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 Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 10:00 am
 Tanzaku laid his head down into his paws, the empty city stretching out before him. Occasionally a car would speed by, headlights blinding in his vision, leaving white hot trails lingering in sea-gray eyes. He might've been waiting there, once, for something or someone but he had forgotten it a long time ago.
Reaching out a stray paw, he rested it on a worn basketball in front of him, rolling it back and forth in dry amusement. Looking out over the polluted expanse, he fancied the lights looked as organized as a light show, blinking on and off, shivering in the cold panorama.
He used to be waiting, he was sure of that much.
Waiting, yes. But for what? Rolling over onto his back, he realized that the stars had been blotted out, the silent, rolling lights of the city too brilliant for the heavens.
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 6:49 pm
 Belle padded silently down the street, almost at a loss for words. It was getting quite late, and she was still quite far from home. She hadn't quite mastered the idea that she could appear at Capricorn's side wherever she was, and was therefore stuck walking home. Wherever her sister had gotten to, it definitely wasn't nearby- she had lost the sense of her presence.
She shivered a bit as she pushed forward, silver eyes glancing at people that moved past her like she wasn't even there- her mother had spoken of them before; they were the non-believers, and were therefore not able to see her. It saddened the young demon, but there was nothing to do about it.
Heaving a heavy sigh, and not quite used to the feel of pavement beneath her paws, the child kept walking, determined to find her way back home to the rest of her family.
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 7:07 pm
Stone-grey eyes glinted as they caught sight of a dark female down the street, not far from his highway-side hill. Her eyes flickered to either side, sending him into his own thoughts. Perhaps she was not yet used to the cold, or perhaps she had lost her way home. Shuffling dejectedly onto all four paws, he padded silently down the grassy slope, nudging the basketball down carefully, tail swishing elegantly behind him.
Ahead, lights continued to draw across the long, artificial roads, the stink of city smog running over his senses like death gods on parole. Above, the clouds had begun to cover up the argent token in the sky, layer over filmy layer like the dress of a fairytale bride. She was beautiful enough to be a bride, Tanzaku mused to himself, marvelling at all the light one moon could pour onto a lonely planet.
Turning his gaze back to the girl, he sat himself down at the pavement side, frowning at the swinging arms of unknowing passerby.
"What are you doing out so late? Are you lost?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 7:17 pm
Belle startled, eyes wide as dinner plates before she realized it was another demon standing before her. A broad grin crossed her face, hoping that the other would befriend her. He seemed to have the hardened expression of someone who could only rely on themself most of the time- and that saddened her. She glanced to the ball at his side, noting it silently as an object to play with- she had seen them before around the house, but had never bothered to get a closer look. She was too busy, after all, investigating everything else around her.
She jumped as a car flew past them, high beams managing to catch her in her pale eyes. She squinted them shut desperately, holding in a whimper as the light seared the delicate irises. There were some times she wished that she had inherited her mother's deep purple eyes rather than the steely silver of her father's. Slowly cracking open the luminous orbs again, she looking into the other winiko's face, a light smile coming across her face again.
"I'm not really lost, but I'm not exactly near home, either..." she trailed off as she stopped her stride, ears swiveling to listen to whatever he might say to her, "The house I live at is way off on the coast." Pausing for a moment, she thought hard before another smile crossed her face. "I'm Belle- what's your name?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 7:46 pm
Rolling the ball between his front paws as he listened intently, Tanzaku's tail lay motionless and dead-looking behind him the moment he stopped moving. To anyone passing, he looked like another grainy smudge against the hill, an eccentric stone with tints of cobalt streaks, or was it just the light?
Th same car that startled the other female left streaks in his vision, his eyes seeing ribbons where there were other things. He fancied that if he peered directly into that light forever, he would always be able to live in his own world, where he could see what he wanted, to like when he was asleep.
He loved dreaming. He loved dreaming and sleep and the night, but sleep came seldom for him, his thoughts always whirring in his head.
Catching her eyes, he offered a small, egotistical smirk, tilting his head rather mischeviously against a backdrop of grey upon black upon grey.
"What drove you out here, then?" he wondered aloud, looking around and still finding the place as desolate as before. Mechanics and weary old people, that's what the place was. The smell of gas tanks and Mexican cigarettes- he was used to it all.
But, alas, it was nearly home, after all, because the stars were right there.
"Belle... is that right?" he tasted the word on his tongue, a bit of a jest painting his words.
"I'm Tanzaku. Nice to meetcha."
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 7:59 pm
He looked so... stoic, sitting there. It was a harsh contrast from her own superfluous personality, and a strong feeling of sadness crept into her heart. No one deserved to be alone; that was her credo. Just looking at him made her want to reach out and help, if only a little. She shuddered softly once more, the chill night air settling on her dark pelt. The youth wasn't used to being outside- let alone away from the rest of her family.
"Pardon?" she inquired, not quite catching his first statement. Her eyes focused on him, tail curling about her back foot in an almost nervous manner- here in the city, not everyone could be easily swayed to love sunshine and flowers. It was about this time where she sincerely missed the company of her sister, whose harsh attitude had saved them more than once before. Not that she expected anything from the demon before her, but the feeling of humans brushing past her without really knowing she was there was more than a little unnerving.
"Tanzaku..." her voice murmured, eyes looking up to the smog-covered excuse for a sky for a mere moment. The name rolled easily from her throat, but there wasn't anything delicate about it- not that it wasn't a nice name, but the letters weren't paired up quite like they were with her own name.
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 8:30 pm
Tanzaku overlooked the scene with a cold eye and took in every detail, her small shivers, the way her naive eyes looked into the distance, thinking, the wistful aura that settled about her dark fur like mist after the rain in the Spring.
He shook his head gently, letting out a teasing laugh.
"No, it was nothing." he dismissed with a flick of his tail, watching her uneasiness with interest. The humans continued to walk on by, some with briefcases that would probably make her flinch, though he was used to all of it. As a particularly bulky man obscured his view of her, he frowned, finding it a nuisance for their conversation. Tilting his head back to the hill, he motioned for her to follow, eyeing the passerby meaningfully.
He didn't like speaking aloud. There was something about his voice... it sent him on edge, reminded him he was there. He much rather preferred speaking in his head, where he could manipulate nearly anything that came by in those fleeting daydreams, where the walls were not washed out, where passing cars didn't leave a dizzying stench and a brilliant white ribbon-
Tanzaku.
His head snapped to her, and he smiled, finding something endearing about the way she said his name. The consonants sounded rough on her tongue and didn't flow with her innocent appearance, but there was surely something...
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 4:51 pm
Belle's head craned to the side as he replied to her inquiry, curious as to why he brushed away the idea of a reply so easily. She was naive in the way of the world, and could never quite wrap her mind about the fact that not everyone led happy, cheerful, and unplagued lives. She caught the motion beckoning her to follow, and gratefully trotted quickly over to where he sat, inwardly glad that she was not unwelcome to him.
Although the company of this demon was welcome at this late hour, Belle felt her superfluous attitude slowly fading among the exhaust and smog of the city. It was a dismal place, to her, and even her bright personality was feeling the weight of it. Tail curling instinctively to her side, she stopped a few feet from him, ears swiveling about again to catch the sounds of the world about her. If it was daylight, then it wouldn't be so bad, but at night, the city turned into a pit of cold, despair, and anxiety.
"Do you... live here?" she inquired, eyes turning back to Tanzaku, "In this area, I mean, not right in this spot." She let out a soft laugh as she spoke, the chill night air causing the fur down her spine to prickle on edge. She held back another shudder, but was getting to the point where she really wanted to get inside somewhere.
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 6:20 pm
Rolling the ball alongside him as he trotted up the hill, he glanced back for a second to make sure of her, finding her footsteps quite elegant and light on the ground, as if she wasn't used to the outside. Turning back, he listened intently to the sound of the grass crumbling under their combined footsteps, the chirping of midnight cicadas stark against the silence.
She had followed him, and willingly, too. Suppressing a sigh, he stopped at the top of the hill, holding onto the basketball with a stray paw, the other resting on the ground lifelessly. Lowering himself to the floor, the grass tickled at his belly, the passing cars seemed closer than before. With her dark body like another shadow, he could see only her argent eyes peering at him. Snorting, he looked away, finding the whole scene a little too romantic.
At her words, he turned back, laughing bitterly at her comment, the sound of his voice knocking him from his own speculations. Where had that naiveté come from?
"Technically, yes, actually. On this very spot." he spoke in clipped, military sentences, avoiding her gaze.
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 7:10 pm
Padding along silently after him, Belle's eyes looked at his back, inwardly forming another picture of him. His slate-gray coloring reminded her of the knights in armor that appeared so often in the fairy tales Capricorn often read her. While Tanzaku didn't appear as a savior to her, the impression that came off onto her felt like he was a wandering soul- alone so he could follow his own ideals, or perhaps because he was forced to be...
She shook her head- hard. This wasn't the time to be lost in her fantasy world, she told herself. Besides, she definitely didn't want to make assumptions about why he was out he- what? She listened to him as he spot in his short sentences, a frown furrowing over her brow as he stated that this was his home. Her eyes looked to him, now sprawled out in the grass beneath them. She didn't want to lie down here, though- perhaps it was the mere fact that she had grown up in the safety and comfort of her seaside home that kept her so locked in her miniature fantasy realm.
"Well... don't you have a... human?" she whispered quietly, afraid that her question would offend or upset him, "Capri says that all of us are bound to someone's soul, someone that when it comes down to, they can rely on through thick and thin..." She trailed off, face falling to stare at the ground below her. "I... I dunno. Forget I said anything."
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Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 4:19 am
On his stomach, the world seemed all the bit clearer, be it the twinge of stars that just dangled over his nose, or the scent of amaryllis petals that hung precariously over the land. Not all scenes in the city were morbid or dark, though Tanzaku could not figure out, for the life of him, which he preferred.
If he was neither dark nor light, and something in between, what kind of ghost did that make him? He suppressed a laugh. A ghost wasn't that far from a demon. They were both lost.
Cocking his head at Belle's hesitation to everything- the cold, the hill, the city- he tried to imagine what her life might be like. Gentle smiles and sunshine, nothing of the city variety. No cars whizzing past you, no fears driving you to dizzying heights. It was safe, he mused. Safe and nice and cozy.
He didn't know if he wanted that, and at her voice, he wondered if she was wondering the same thing. Giving her a tired, dead smile, he sat up a little rigidly, tail curled around the ball.
"How can I forget if you just said it?" he laughed teasingly, his voice breaking out over the open.
"I do have a human, her name is Alyssa. Alyssa Mae." he spoke quietly until even the sound of the crickets and cicadas rattled the ground more fiercely than his being. He just wanted to be quiet, so that, maybe, everything... everything would just fade away.
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Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 2:39 pm
Belle smiled meekly as she watched him, hoping genuinely that her question would not upset the other demon. After all, not all winiko had a great relation with their bonded, or so she heard. Most of the ones that she had encountered generally did, but then again, not everyone's lives were sugar-coated and sweet.
Her ears flicked as he spoke, muscles relaxing at his light jest. Although she recognized it as a tease, it didn't bother her- after all, she was glad the response was friendly rather than violent or outrightly rude to her.
To her, it seemed that he was almost ghastly- his pale, opaque fur shimmered lightly as the moon washed its beams over him, his eyes filled with a somewhat distant look. Her head craned to the side as she gazed at him, unaware of the change of her position. She snapped back down to earth as he spoke, listened as the name rolled off of his tongue and out of his mouth. Alyssa Mae... what a pretty name.
Not really recognizing that he had gone quiet, she wriggled a bit on her feet where she was standing. "Ohh, such a nice name she has..." she said, eyes shining lightly in the pale moonlight, "Does she... live around here?" It was absurd to think she had to ask this question, but she wanted to know. Then again, all demons stayed near to their bonded, right...?
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Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 3:07 pm
Catching her small smile, he offered a grin in return, the stars above like a beautiful drapery that set the scene for a masquerade between the two. In a way, it was a horror-filled kind of beauty, he mused to himself, him and his grey, shadow-filled coat beside her refulgently shining eyes paired with dark stripes reminescent of iris petals against cruel metal. On any other entity, it would have clashed horribly, but somehow Belle's coat remained sleek and fluid against the night, something that he was sure only her calming prescence could do.
The silence set in like a bombshell, long and stretched, every movement pronounced, yet instantaneously effective, drawing his breaths sharper and eyes half-closed, waiting for the next movement, thought, or perhaps both.
But when it came, he almost regretted it.
Swishing his tail across the grass slowly, he drew his eyes away, letting the night fall into darkness behind closed eyelids. He saw her as he spoke; verdant green eyes behind falling auburn locks, a gentle smile that was only ever saved for him. Yes, they were once there, just like that, two shining stars in an endless night.
"She does, actually," he started, the nostalgia flooding his mind, lacing his voice with the strain of hurt.
"She's in lives one of those houses down the street, though I'm not quite sure where she is at this moment. She's always out, see. Drowning her sorrows in alcohol or else doing who knows what kind of unspeakable things. I'm not welcome there, not now, not ever. It's not that big of a deal."
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Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 3:50 pm
Finally settling down a bit, Belle seated herself where she stood, lion-like tail curling about her side. Her head cocked to the side, blue-black mane slipping across her sleek, clean pelt as she did so. Her tiny ram-horns gleamed in the faint light as she shifted, their pale purple hue intensifying in the nightly glow.
As he replied, the youth's face saddened a bit. She wanted to question him more, to find out why she didn't want him around; was he a demon left over from a deceased relative, perhaps? Or just an accident? She frowned softly at either thought, not wanting to instill any more sadness within him.
"I'm... sorry," she replied, face falling for a moment before returning her eyes to his, "Has she... always been like that?" The second it came out of her mouth, Belle regretted the question. It wasn't her business to pry into his life, after all. One would have thought that the little girl would think before she spoke, but... not so much.
"Well... if you ever wanted to, you could come stay where I am for a little while." she added quickly, thinking a moment before stumbling over her words as they came from her mouth in a quick additive. "But you don't have to, I mean. If you don't really want to, that is..."
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Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 4:32 am
Watching her sit sent sparks of contentment drifting about the moonlit scene, somehow, the way that it showed that she was fine where she was, just talking to him. It was one thing, after all, to have company, but it was another to be able to entertain the company well.
But thinking about that, he felt a little betrayed, wanting their conversation to be without rules, to be free in some way or another. It was a strange way to think, but it took over his mind as he skimmed her beautiful coloring with his eyes, watching the frown with a dreamy-still-thinking discontentment, the glow of his own dusty cobalt hitting the grass at sharp angles.
He had never meant to hurt her that way. In fact, the moment he met her, he had subconsciously set a rule to not hurt her. She just seemed so small and kind and breakable, like a porcelain angel, in a way. He didn't think he'd be able to do it. Those were the thoughts that Alyssa had set into his head. That he was made to destroy. And that was that.
"Don't apologize." he stated simply, the bitterness from quiet thoughts leaking in between so that it became stern rather than tender, and he winced, wanting to take it back.
But, like so many other things, he couldn't.
"No, she... she used to be a beautiful person. You know, hair always shining, face always smiling, she'd be the kind of person you'd want to spend time with no matter the day. Because you could always rely on her happiness to make you feel better," he explained, a soft glaze coming over his eyes, as if he had wished, so much for those times to return.
"But I guess when he was accidentally shot I was blamed, see... we're demons, right? What good are we for, but destroying? That was what she thought. So it was really cruel, in a way, for her to have loved me so much, and then, nearly overnight, there were holes where there was feeling before. I just couldn't stand being there anymore."
At her offer, Tanzaku gave a sharp, almost teasing laugh, tilting his head in admiration. His response carried that gratitude, ringing out over the night,
"I'd love to, though I'm just afraid I'll burden you. You don't have to go thise far, as we've just met. I'm sure there are a lot more people who've felt this kind of sadness, people that'd you'd be much better off trusting. Living your life like this isn't exactly safe, you know."
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