sank in when he thought of Halloweeners being captured for a cause that seemed so strange, and having their lives lost in the process. "But what if Wilson tries to, you know... us?"Kaiyumi I THOUGHT YOU WENT TO BED D:<
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Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2013 9:52 pm
"Then we have to...defend ourselves," She answered slowly, her voice soft, "But he honestly doesn't seem like that bad of a guy. As I said, there are different people among the Hunters..." And while some--like the Head Hunter--were terrible, she could almost sympathize with some of the others.
Awkwardly pushing herself up onto her unstable hind legs, she tried to give her friend a hug...which was not entirely effective with her tiny forelegs, but she tried. "I'm sorry to have brought it up. I didn't mean to make you so sad."
Poor Puppy. Maybe she really shouldn't have said anything after all.
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Posted: Sat Sep 07, 2013 12:14 am
The very thought of having to fight Wilson, or any other Hunter, really, made his tail feel like it would be stuck in a state of drooping forever. Erebus didn't quite understand why anyone would risk the permanent loss of Halloween creatures but... not everything was clear black and white.
The hug did make him feel slightly better, even if it wasn't quite a proper hug. It was the thought that counted, and he patted her on the back with a paw. "It's okay. I mean, I would have found out sooner or later." And now Xiu sounded sad too. Erebus hated making a ghoul sad because of his ignorance.
"Race you back to the Demon dorms!" He blurted out, his tail starting in a slow wag once again.
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Posted: Sat Sep 07, 2013 1:05 am
Xiu still looked a little guilty, but when Erebus abruptly changed the subject, the baku visibly lit up slightly. Planting all four feet back on the ground, she let out a little laugh before swishing her tail back and forth.
"You're on! I'm definitely going to win this time though!" She drew a line in the dirt with her foreleg and moved to stand behind it, muscles tensing as she began to count. One...two...three...
And then they were off, and hopefully made it back to the demon dorms without any further incident, but knowing them...
...Well.
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