Welcome to Gaia! ::

O_O

The man chokes on a mouthful of beef, spraying food chunks across his place. The choking turns into hacking and coughing wracks him. He barely sets down the food is his hands as he gags and coughs and hacks uncontrolably. He drops sideways out of his chair and lands on his hands and knees, heaving and wretching until his meal burst from his mouth and across the ground. He coughs more, throws up again, coughs, heaves, hacks, etc. Tears stream from his eyes and he alternately clutches his stomach and head. After a bit the attack fades and he weezes pitifully, tears streaming down his face.

"Oh god... that sucked..."

With a few gasping breaths he gathers himself and leans away from the fresh pool of vomit. Panting heavily while he gets his legs out from under him the man finally gets out his question.

"What... what was that...? With the smoke... and the kid... Oh s**t... Heh... I'll clean that up... Uff...."

A soft caw echoed forth from the form of a raven perched in one of the trees that surrounded the dojo, as it cawed once more the birds head turned to and fro gazing at the place with intelligent eyes before hopping sideways twice and merging with the tree. Moments later a man with tanned skin stood at the base of the tree looking at the place through heavily tinted sunglasses that hid his eyes as well as the scarf looped around his neck and face hid his mouth. A foxes ears and tail stood out in bright contrast to his black clothing as they twitched slightly in the breeze. His black shirt had the appearence of an oddly textured silk and his black pants that of soft leather.

He moved towards the building on quiet feet, not the unnatural silence so common among people in his line of work, but the simple silence of one born and raised hunting in forests. As he walked his tail wrapped around his waist and his ears twitched slightly. The only odd aspect of the man to most in the area would have been that he carried no weapons, and for the extremely observant, that his clothes made no sound as the brushed against each other. Some may recognize his form to be either Wolf, Ka'rinth, or Shadow, but no one he had yet met could tell which was which with out first seeing his hidden eyes.

As he reached the door to the dojo, he pushed it open with just a flicker of his aura along the doorknob. It then sank downward to merge with the ground as he stepped inside and to his left while closing the door and gazing around the room with an undefinable purpose that none the less held a sense of analysis.

The man starts again, flinching away from the shadow and almost knocking over the chair he was leaning against.

"Oh man... How did you do that!?!? I mean, I could see the kid stashing that gun somewhere but... but no he wasn't wearing loose enough clothing was he? Oh man, oh man oh man oh man. That shouldn't be possible... should it? How do I even know what is normal anymore. What... how... who... ugh..."

The man pales and clutches his head violently. He digs his fingertips into his temples and behind his skull. He groans piteously and rolls over again, trying to empty again his already empty stomach.

"Heh, I'll try to slow down. Thanks."

He pulls himself up using the chair and wavers a bit before dropping into his seat again.

"Try."

The man is already at it again but he slows and swallows to consider this.

"... That... sort of thing is normal?"

His tone is hesitant, indicative that he's on the verge of something big, almost as if your answer is going to change his world. The half eaten apple in his hand seems forgotten. He takes a bite unconciously, then looks at his hand as if it surprised him.

The man's eyes widen.

"I was still in the hospital for that! The nurses were on the verge of hysterics and the doctors kept babbling about some sort of solar eclipse, it made my roommates look positively sane."

He takes another bite of the apple and munches thoughtfully.

To imagine the applications this sort of thing could have in the medical world. Tumors and cancerous growth removed by non-invasive procedure, maybe even diseases themselves removed at the... the... oh god why can't I remember? Its right on the edges... Did someone...? No, I must have just heard...

The man rubs his temple and clentches his eyes shut for a moment.

"It doesn't matter. This... will did you call it? Can it be taught?"

The man finishes off the apple and sets down the core, picking up a loaf of bread in its place.

"So it can be taught? Can you teach? Are there books or guides?"

He's interested, really interested, but is still munching.

"Dunno rightly, I'm... what's that word for really really hungry?"

He tosses a couple slices of ham between the remains of his bread and takes several large bites. He chews, swallows, chews some more, and swallows. He goes to take another bite and stops.

"I think I might have know how to do, that."

He gestures at your shadow.

"Before all of this. It feels like the medical practice did, but less remembering and more relearning. There's nothing else to it? Just... concentrate?"

He finishes off the sandwich in short order, all the while staring at his shadow.

There was a dull scraping sound of metal on metal, as a form moved slowly towards the Dojo. The rusted metal plates of the body grinded together, shedding off flakes of rust. The suit of armor was bulky, and the inside was empty. Empty aside from the soul inside that motivated it. The mockery of K was nothing to fear, for it was incredibly weak, but it would serve as a host for some time. The child hadn't been enough, this soul wanted to rape every remnant of what it once had been. It starved itself of all things it loved in a purposeful attempt to further lower itself. And now, it marched in the weak and slow body to the Dojo.

It took quite some time, but eventually the body stomped up towards the door. It was incredibly noisy as it pushed open the door, then stomped inside. Each heavy footstep left flakes of rusty metal, and the blood-stained warmachine seemed to ignore every presence. With a shrug of the large metal plates, it's empty visor scanned the main room. It then moved towards the side, and then stood quite still. It seemed as though the animated suit of armor had simply found a spot to stand as a sentinel, and no longer felt the need to move.