|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bishoujo-senshi Mahou-shoujo
|
 Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2023 10:06 am
‘Humans are s**t. Their lives are full of mundane, predatory nonsense that slowly destroys the planet. Better that we take it from them while we can, and do away with their starseeds else they learn to misuse those, too.’And they intended to do just what the general-king had said. Ethe would keep the humans from destroying the planet. Ethe would take this world from them. Ethe would devour their starseeds. But, how did Ethe do that, exactly? Ethe had to think hard about what they thought about humans. They knew they had been one in what felt like a long time ago now. It seemed though that what they were talking about was a specific subset of humans. Those without magical power. Those who were not of Order or Chaos. Those that did not know of Metallia or Cosmos. Those that do not know of the War. Those that would view a youma as a monster. Were those the ones that were full of nonsense? Were they those that would misuse their starseeds? Ethe was experienced enough to know that even an agent could be predatory and could be filled with the same prejudice as an ordinary human. Their creation as a youma had shown them that. But could the opposite also be true? Could a human civilian be okay? Well, Ethe hadn’t met one get. At least, not as Ethe. What would they be like? Would they like to pet Ethe? Or would they be mean? Would they play? Or run away in fear? Ethe supposed they wouldn’t mind if they feared them. That just made them that much more fun to chase! But there was no guarantee what they would find on Earth. They’re had been told it was a very varied place. Something in the recesses of their mind told them that, too. That people would be vastly different than one another and it was that difference that was special. If only Ethe remembered where they had learned that and how hard that knowledge had been to come by? But they knew they were expected to go into the world and bring back something for Metallia. Go to Earth. Ethe thought about Faustite’s words as they made their way past the Hall of Shadows and to where they had been shown the general-king’s office was. “We are ready to go to Earth and bring Metallia back energy.”✧
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2023 4:17 pm
Pocketing another bracelet, Faustite performed a mental once-over for his subspace's contents. When he was certain they hd everything they needed, including some spare starseeds, he nodded to Ethe.
"Youma can go between the Rift and Destiny City directly. Only ones that can, too. Happens by way of a portal that snaps open and shut in an instant." The specifics of those portals were yet unknown to him; he could surmise that some were the result of agents reaching for youma, like when Generals summoned a handful to eliminate threats. Some might be specific to personal youma, like when he called forth Headache. But youma had a habit of making it to Destiny City without being called, so Faustite thought they must have some way to trigger those portals themselves.
"I'll take you today." He leaned over, placed a hand on the back of the furry youma. He suspected Ethe's fur was thick enough that the heat wouldn't penetrate before they were topside.
For that was an instantaneous affair — one moment in a sweltering, cruelly decorated office, and the next atop one of the flying buttresses to a cathedral, nestled in the heart of the city. While there was no organized affair happening at the church for the moment, it was integrated enough with the community that there were almost always people in its vicinity. Below, they gathered on the benches in the gardens, or congregated at the sides of the building to discuss other projects. Some were there for their free meal, others had less imminent business.
Faustite liked to traverse the roof, stepping over tiles as he peered beyond the sides. The building was large enough that people weren't often looking down its alleys at each other, nor keeping an eye on each other. And with darkness settling in earlier, the church's outside lights hadn't yet been turned on. In making his round, he ascertained that the easiest group of people was the family of three on the eastern side of the building, where they looked to be visiting the graveyard.
When Faustite rejoined Ethe, he asked, "Think you instinctually know how to drain?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bishoujo-senshi Mahou-shoujo
|
Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2023 4:41 pm
Ethe looked at Faustite collect his belongings into subspace. They wondered if they would learn how to do that, too, someday. “We think we saw a portal outside our lair once.” Ethe had found a cave in the Rift that they had claimed as their own. On day they claimed it, a strange light had appeared there. But they had not known what it was. “We wonder if it was for us. Or if we can summon our own portal. But we know you can. Ethe is a quick learner.”Ethe let out a friendly woof as Faustite placed a hand on their back. They could feel the heat, but it was not bad as it had to get through more than one layer of their thick black coat of fur. So quick pats were fine. “Yes. We know how to drain. It’s like releasing fire from our mouths, but in reverse.”They looked over the side of the building. They were quite high up. But heights did not bother them. Their wings were no good for flight, but they weren’t bad for softening a landing or assisting in jumping roofs. “Shall we start with them?”✧
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2023 5:00 pm
Sounded like Ethe hoovered up energy the way that Albite hoovered up attention. Straightforward, then. Presumably effective. At least, Faustite was oft under the impression that youma were better at gathering energy than Lieutenants, and even Captains. It was instinctual to them, whereas an agent had to learn all the nuances of it. It was standardized among the rank and file, whereas youma each had their own unique methodology.
"Mm," Faustite assented as he crouched down to Ethe's level. "Hear that?"
He paused, waited. Carried on the crisp air were callous complaints from the teenager, who acted inconvenienced about visiting a relative that died before she was born. She stared at her phone, too, though Faustite couldn't tell what she was looking at with such a distance between them. She was, however, being chided by one of the two older ones. Presumably a mother or a stepmother. The other one seemed content to let it happen.
"Expect the kid will be a runner." He paused a moment, considered how the pair might take care of three people without arousing much suspicion. Faustite would be quite noticeable in the night, which would create a headache for Infiltration.
"You go in first, scare the kid, get her running. Parents will be distracted. I'll take care of them." Easy enough to knock one out, drain the other, and stage it like a mugging. "Give chase. Drain her unconscious.
"Ready?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bishoujo-senshi Mahou-shoujo
|
Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2023 5:11 pm
Ethe’s large, furry ears rotated like saucers, focusing in on the sounds below. The teen was petulant, their voice annoying. Only to be matched by their caretaker’s which was of a timbre their ears did not care for. “We like runners.” The left head said and some saliva dripped for their mouth in anticipation. “Runners make the chase more fun.”Ethe crouched in down low. Their three eyes narrowed in on the girl. They waited for the signal to pounce. “Ready.” The right head said, as still as a pointer dog. ✧
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2023 5:26 pm
Perfectly obedient. Ethe had no questions, only an interest in rising to the occasion. It warmed him; if only the rank and file had half the sense of a youma when it came to performing their duties. But people were ever wont to bemoan that they have to do work for the power they received, or they bitched about morals, or had some excuse due to misbegotten priorities. In the Rift, with youma, they could act in perfect harmony.
Faustite waited on the signal. He listened, watched the three as they remained unaware of their watchers. The argument between the older woman and the girl heated up until it culminated in a flippant remark from the younger, who immediately turned her back to her presumed parents. Then she started a few paces away, taking a passing interest in a rock that would act as a mediocre seat.
That seemed like enough space between the three that none of them could reliably deduce what Ethe looked like in the dark. "Go," he murmured.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bishoujo-senshi Mahou-shoujo
|
Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2023 5:39 pm
They watched the girl turn her back. Walk away. Ignore whatever banal thing their parent had to say. Youth. So into their own selves they could hardly see what was around them. Their eyes flashed red at Faustite’s signal to go. Getting down from their perch was easy enough. Wings and paw worked together, silently. They couched behind a grave stone between the girl and the parents so that, if they were to look back at their child, Ethe’s body would be hidden. But not to the girl. Ethe wanted her to see! They snapped their jaws and the girl looked up from their preoccupation. “Run, little girl.”There right head’s voice was menacing as the left head’s mouth opened and a dark miasma began to form on its lips. ✧
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2023 5:57 pm
Run the girl did, but not before screaming and drawing the attention of her parents. Then she was clamoring over to the other side of her rock, ready to bolt further into the graveyard before a horrific-looking Baskerville hound devoured her whole.
Both parents whipped around as soon as they heard the shriek. They both called the girl's name — Charon — just shy of synchronous. It was then that Faustite vanished from the rooftops and appeared behind them, casting their shadows out in too-long streaks before the pair. He struck the one on the back of the head with the butt of his weapon, sending her crumpling to the floor. The other turned and began to shriek, and that energy was quickly siphoned away before Faustite had the chance to dismiss the curved sword.
She, too, was down in seconds, folding like an old doll. Ethe would do away with the remainder, he was certain.
Faustite then crouched down and began rifling the coats and purses and pockets of the incapacitated. He had to be quick, lest his heat catch their clothes and ruin their deception. He found their wallets bare but for credit cards, but he hadn't Tiberius anymore to run that old scheme, so he left them. He found roughly fifty dollars between them, a Pandora bracelet, and a small pair of ruby earrings. Maybe they were worth something.
As he stood, a black shape swooped on him, and Faustite felt a tug on his hand as the bird flew away from him. He stared after it for a moment, transfixed, then examined the small collection of findings in his possession: two earrings, one bracelet, assorted bills totaling to fifty dollars.
Then he saw what was missing: Ren's ring.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bishoujo-senshi Mahou-shoujo
|
Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2023 6:10 pm
Ethe found it so odd that they screamed. Why waste such precious energy on something so silly when one should be running? Oh, well. They’d give her a second head start then. Not enough to give her a chance. Just enough that she thought she had one. They were so much more fun to catch when they had hope. It wasn’t long at all before Ethe had the little thing pinned to the ground, their large body sitting on her with no chance of release. “That wasn’t much of a chase. But no matter. It’s much easier to drain you when we’re in contact and we can use our teeth.”And then they silenced one last scream with their teeth around her neck, the black miasma seeping out and into her flesh to drain her of her energy. They trotted proudly back to Faustite to see the two adults slipped over and drained as well. But Faustite didn’t look satisfied. “What wrong?”✧
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2023 2:44 pm
"Bird stole my ******** ring," Faustite seethed as he stared after it. "Think it was a bird. Seemed big like one." It had been terribly careful to be able to slip that off his finger without his interference, let alone avoid cutting him in the process. It had to know how to wrench the ring free, too. Was it a raven, then? Seemed large like one, smart like one.
Faustite would soon see it plucked and barbecued for stealing from him, though. Might as well see if Ethe had any appetite for worldly foods.
They needed time enough to get that damn ring back before the three woke up and they had to resort to more permanent solutions. Unfortunately, Faustite got hardly a look at the thief, and there were more than a few trees about that could play host to large birds. How they were going to find the ******** was beyond him when the ring had no magical method of tracking. And while Ethe was dog-shaped, that didn't necessarily mean they had a bloodhound's sense of smell, or any other abilities endemic to dogs. Youma were typically masters of mimicry.
Might be worth an ask, though. Before sprinting off into the edges of the cemetery after the thing, he turned to Ethe. "How good are you at tracking?"
He paused, then added, "Can you do what a dog does? If you smell my hand, can you find something else that I wore?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bishoujo-senshi Mahou-shoujo
|
Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2023 3:27 pm
“A bird?” Ethe questioned for a moment. It had been awhile since they had seen a normal animal. Being in the Rift had given them a warped sense of what things looked like out here in Destiny City. “Yes. We are very good at tracking.”Ethe remembered being compared to a dog before. It seemed pretty accurate. They seemed to have many of the same traits. Aside from the wings, horns and having twice as many heads. “We have an excellent sense of smell. Like dog, but better.”Ethe then put both noses, ones after the other, to Faustite’s hand. The left head instantly point in a direction with utmost focus. The right head stayed focused on Faustite and replied. “The bird creature is that way.”✧
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2023 3:48 pm
Terribly convenient that Ethe could follow the scent on the air like that. It saved them the tedium of searching the area with corpse-finding levels of thoroughness, though Faustite wasn't yet certain if he could simply bid Ethe fly after it. If so, that put the notion to bed immediately.
And if not, well. Depending on how much this bird wanted to play hard to get, they might have to burn the whole cemetery down. That was bad luck for the family they just drained.
"Don't suppose I can demand it back or I burn the place down," he lamented, still irritated by the loss. Like he should shoulder the blame more than the bird. "Can you fly after it? Take it back?"
Before Faustite got much farther in his line of reasoning, a squawkish voice echoed back from further in the cemetery: "Don't burn the place down."
"What the ********," Faustite replied automatically. He didn't feel anyone. Didn't see anyone else. The area wasn't so thickly wooded that he couldn't see the rest of the small graveyard.
"There's no one else here. Right?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bishoujo-senshi Mahou-shoujo
|
Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2023 4:01 pm
Ethe flapped their large wings, but they only stirred up the loose dead vegetation on the cemetery floor. “We can’t fly. Too heavy.” They replied and it was clear that their wings were not matched to their almost two hundred pound form. They started to produce fire in their mouths in anticipation, but stopped at the strange voice. “We don’t smell anyone else but the bird thing.”✧
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2023 4:12 pm
Hot air helped things rise, right? If he laid under Ethe —
No, that was stupid. Huffing, Faustite rested his hands on his hips. He could teleport nigh anywhere in sight, so long as the branches held him, but burning the place down still sounded like the more efficient option. Faustite tried a last quick surveillance from where he stood, finding that there was, in fact, no one else in the entire cemetery.
"No more people," he recounted, "no auras, just us. So who the ******** just spoke to me."
"Me," echoed back.
"If that's that ******** bird," Faustite sighed at Ethe. He turned in the direction that the left head pointed and began marching deeper into the area. "Give me my ******** ring back and I won't burn your shithole to the ground!"
The faint beat of bird's wings broke the resultant silence. Trees swayed and wind soughed thorugh their leaves. Then, from another part of the cemetery, came the response: "No."
Seems it would take more than threats to reclaim what was given to him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bishoujo-senshi Mahou-shoujo
|
Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2023 4:33 pm
Ethe’s left head stayed pointing at the smell. It followed the wind from tree to tree. Something was moving. “It is the bird. It is very good at speech. But also good at hiding. The fact that it can fly is giving it an advantage here.”The right head was trying to formulate a plan when the left head interrupted. “What if we sent a blast of fire to the tree we smell it in? Smoke it out into the open.”✧
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
