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 Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2020 5:44 pm
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Kamacite knew he shouldn't care, nor should he bother to do anything. Youma needed to feed, too. It was why he still collected starseeds, regardless of the fact that his half-youma General had probably been killed or lost to the Rift. Why else would he have not seen his General in over a year? Top secret mission was possible, but unlikely for someone as volatile as Wolfeite.
But it seemed so… wrong. To let a youma tear a civilian to shreds in search of the starseed within. Kamacite had never been one for violence, had never been one for torture. He tried to render his victims unconscious by taking all their energy first before removing their starseed so they wouldn't feel the pain it caused. He didn't like screaming, and crying reminded himself of all his own failings and incompetencies.
He watched as the civilian stumbled backwards, seemingly injured by the youma, cornered without chance of escape, before he closed his eyes to focus and teleport himself between the snarling youma, like a hairless, emaciated baboon, and the crumpled civilian.
"Cover your eyes," was the only warning he gave as he held his hand in front of him and said "Solar flare."
A crippling, blinding light lit up the alley. The youma shrieked and reared back in pain, its gnarled hands clawing at its eyes as though trying to force the blindness away. Kamacite doubted the civilian would have been immune to the attack, but hopefully it hadn't been as painful as it had been to the youma.
Energy recharged enough, Kamacite grabbed the civilian's arm, and teleported them both to a small clearing in a nearby park, far enough away for the youma to no longer sense them.
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Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2020 11:47 am
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Jonah had no idea where the monster came from. One minute he was walking down the sidewalk in a desolate area of town, dragging his feet as he slowly made his way home after a night at the piano bar, and the next there was this weird, hairless creature coming right for him.
At first, he thought maybe he’d had a little too much to drink and the figure he thought was a monster was actually a stray dog, but it didn’t look like any dog he’d ever seen in his life. Besides, he knew strange things happened in this city. He heard about them all the time. He’d even been present for one such strange event, and that had been terrifying enough to ensure that he kept his distance ever since. Supposedly there were people out there responsible for all this stuff, but Jonah couldn’t have said who those people were. He was just trying to live his life.
Which was easier said than done when fear and anxiety had a habit of getting in the way.
Jonah closed his eyes on command, even if he didn’t know the stranger who suddenly appeared in front of him. The bright light still managed to penetrate through his eyelids at close range, but it probably would have been much worse if he’d still been staring in wide-eyed horror. His vision was spotty when he opened his eyes again, and he was a little disoriented, but the latter complaint might have something to do with the fact that he was no longer on the sidewalk.
When and how had they gotten to this park?
“Uhh…” He hesitated, senses a little dull from alcohol. He glanced around when his vision cleared more, but no, he wasn’t seeing things. They were in a completely different area. “Um… Th-thank you? Uhh… How did you… I mean, what was… Umm…”
He shifted on his feet nervously, wincing when the movement pulled at a wound on the side of his hip. It wasn’t too deep, thankfully, but it would probably hurt a lot more once the alcohol was out of his system.
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Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2020 1:04 pm
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Once on solid ground, Kamacite released the civilian’s arm and took a step away, lest he made a mistake and this rather unimpressive looking young man was violent towards his kind. Somehow he doubted this civilian posed any threat, but one could never be too cautious.
He didn’t respond when thanked, and instead pushed his long dark hair off from over his shoulder and tucked his hands into the sleeves of his bright, sunset floral robes. The smart thing would be for him to take this young man’s energy, maybe even his starseed, and go home. But there was something familiar about the uncertainty, fear, and general confusion in the man’s eyes that made Kamacite uneasy. It was almost as if he was looking at himself not too long ago.
The wince had Kamacite glancing down to the darkening fabric near the man’s hip, which had him wincing in sympathy. He thought he saw the youma take a swipe at him, but he was hoping maybe he didn’t actually cause injury.
Against his better judgement, Kamacite stepped forward and reached out for the man’s shirt. He paused, realizing the quick movements would probably startle him, and instead lifted both his hands to show he was unarmed.
Not that he was really unarmed since he could use magic, but the gesture that he meant no harm should have been clear.
Not that… Kamacite hadn’t used that same tactic to lure his victims into a false sense of security, but this time he really meant it.
“That was a youma, a creature of the Negaverse. They feed on energy that comes from a human’s very existence. You should let me take a look. Make sure it’s not serious,” Kamacite said, his voice soft as he gestured to a nearby bench. “Don’t you know it’s dangerous to be out at night?”
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Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2020 12:26 pm
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Jonah flinched and took a step back. He wasn’t really afraid of this person, but he was a stranger and that made Jonah nervous, the way all strangers did. The way most people did, actually — stranger or not. This one seemed friendly enough, but one could never be too sure in this city. Besides, there’d just been a monster, and then this stranger showed up, and suddenly the monster was gone and they were in a park instead of a random sidewalk.
It was weird. If Jonah could think straight, he’d probably be freaking out even more. It seemed the alcohol was good for something. He wasn’t calm enough to seem like a functional human being, but he was calm enough not to have a panic attack.
That seemed like a win, if only a minor one.
“Youma…?” he said, no less lost and confused after the explanation. And what was the Negaverse, exactly? With a name like that, they sounded sort of sinister, and if they had monsters that fed on human energy…
Jonah shivered at the thought.
“I’m… I’m fine,” he stammered, looking down at his own hip to assess the damage. He could move it with only minimal pain and there wasn’t too much blood, which he assumed meant he wasn’t too badly hurt. “I was… I was going home. Just… not very fast. I didn’t think… I mean, I’ve never seen… A-Actually, maybe I have, but… it was a long time ago.”
He looked back at the stranger, distracted from his wound by the other young man’s bright clothes and long, dark hair. There were dark splotches at the center of his forehead and chest that looked like they shouldn’t be there, but it was late at night and there wasn’t much light, so the shadows were probably playing tricks on Jonah’s already impaired vision.
“Your robe is very nice,” Jonah said thoughtlessly. Idiot, he thought to himself. It definitely wasn’t a basic robe. “Uhh… I mean… kimono?”
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Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2020 2:57 pm
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Slowly, Kamacite lowered his arms when it seemed as though the other would really rather not be touched. Kamacite could respect that, since he knew he would have freaked out if someone attempted to remove his shirt, with or without permission.
Still, it would have been smart to let him check the wound. Youma could sometimes be venomous, or have poison on their claws.
The comment about his outfit had him pausing. He never really thought about it these days, just that it was bright and could be considered distracting. But the compliment was… nice, he supposed.
“Thank you,” he said quietly, but graciously. It definitely wasn’t a traditional kimono, but the elements were there. It was as though the cosmos purposefully bastardized it to remind him that he was a mutt in his own heritage.
“Garden Street is on the other side of these trees. Magnolia Drive is over there, where you were walking before,” Kamacite gestured in the direction of the different streets. “I can’t feel the youma anymore, but stay away from that area if you can. Do you think you’ll be able to get home from here?”
He wasn’t trying to force the other into staying around, although he was still a bit concerned about the wound.
“Make sure you bandage that right away. If it starts looking infected, go to the hospital.”
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Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2020 10:35 am
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“Feel?” Jonah asked.
How could someone feel something they weren’t even touching? Maybe Jonah hadn’t heard him correctly. He must have drank more than he thought, and his brain was making up things that didn’t make any sense. Being traumatized by a monster probably messed him up, too. He’d clearly blacked out somewhere between the sidewalk and the park, otherwise he’d remember how they got here instead of his brain assuming they’d just… randomly appeared.
Like magic.
But if monsters were real, couldn’t magic be real, too?
“I… okay,” Jonah agreed, though he was unsure if he was agreeing to his ability to get home on his own or to the bit about going to the hospital. “I can… order an uber.”
He fumbled in his pockets for his phone, relieved to see that it hadn’t been damaged at all during the attack.
Not that he wanted to go home, at least not until he was sure it was late enough that his grandfather wouldn’t be up waiting to berate him for something, but he should probably start making his way in that direction instead of wandering around on his own.
Jonah hesitated before opening the app, glancing toward the stranger again. “Umm… do you need help getting… anywhere?”
Probably not, if he could handle a monster on his own, but it was always polite to ask.
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Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2020 6:10 am
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Kamacite wasn’t entirely convinced that his effort in saving this civilian would be worth anything, seeing as he seemed to be pretty hopeless. Not that he’d been expecting anything out of it, but either this young man had very little idea about how this city was plagued by magical people, or he was doing a damn good job of faking it.
Crossing his arms over his chest, tucked into each opposite sleeve, Kamacite watched as the civilian dug for his phone in his pocket. How anyone like this young man could survive in this city was beyond him, but Kamacite supposed it only really took one chance encounter to determine one’s fate. This young man just hadn’t had that happen yet.
“No, thank you,” he said softly, a little surprised about the offer. Seems like he really didn’t know anything about the Negaverse then.
“Take care of yourself,” Kamacite said with a small nod, and then, just because he could, teleported away. Part of him wondered if this guy would think he just imagined their whole interaction.
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