I feel something winding down as soon as I move away from my companions, like a sort of tension, you could call it. Of course, I love them to death, wouldn’t even be up here without them and all that, but still. I’ve had little to no alone time since we left the underground, when before alone time was all I got. It’s a radical change, and I enjoy some peaceful isolation by myself, like this. It’s calming and feels like going back normal. The forest seems to help too: the colourful, pastel glows and lack of direct sunlight puts me in this relaxed state, like floating about underwater. Under warm water.

Not so relaxed that I forget myself, of course. I mark the (massive!) tree trunks as I go, so I don’t get lost. No knife, so I have to use my nails. Fearsome youkai claws, technically.


I wander around, more enjoying myself on a stroll than whatever excuse myself I gave myself to get out here. ‘Sides, I’m sure I’m not hurting anyone’s feelings, even if they knew I’m leaving for some alone time. I’ve seen those two and how they’re acting: back at the temple, and just how they’ve… stuck together, in various ways. It feels like the two of them are a proper group, while I’m hovering around them. Literally, too. Not that I’m against it! I mean, them. I know they were already close friends, it’s just that Parsee has clearly softened up a considerable amount lately. It’s understandable they’d get closer. They’ll be happy to have some time to themselves.

Ugh, what am I even thinking about? It’s none of my business what their relationship is and what they’re up to. I think the episode with Rinnosuke is making me think too much.


What did I say I was going to look for, again? Tinder? How stupid, it’s not even near cold enough for us to need a fire. I look around the forest, surprisingly sparse of life aside from the gigantic trees and the mysterious living light bulbs planted to them. Not even any shrubs around, just a whole lot of dead leaves. Actually, now that I take a good look — excuse me, a good listen at it, this place is way too silent for what it is. You’ve go

Really, really odd. There's a weird itch in my brain. Feels like I’m forgetting something, it really does. Or that I’m forgetting something about the fact that I’m forgetting something. No, I don’t know how or when that particular thought came up, either.
I turn back at the door, giving the room another look over, just in case. Nice and tidy, Parsee and Yamame really cleaned it up from how it was yesterday. Nope, nothing out of the ordinary here.

...Yeah, I don’t know. Maybe being out in the sun baked my brains, since It baked my skin well enough. I’m surprised I wasn’t lobster red the first day out. Anyhow, I’m getting off track. Since there’s nothing going on, I’ll just be going. Don’t want to be left behind. Still scratching my head, I turn back to step outside—


Or, I would have if my way wasn’t being blocked.
Yamame and Parsee are standing on the doorway, staring at me. Um, is there something wrong? Did I do something wrong? I tilt my head at them. Oh, is it bed hair? I bring my hands up to fix it, but it doesn’t look like that’s the problem. Yamame looks sort of worried, though I’m not sure why. I’ve still got a bit of a headache and I’m still in just-woke-up mode, but that shouldn’t be cause for worry, right?
“Are you okay?” she asks tentatively. Um, I feel okay enough. She shoots Parsee a sideways glance before looking back at me.

“If… If you’re feeling alright… I suppose it’s okay.”

????

She moves, finally making way. Geez, what’s the deal with them today?
Ah well. Doesn’t matter, really. I step past them and set foot into the verdant, wide grounds of the temple.

…
Hm.

Set foot?
That’s weird.

I wiggle my toes a bit, finding a curiously tingly feeling in place of the usual. And then I look back up, at the very wide open field with the sparse building here and there outside.
Wide open.
Wide... open.

Ah.

Aah.


AaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaAARHAgarhぁﾨ┛丌〆Жￚ ￛ☆☆￪⑳ф––
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Previous thread: >>12675

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The sun didn’t always bother you. You were a farmer, you spent most of your time outdoors, tending to the livestock. That changed though, when you migrated to Atölcog. There were no farm animals there, so you had no real reason to be aboveground. You were drafted into the military, and spent most of your time in the barracks, training with your fellow dwarves. Of course, the marksdwarves were the ones who got deployed whenever a threat showed up, so they were the ones who went out into the sun. Your squad always stayed inside. Your condition hasn’t progressed to severe nausea, thankfully. You can at least handle being outside, but still.

The sun is bright, and it bothers you.

What also bothers you is Sanae’s stupid questions.

“I don’t suppose you can fly, can you?”

“Do I look like I have wings?”

“I’ll take that as a no.” She pulls out a stick with a piece of paper attached to it, holding it up for all to see. “Let me try something real quick.”

With no warning, the wind kicks up around you, swirling around like a miniature tornado. Your beard whips around in the maelstrom, and the wind cuts into your eyes, making them water. You cover your face, trying to protect yourself, as the wind works its way underneath you. For a time, nothing happens. Then suddenly, you feel yourself lose your stance on the ground, lifting into the air a fraction of an inch, before you suddenly drop back down, the wind dying around you.

“Wow…” Sanae pants, out of breath, “You’re heavy.”

You glare at her from behind your arms, before finally lowering them. You’re still glaring at her.

“Er… right. So flying is out. I guess we’re walking.” She sheepishly scratches the back of her head, before turning around. “The Hakurei Shrine should be in this direction.”

The two of you set off, walking in silence. Sanae is too embarrassed with her behavior to start a conversation, and you’re too upset now, between the sun and her antics to

Boy oh boy, isn’t this a sticky situation I find myself in. Frankly, I haven’t a single clue how to fix this or even make it slightly better; kind of renders that whole ‘adrenaline-induced slow-motion’ thing pretty damn useless. The one thing I do recall is a little trick, though. When you see the very first warning sign of everything going to hell in a rush, following these very simple instructions could save your life!

Duck and cover. And that’s what I’ll do. I crouch deep inside my hiding place, hugging my knees and making myself as cosy as I think anyone could get mid-apocalypse. All the blood doesn’t sure doesn’t make it easy, it stains me red, wet and gross all over. Also, it’s blood. The colour, taste, look and feel it make me kind of sick. Despite all that, It at least feels safer,although I’m not sure this actually provides any kind of protection.


I look up: Koakuma is kind of hovering over the opening, frozen, but not looking at me. Thankfully. She doesn’t look as scary from this angle. Actually, I begin to feel sorry for her: what with Parsee’s fist impacting so frightfully solidly onto her face. It drives in, and in, and her nose looks like it’s gone. There’s a meaty sound and a slight, muffled crunching sound that I would rather not dwell on. I should probably look elsewhere now, but it’s somehow hypnotizing. I expected her to shoot, not just punch like a brute.

It’s all not so silent anymore. Meiling and Yamame are yelling something I can’t quite make out, Koakuma moans in pain, and Parsee… Well.
She makes to vault right over me in pursuit, but gets stopped by a familiar hand on her collar. She snaps over me in the direction poor devil-girl fell, kind of reminding me of a dog on a short leash. Scary, but only Parsee-scary.
“Let go! I’ll snap her neck, I’ll rip ‘er face out!”
“We’re leaving.” In a panicky-stern sort of way. Parsee gets unceremoniously pulled out of the way and— oof. the world shakes violently and I add another bruise to my collection before holding tight enough to stabilize. We’re moving. I look up, and sure enough, I see the recognizable golden bands of Yamame’s dress and, er… o

Your name is Datan Darùdnish, and you could really use a drink right about now.

You've been having a long day. Back when you migrated to this fortress, you were a cheese maker. Not a glamorous job to be sure, but an honest one at that. Then you found out that the fort you moved to didn’t have any cows to milk and make cheese from. Or any farm animals at all, actually. So the mayor, not wanting to let someone go workless, extended his mercy and drafted you into the military. You suppose it’s nice, though you’re not too keen on listening to your commander yelling at you and hitting you with wooden axes, but that’s how the booze spills, they say.

The fort was one of the foremost mining forts, exporting metal to the rest of the kingdom. A wealthy place to live, wealth that you were drawn to, you suppose. And when word came from below, that the miners had struck raw adamantine, it seemed the fort would only get richer! Course, wealth doesn’t come without risks, which the mayor is all-too aware of.

So here you are, your squad assigned to stand guard around the miners as they dig out more of the precious metal. Haulers frequently run in and out of the cavern, ferrying the metal back up into the fort proper. You stare out at the great magma sea before you, as the miners dig behind you. The bright red glow stings your eyes, and the heat – the blasted heat! It makes you mighty thirsty. You idly take out your flask and take a swig from it. As you finish, you realize with dismay that that was the last of your wine you just drank. You hope your squad is taken off-duty soon. You hate being without booze.

That’s when you hear it.

Horrifying screams come from the darkness below!

You and your squadmates all look around at each other, before your eyes settle on the commander. “Time for some Fun...” he mutters, before signaling everyone to follow. He moves towards the pit where the miners were digging, where the screams came from, and the others slowly follow.

As for you...

[] Station
[] On Break

 “Children begin by loving their parents; after a time they judge them; rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.”

—Oscar Wilde

Boy, it sure is boring around here. You had been waiting for the palace’s owner for quite a while now.

You have been assigned to the Palace of the Earth Spirits, on your first day of work earlier today. You began to wonder why you are called ‘Scarlet Devil Mansion Guardian Division’ if your work is to guard other places that are not SDM. That or SDMGD is more like specialized or glorified security guards.

“Welcome to the worst assignment you’ll ever have.” The little vampire’s words when you reported in at work at the Scarlet Devil mansion rang in your head.

You’re not quite sure if she’s joking or not, but you had hopes that she’s just joking with that sly smile on her face.

Either way, you try to remember back about what happened back at the Scarlet Devil Mansion a couple of hours ago.

-//Scarlet Devil Mansion, three hours ago//-

“Miss Remilia, why are you deciding to assign him for the Underground City?”

The vampire sighed. “It’s because she requested a guardian for her palace. I don’t know her reasons, but you had your hands full with the tower guard duty and Roach is assigned to patrol the Human Village.”

Her name is Remilia Scarlet. She’s like a commander to the SDMGD, except that she’s much more lax than what you always read compared to other commanders you often read off the magazines in Kourindou. Charisma, huh.

You often thought that SDMGD was a strict para-military organization, but unfortunately you were dead wrong.

“If that is the case, then…” Her maid spoke. “Then how would we transport him to Satori’s palace? He can’t even fly yet.”

The silver-haired maid is Sakuya Izayoi, the head maid of the mansion, and the vampire’s right-hand lady. You often see her shopping at the market while you are busy helping in your father’s convenience shop.

The black haired guard took a thoughtful moment before he snapped his fingers and made everyone – including yours– turn our attention to him. “I know someone who could help.”

That man in his early 20s’ is called Zero. While he had a real name, a lot

February 23, 10:58 PM

Scotch. Scotch always makes thinking easier, makes connections form. Scotch is your friend, scotch helps you unwind. So why isn't it helping?

You've been staring at this autopsy report for an hour or so now, ever since the cop brought it by. You and her shared a drink, but she left earlier than you'd hoped. Left you alone here to stew and stare. You could recite this autopsy report by heart, probably.

Victim's body discovered 0851 16 February, under the Mizuhashi bridge. This was a result of a report from one Parsee Mizuhashi, who was visibly shaken upon reporting.

Victim suffered several contusions upon the head consistent with blunt force trauma. Blunt force trauma is probable cause of death.

Victim's estimated time of death 36-48 hours prior to discovery.

No visible sign of struggle at scene. Suggests murder took place elsewhere and body was deposited under bridge at a later time.

Victim has been conclusively identified as one Tenshi Hinanawi. Identification was provided by one Iku Nagae.

There's more, but it's all in bland coroner-speak, going into more detail, but that's not important now. Now you've got to come up with a plan. Now you've got to figure out suspects, got to follow the trail, put all the pieces together.

You rub your temples and pick up your empty tumbler. This needs a refill. You push yourself up from your chair, one hand holding your glass tumbler, one pushing you up from your desk. The room is lit purely by the small desk lamp, and occasional flashes of lightning that break the monotony of the rain. This is a three-drink minimum night, at least. What number were you on?

Two, that's it. It's been two for at least the last four drinks. Yeah, you've got to get to that three-drink minimum. You pad across the small office, passing the hat and trenchcoat hanging on the door hooks, to get to your liquor cabinet. Scotch. You pull the door open, and peer into the depths of your very shallow liquor cabinet, and extricate a nearly-empty bottle of a good 7-year.

“You know, I thought t

Parsee is easy to read, even for me. It's obvious she has something in her mind: She hasn't started chatting yet, and she keeps glancing my way and back, which isn't really her type of thing.
Luckily, I remembered this time around that it's proper etiquette to bring a gift if you're visiting someone. As a bonus, what I brought happens to be just right for the situation. With some effort, I heft up the heavy load from the bottom of my bucket and present it to the hostess.
I may be a youkai, but I'm not a physical type, which means I only have a few times the strength of a human of similar stature. It still isn't much at all: a single adult human could probably physically subdue me with some ease. The large bottle gives me some trouble, and I dump it on the nearby table, half fearing it'd break from the impact.

Damn, this thing must be three liters or more. I can't remember, but I probably swiped it from an oni home at some point: it looks like the same rough, ill-refined kind of sake they usually make themselves. I had the thought of bringing it because you're not supposed to drink alone. At least that's how the oni do it, and I'd trust their knowledge when it comes to drinking.


Parsee looks surprised, raising her eyebrows, but not at all disapproving. She gets up right away to fetch us some glasses while I open it up.
This should make conversation (so to speak) a lot easier. I hope. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen Parsee drink any alcohol. She doesn't seem at all against it, though, so there's no problem.

She pours for both of us — clay cups: simple, like the rest of her home — and lays back again, with not a word throughout. I would be slightly uncomfortable if I weren't used to it. It's Parsee, after all. I just stay put, enjoying the comfort that comes with her company and taking an occasional swig. Parsee, in turn, drinks quite a bit faster than me, turning cup after cup of strong drink and not saying much. Without much change in expression either, which is not possible for me. This stuff is just a tad too strong for me

“Heiki-sama!”
A voice from somewhere calls out a name.
“Heiki-sama, please hang in there!”
Heiki… it sounds familiar somehow, but where’ve I heard it before.
“Everything is going to be okay, just please hang in there!”
Okay? Is something wrong?
“Please hang in there. Satori-sama will be here any moment with help. So please… ju…ease…ay wi… me…”
Her voice fades away. Consumed by darkness, the same darkness that’s swallowing me. The same darkness that’s dragging me into unconsciousness.

---

I stare into the darkness surrounding me, the darkness which stretch endlessly, forming the horizon, the ground, and the sky. Well, there is no ground. Here I'm just floating in the sky, which is also missing. With no sun, no clouds… no sky, no nothing. Yet I can see myself clearly, just like if the sun was shining on me. I can clearly see the guy who appears to be right next to me. I can clearly see he looks exactly like me.
“So we wound up here again, it seems.”
“Indeed it does. When was the last time?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Neither do I.”
As if we’ve practiced it, we both turn to look at each other at the same time. His red eyes staring into my blue eyes. Staring right into my very soul. I know because I stare just as deep in return. But why? I already know anything there is to know about that person. What could I seek from looking into his soul? What could he be seeking from looking into mine?
After all, we are the same person.
“Perhaps you should go out there first, Hiro.”
“Why?”
“I need to recover a little more before I come out again.”
Recover? Now that he mentions it, he is acting off from how he usually is.
And thinking about it, I’m acting off as well.
“I understand. Please rest out, Sei.”

---

I'm suddenly pulled back into reality when someone touches my hand. They wrap their hand around mine. Careful, yet firm. It doesn’t want to let go, but doesn’t want to grab too tight. It’s kind of… warm. In the nice way of course.
“Are you awake yet?” She, I assume it’s a girl from the voice, asks me with a gentle whisp