Fantasy DENYING STARS

[InkedFox]

TUNE IN NEXT TIME...

It was another boring Friday night for the young Lydia; who was more fond of spending her weekends watching sci-fi and bad horror flicks then actually making social contact with the outside world. The mere thought of socializing with the real world gave her hives, and despite her pretty face and reasonably agreeable attitude, she still found herself sitting in front of her TV on 'just another' Friday night. Tonight's line up of movies included a healthy induction of foreign fantasy/action/adventure. The scene she had mindlessly munched half a bag of popcorn down while watching was centered on a father and young daughter closing up shop for the night. Their store is quaint and worldly --and Lydia can tell these people aren't very well off. Right away she can relate to them, and forms a bond as she watches the father sweetly praise his attentive daughter --but it isn't their endearing relationship that has her so enthralled. In the next moments of the scene, just as the doting father closed the doors to the shop for the night; hooded figures wearing animal masks burst in, throwing the man back. His daughter on the other side of the store is now retreating into a corner as another, taller, hooded figure enters from the back and corners her. The father pleads with the mysterious figures to spare his daughter. In this moment a million possibilities float through Lydia's head, except she is the center of them all. She can see herself busting into the window and taking out the bad guys awesome kung fu style, or perhaps materializing in a bright mist; zapping the evil doers away with her magic.--but just before she is finished conceptualizing the end to these villains. Something much more villainous erupts onto scene. A giant snake suddenly slithers in through the window snapping up a hooded figure, and even though it is assailing the ones dressed in black, its demeanor is less then friendly. As if it is not terrifying enough, it slithers into the rafters and slowly transforms its form into a humanoid woman with the body of a snake. She hisses ferociously at the survivors in the room, as another hooded figure is swiftly dragged off. This time, a giant vampiric looking gargoyle has reached in and plucked a second victim. It trails off into the night sky, assumingly dumping its terrified victim from a fatal height. A final monstrous figure appears in through the gaping doorway left by the hoods. This one is stark white and barbed like a porcupine. There is a tense stare down that grows between the tallest hooded figure and the scary looking hedgehog-demoness.

Then a commercial pops on and rips Lydia from the center of the store room where she had been watching the entire showdown. Her heart raced --what a wonderful twist! Just when she thought she knew the villain too-- Though she was used to the mundane routine of life; a part of her wishes for things to be unpredictable and as magical as the movies and books made them out to be. As she thought of all the amazing things this reality lacked, her eyes slowly began to slide close as her day has worn on her, and it is growing later into the night with each flick. She decides it's time to shut the entertainment down for the night and call it a day. Reaching for the remote, she jabs the on/off button, and expects to hear the droning of the commercial break to die. Instead it continues to play-- and so she jabs the button again, this time holding the remote higher as if she had missed the censor somehow. Still nothing-- in fact, her tv begins to flicker. Sending flashes of random movies she's seen in the past to the screen before dying out into lines of static and solid color. Drawing closer, she bangs on her set-- wondering if something has come lose, but immediately her heart jolts as she feels her chest being tugged towards the screen by some invisible force. She sinks back a bit shocked, but slowly draws in again, wondering if perhaps it was just some static cling. The tug is there again, but this time it makes her teeter fully forwards onto her set. Panic swells in her, as she feels her body being vacuumed in. Unable to unstick herself from the set, she lets out a shrill cry that is swallowed up as her entire body is suddenly sucked into a vortex on the screen. Moments later she finds herself alive-- but that could quickly change, as she also realizes that she falling! --and fast! Before she knows it, she hits the ground, but luckily something soft has broken her landing. Lydia's eyes have snapped shut out of fear from the fall, and when she finally feels steady enough, she opens them slowly to discover that she is no longer in her apartment.

Consider the following--

Your fate had led you to die under the stars alone.
No one will cry for you.
No one will miss you.
No one will remember your name.

Because fate had decided that this was meant to be.
He attempts to chuckle at the thought, only to fail to do so in the process. Too much blood sputtered from his mouth for him to properly laugh at the irony. Instead, he wells up, biting his teeth in a useless effort to fight his bitter sobs.

Here he was-- the leader, the tall hooded figure who bore the Mask of the Ram, could be found in such a desperate situation. His hands were severely punctured. To the point that even if they were to heal, there was no way he would be able to use them again. It's not like it mattered though. He knew fully well that he was supposed to die any moment now.

He sits up, propping himself up against the town's abandoned well. The well was no longer functional, it's rope and pulley system rotting away due to the lack of maintenance and the water had completely dried up due to the drought. Now that all the outer wells had ceased to function, the central well is all what the town had left. And even then, the water remains thin.

His chest heaves up and down in a ragid motion as he watches the night sky.
Ah...If only he could rewrite the stars.

His eyelids were too heavy to open anymore. Understanding that much, it was time. He inhales, breathing in the last breath of the mortal plane, enjoying his finale alone. He nearly smiles, enjoying the peaceful death-- until a large splash behind him forced his eyes to prop open.

The man behind the ram mask had no choice but to look into the well, only to see the night sky reflecting off the surface of the water. The very well that was first to dry up in the season was brimming with the highly sought after liquid.
His throat dries, unsure what to do with the information. Maybe he should have a sip of it; however, he decided that he was quickly against the decision the moment he noticed a body slowly drifting upward. He would not drink dead body water.

Startled, but curious enough to turn the body over to identify it, he reaches into the water with his wounded hands.

WISHING ON STARS...

"WWWWHHHAAAA!!!!!" Lydia jolts up from the body of water suddenly, as her body panics feeling itself floating and breathing in the substance. It stings her lungs and she erupts up in shock; sputtering and desperately grasping at something to steady herself as she bobs. Her panicked snatching hands grasp onto an out-stretched limb and she stops her flailing for a moment, and relaxes realizing she is clutching someone's hand. Feeling extremely grateful for the helpful hand she tugs blindly at it and scrambles over the lip of the well she has fallen into. Sopping wet she splats onto the ground, gasping for air, and reeling from the peculiar occurrence. Wasn't she just watching movies? How the hell did she get outside? Why were there so many stars in the sky?

She feels cold and shivers as a light breeze sweeps through the sleepy village. Her lavender colored Pjs are heavy with water and stick uncomfortably to her skin. To make matters worse, she had taken her underwear off to get comfortable for the movie night. Now everything just felt uncomfortable, and she is irritated and stunned; just lying there wondering over and over what the heck had just happened. It isn't until she notices some movement from the corner of her vision, that she suddenly remembers someone had helped her out. Peering over, her heart balls up into her throat and she scrambles to her feet, taking some form of mock kung fu stance she had no doubt seen on TV during one of her movie marathons. It is the hooded figure from earlier! A distinct ram's mask covering their face --but why? She glanced around getting a better idea of her surroundings, and finding her heart only creeping higher in her throat as she realizes that she is no where she recognized... except from TV.

"Fujiang Village?" She mutters out loud in bewilderment; it is the name she remembers from watching the first part of the movie... but for some odd reason she can't recall the movie's name, itself. Setting her eyes back onto the hooded figure she scowls at him, and stammers. "W-who are you?" Thinking back she feels dumb asking that. It had been a foreign movie, possibly Japanese or Mandarin; maybe they can't even understand the language she's speaking. After pondering that for a moment, she notices the hooded figure is bleeding, as a puddle of blood begins to dribble from his ankle, and his hands are stained red. It reminds her that there were more frightening things in this movie, and she casts a wary gaze about, looking for shadows in the corners or ones tracing through the moon light.

sadladsalad

 

[sadladsalad]

The Wrongness of Curiosity

The moment he touched her body, everything felt wrong in that very instant. He was not supposed to be able to reach out for her. He should not be able to even see her. More importantly, he notes, she wasn’t even supposed to exist.

This bewildered him. The moment he touched her, his fingertips surged with a violent energy. They nulled his sense of touch even further, rendering his hands, his arms even more useless than it initially was. An inhuman cry escaped from his lips as he forced himself to drag her corpse out of the water in a sloppy maneuver.

His chest beats rapidly, fighting against the venom and the overuse with his muscles. It was funny how just an hour ago, he was bouncing off the walls of the shopping arcade, escaping the hedgehog ladies barbed quills in ease. And now here he was, half dead and carrying corpses. Or what he thought was corpse.

The moment she left the water, he sees trails of droplets from her hair whipping back at him as she desperately breathes for air. Unfortunately, a few specks managed to reach him, avoiding the bone that was meant to protect his face and straight into his eye. He flinches upon the impact. It was not impossible to wake the woman up with his own girlish yelps, “-aH. Yes. Well. I understand the impulse to dry yourself, but I do not follow the impulse to shake like a dog.”

He tries to rub his eyes under his mask to rid of the foreign substance, but unfortunately his mangled hand would not fare well under the task. Clicking his tongue, he realizes he must take off his mask, “How does one find themselves in a well?”

Red handprints stain the side of the bleach white skull as he attempts to pull it off from his face, but still, it was no good. He hisses the moment his palm touched anything. After pulling a body up from water, he completely gives up. He will have to live with the irritation.

“It is most unnatural to find someone who does not belong here. The proper question here is why are you here?”

How rude of him. He should be properly introducing himself. But every hair on his body stood unnaturally at her presence. Everything about her screams wrongness.

And he cannot help but ask her in curiosity.

 

[InkedFox]

THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY...

“How does one find themselves in a well?” The figure speaks and Lydia finds a breathe hitched in her throat alongside her heart. She can understand him-- He continues to speak while struggling to remove his mask; fidgeting with the sides of it with limp and blood-soaked hands. A bit of sympathy rises up in her but she doesn't let her guard down fully, instead the rigidness of her pseudo kung fu stance relaxes a bit. “It is most unnatural to find someone who does not belong here. The proper question here is why are you here?” His voice has a soothing tone, though somewhat strained from the wounds he's obviously sustained.

Lydia is confused at the question, and she inwardly shrinks as she pauses to think about her reply. "I don't even know where 'here' is. I was just at home watching movies and--" A sound swift and sharp like the swooping of wings drifts over head, and Lydia freezes as a large shadow crosses over them. She does not dare glance up; her mind's eye already summoning the form of the gargoyle creature. "--It's not safe here..." She can infer that much, and she draws forward. Although she doesn't trust this guy due to his cliche 'bad guy' appearance; at least he doesn't seem as bad as the monsters that had besieged that small shop earlier. Speaking of which--

"What happened to the girl and her father?" She asks; a pit of dread coiling in her stomach. If this guy was in this bad of shape; then what had happened to his comrades and the innocent bystanders? She really wished she had gotten to see more of the next scenes, as that information seemed crucial now. "What were those monsters--? and-- and! who the hell are you?!" She shouts as her confusion stokes her irritation. Lydia clasps her hands over her mouth after realizing her voice had echoed, and her large round eyes roll across the starry sky scanning for the shadow of wings once more.

She is still sopping wet and completely unarmed, and this man is the only one who seems to have an inkling of what is going on. Though every instinct in her body tells her to run off; she can't. Not only because he is her only source of information at this point, but because that would have been inhuman of her. He was hurt-- it wasn't right, even if he did turn out to be a scumbag... she wouldn't be any better for just leaving him. "...can you walk?"

sadladsalad

 

[sadladsalad]

LAST SHAME

The girl.

He shouldn’t have forgotten about the girl. And yet, he did. She was the young lady of the general store. There was nothing wrong with her. She was very unlike others her age. She would never rebel against her father, like normal girls would. Quite the opposite, really. She was a people pleaser. Always made sure to listen to her sweet, dear father. The man with the ram mask had no affiliation with her really. It was the dear father that he had concerned himself with.

The Lion told him it was pay back. A punishment long due from before. He was bothered by the vauge information, but the fact that he was given an opportunity was all the reason he needed. The only connection he had with her was the father. And as a result, he was commanded to snatch him right under his nose.

But perhaps his presentation overweighed the function.

Ah, curse his tendency for glamour.

“Ah? You have noticed the hands, did you? I wouldn’t worry about them too much anymore. By the time I pulled your body out, they’re completely done for,” he sighs, as though he lost a simple tool and not a part of his limb.

“My legs, however, are a different story.” he wish he could pull up his cloak to reveal that they’re doing far better than his legs, but no one in the right mind would think he’s okay when he’s stumbling in just three steps. Unfortunately, the poison had completely circulated throughout his veins. It’s a miracle how he’s just standing.

“They used to call me many things. The Ram. The 1st Sign. The One Whom Brings the Rest. They don’t say my name because they fear I will come along with it,” he scoffs, almost at a disbelief of the titles that were given to him. All seems like a distant memory now, “Even I’m afraid that I’m still standing. It’s not like it matters now. I would have enjoyed to learn of your name and the pleasantries that come along with your acquaintance; however, there is no need to introduce yourself to a dead man. A shame. Truly. ”

 

[InkedFox]

STUBBORN HOPE

He spoke like he was dead already and Lydia felt a pit of anger and frustration well up in her. The masked figure's words were like riddles and yet claimed he was just about to just putter out on her. Determination (and fear of staying out in the dark) propelled her forward.

"My name is Lydia..." She said as if to spite him, and scowls at him disapprovingly as he stumbles forward. She catches him, and throws his heavy and equally soaked arm around her shoulder, before pinning the ram mask on his face with a disdained look.

"Move--" She almost growled and pulled him along, forcing him to move. She wasn't going to let him die here with out at least trying to save him.

"....where hassssssss my sshhhhhheep gone?" A bone chilling hiss echoes through the lonely and deserted village streets. Lydia feels her heart begin to race and her blood chills. Her movements hasten with urgency and she pants quietly, casting her gaze around for suspicious shadows as she drags him along. Even if he howls in pain she continues, and she hushes him. begging him to stifle his pained grunts as she weaves them away from the wide open town square.

"Tell me where to go-- Those things... they're out here." She whispers to him in a terrified strained tone as she struggles to hold him up.

sadladsalad

 

[sadladsalad]

ONE OBSTACLE DOWN, THOUSANDS MORE TO GO

The anger bewildered him. He was quite unsure of what to do when Lydia, she calls herself, invites herself to burden his weight. She doesn’t know who he is. She doesn’t have any sort of relationship with him other than the fact that he pulled her out of an abandoned well. Certainly, that sort of favor doesn’t constitute the act of literally trying to hide his dead body from them.

A surprised whelp that sounded more like a weird bleat, escaped from his mouth as Lydia supports herself under him. He doesn’t think when his arm naturally curl over her neck. He tries to put most of his effort into not to drag her down as he already was doing.

“Those things—“ he coughs, his body burning intensely now, “They call them mythics.”

From the corner of her eyes, Lydia can see the man under the ram skull speak. The corner of his lips tug at him, gravity pulling them down to form a frown.

“Judging by your clothes, you are foreign. I am not educated enough to know if other countries have them, but a word of friendly advice: calling them things is a slur. If you have the fortune to meet another, remind yourself that they would prefer to go by mythics.”

He was not one to lecture, but it was the only topic he could think of as they try to escape the hands of those who were pursuing them. Although the mythics were scrambling around buildings, they’re blessed with other senses that are probably beyond his. They’ll hunt them down like dogs.

He breathes, the scent of copper and the familiar sickly sweet scent of venom soaks the air. The snake woman is slithering even closer, hissing wicked whispers into the night. The man would’ve nearly choked on the air if he didn’t spot the familiar estate walls that towered eight feet high. How lucky.

“Quick, over the walls,” he rushes, his pace growing quicker he gets closer to the estate. He says it so nonchalantly as though the aspect of jumping over eight foot walls were a normal endeavor. By the time he’s at the foot of it, he slips from Lydia’s grip to prepare himself to jump over; however, he quickly looks over you twice expectantly, wondering why you are not going with him.

 

[InkedFox]

REACHING NEW HEIGHTS

The hooded figure managed to fill her in on a few things as they stumble through the streets. Lydia was more focused on listening for the sounds of slithering or beating wings to really pay close attention to the hooded man. Her head tosses back and fourth as she checks streets before scurrying across them and into another abandoned intersection. Not a soul was out on the street, and it made Lydia feel foolish for panicking through the dark alleyways.

Wouldn't someone open up for them if she beat against their doors? A part of her knew that the denizens of this village were willfully ignoring the sounds from outside. Luckily the hooded figure spotted something familiar to him and he is suddenly filled with enough strength to rush forward, ordering her to quickly go over the walls. Lydia steps forward to obey, but stops as her eyes trail along the wall and she realized that it is way too high to scale without foot holds or a ladder.

"Are you crazy!?" She spat at the hooded figure who was staring at her from beneath his mask with expectant eyes. "I can't climb that! Isn't there a gate or a secret entrance or something?" She begins to pelt him with complaints but her breath hitches in her throat as she hears something slide up behind them, and emit a deep hiss.

"Ssssshhhhhalll I give you a hand?" The demonic snake woman asks coyly as she coils behind this new face, and before Lydia can feel her legs move, she is already blindly sprinting for the hooded man and the wall.

sadladsalad

 

[sadladsalad]

TAKE THEM BY THE HEAD

The snake woman scared him. Even if he denies it, he fears her. The heart in his chest beats faster every inch she slither forward. The miniscule force of blood pumping in his veins were sensitive enough for him to just feel as his heart flew out of his chest the moment she striked. Her long, white patterned arms reached for her prey— was it her? Or did the snake woman aimed for the little lamb that escaped her venomous bite?

He doesn’t want to stick around for the answer.

Only an inch a way from a fatal wound, he quickly buckles his knees to jump. The snakewoman had clearly aimed for the Ram, but unfortunately for her she could only bang her head against the white brick walls. Just hearing the painful thump made him cringe even though he was twelve feet into the air. As he flutters down, anyone within an appropriate distance could see it. Failing to conceal his bottom half, underneath that cloak were legs that were most certainly not human.

His hooves clack gracefully onto the black tiled roof of the wall.

“Oh!” he remembers, clapping his hands together, “Lydia, don’t dwaddle now. I’m certain that you do not want to be snake bait.”

Naturally, the ram gestures for her to come and climb over already. As though, it was already expected that she can overcome a simple wall. He seems unnervingly calm even though the snake woman was quickly regaining her composure. It wasn’t long either until the gargoyle man spotted them from the night sky either.

There was only one option that he thought was possible to escape this place alive. Jump over the wall. Even if you aren’t capable of doing it. Not without a boost.

“Quickly, now. I’m not too fond of getting bit again,” he taunts with a feathered appeal. But somehow—just somehow, even though the night was eerily silent, you could hear him screaming.

For a moment, he nearly forgot about her.

He’s surprised he didn’t.

 

[InkedFox]

WHEN ONE DOORS CLOSES...

"OH FOR GOD'S SAKE--!!!" Lydia panicked and squealed as the serpent woman pounced with her limbs outstretched and grasping. Lydia dove to the side just as Ram-Mask went flying in a single bound. The young woman simply laid on the ground and stared up dumbfounded as she watched him easily sail up to the tiled roof of the wall. She blinks in disbelief as she sees a quick flash of what appears to be clooved-hooves beneath his robes, and she can even hear the lithe clacking of them touch the ceramic tiles. "Where the hell am I?!" Lydia groaned and then heard the Ram-Mask call back for her. His tone was annoyingly calm and at this point she just wanted to get up there so she could push him right off! He kept saying 'go over' like that was some easy thing to do. She didn't have freaking goat legs!

The snake woman was reeling and hissing angrily, coiling around her upper body as she consoled the pain in her head. Lydia scrambled to her feet, and took another run at wall, hoping that maybe she had inherited some type of power when she had been guided through the vortex, and unfortunately she couldn't jump any higher then she usually did, and after three failed attempts, the snake woman was already uncoiled and set her sharp eyes onto Lydia.

"You---!!" The serpent woman hissed angry and began stalking toward her. Meanwhile Lydia yelped and froze in fear for a moment before her fear and frustration got the better of her and she beat against the wall shouting "--HELP ME!! DAMNIT!!!" and as if her body had suddenly lost its solid state, she phased through the wall as she let out one final desperate blow.

The force of her thrown fists left Lydia tumbling over as the momentum found nothing to stop itself with. It almost felt like the wall was no longer there, but it most certainly was as the snake woman gave yet another vicious pounce only to be met with bricks once more. Lydia, now on the other side, could see she was standing in a courtyard with many houses and buildings spaced apart. It look like some sort of clan compound. Still in slight surprise from having ghosted through a physical object, Lydia stares around confused as to what just happened. It isn't until she hears the swooping of wings that she realizes that she's not out of danger yet.

"HEY!! Ram-for-brains!! Get your ass down here!!" Lydia called up, hoping to get the hooded figure's attention. She went running for the buildings, not willing to wait out in the open with the gargoyle just above head. --But the gargoyle wasn't content to let her leave either and his beating wings suddenly turn and swoop for her. She can see his large beastly shadow closing in on her and she yelps and dives out of the way just before the shadow passes and his lumbering arms miss her.

sadladsalad

 

[sadladsalad]

UNVEILING

He gasps with a hand to his chest when Lydia demanded for help, “Hoh, how could I? I am deathly afraid of snakes.”

Instead, he watched you attentively, cheering your name over and over as the snake lady scrambles around for a strand of your hair. Occasionally “you can do it” or “don’t die” slips through his tongue. When Lydia easily phased through the walls, the Ram took the opportunity to jump down in time for the Gargoyle to scratch at the air.

“And you thought I was touched in the head. It’s easy. Harder for me. But easier for you, nevertheless.”

The courtyard was easy to direct their way through. The grass padded their loud steps and thankfully the gargoyle is playing coy, circling the skies. He obviously would have dived for any of their heads, but some kind of force is stopping him. Even though he was able to enter the compound, it seems too hesitant to enter. Both the Ram and Lydia took this as an opportunity to escape.

However, the Ram sighs as goes behind a large house, standing before rice paper doors. He would have certainly appreciated the ability of using his hands, but he will have to make do. He literally forces his body through the screen door, ripping through the rice paper and wood frame. A man shaped hole leaves enough room for at least Lydia to just nimbly slip through.

“Shh,” he attempts to place finger over his lip, but instead he just boops the nose of his mask “We made too much noise. Knowing him, his retainers are already rushing to figure out who’s at their front door. Better we leave them at their mercy than with us.”

He tries to quietly shifts around, trying to cushion the click of his hooves with the destroyed remnants of the rice paper, but ironically, hooves were not meant to be silent. Within seconds, dozens of guards with their single-edged blades rush to follow the sound of a horse trotting on wooden floors. The Ram Mask was a god-damned beacon here.

The corner of his mouth twitches as he smiles as he understood that.

Without hesitating, the man stands in front of Lydia immediately, facing her in a rather close proximity. He should have taken precaution when he was getting someone involved, but neither of them have great stats on just surviving the night. So even if they were to survive, their greatest effort should be spent on concealing their identities. He did not wear this mask for no reason.

Bitterly sighing, he glances down as the heavily armored samurai encirculate them. He was more worried about them than Lydia easily seeing his eyes under his mask. It was a simple reminder that he was certainly no human, not with eyes like that. They blinked twice, before revealing yellow eyes with horizontal slitted pupils.

“Take my mask,” he whispered under his breath.

 

[InkedFox]

BAA--RAM--EWE

Down came the hooded ram with his oh-so-calm and collected tone. Another cryptic statement leaving his lips as he gracefully touches down on what Lydia can clearly see are hooves beneath the folds of his dark and flowing linen robes. She freezes for a moment in mid-stride trying to absorb this but pushes the fact to the back of her mind as the shadow above ominously circles but does not dare make a second attempt for her. Lydia eyes the sky but keeps pace with Ram-Mask as they retreat across the peaceful looking yard.

"The jury on you being touched in the head is still out!" She grumbled angrily though she's still following him as there is really no other choice.

Ram-Mask seems to know where he's going and they circle round to an entrance with, what Lydia remembered as 'shoji' doors made of rice paper that slid open. The brunette stood quietly admiring the craftsmanship and silently reminiscing to herself how she would have loved a house with the same style doors --but, as if this universe was intent of depriving Lydia of any form of pleasure in this world; Ram-Mask felt it necessary to bulldoze through the delicate shoji by walking straight through it and tearing a silhouette into the frame. Lydia just shrugged and looked disappointed but not surprised.

"Of course--" She uttered flatly as she followed his path. "You know-- you could have just asked me to open the door... That's---not--- like...hard-- You know what... --just forget it..." Lydia began to try and rationally explain something to someone who seemed completely irrational and instead elected to cancel that line of thought and just slip through behind him.

In the next moment, this odd figure turns to her and makes and even odder gesture while trying to hush her with a limp-wristed hand. He warns her that they've made too much noise and some one was onto them. This put her on edge, yet the urgency of his message seemed to be lost as she stared at the limp-wristed gesture, feeling both a mix of amusement and pity.

"Who?" Lydia whispered back but was left wondering who exactly this man feared being caught by, but her question goes ignored as the hood turns from her and tries to stealthy walk across the hardwood floor. She winces with every step he takes, for his 'hooves' clatter against the wood like a tap-dancer's tipped shoes. It was only moments later that she understands the danger he tried to warn her of, as a group of what she recognizes as samurai storm the room and surround them; weapons drawn and ready. Lydia throws her hands up as if she's being held at gun point and nervously chuckles. "Heheh-- never heard of carpeting, guys? It's cool, we'll keep it down --honest! Heh--"

Suddenly Ram-Mask was in front of her, and leaned down to better match her height and whispered to her lightly to remove his mask. "What?" She whispered back confused, and glanced at him and back the soldiers encroaching around them, then back to him once more before finally heeding him.

Her hands fell to the sides of the skull mask and she unties its cinches and loosened it from his face. The ribbons holding it in place came undone and the mask fell away revealing a face that Lydia wished she didn't find attractive, but did, and her heart skipped a beat as she regarded him, suddenly breathless. Her large green eyes scanned his smooth and pale face. His features were softer then she imagined from the hardness of his voice and he looked much younger then she had gauged. What she expected even less where his strange yellow eyes that echoed tones of gold and honey and the strange shape of his pupils which she recognized as the eyes shared by ewes and rams. In fact she could see long drooping ears looming just beneath curved and ridged horns peeking out from under his hood now.

The night was just getting weirder and weirder and she stared at him in awe of his beauty and strangeness, and a part of her wanted to reach out and toss his snowy hair or pull at his lengthy ears that reminded her of a lamb. --but the situation seemed too dire for any of that and in stead she held the mask over her chest and yelped, "w-what now?" as they soon found themselves surrounded by glinting blades.

sadladsalad

 

[sadladsalad]

RIVER-CHILD

The moment she pulled the brilliant red satin ties, Faun knew immediately that he had to be careful from here on out. Even though he was being hunted down my mythical creatures, even though he was surrounded by the shogun’s guards, even though his unusable hands were creating an intense sensational burning… the moment she removed the mask, he had to be the personification of perfection itself at this very moment.

“I’m using you for a moment,” he attempts to cover himself by placing his wounded head over his face. Too much over exposure is the end for him. He was rather fortunate to have someone no one could possibly recognize. Some one no one can identify, “Hurry now. There’s no point of me giving you the Ram without wearing it—“

“Ah.”

The satyr-like creature nearly jumps in reflex, his ears flittering in response to a young teenager who can simply separate a crowd of samurai without forcing his way through. Although the man could not possibly turn due to the tactical disadvantage, he remembers the boy’s eerie and disturbing appearance. The kid was anything but a kid, if he last recalled.

The boy begins to speaks in a strangely ashened, yet lurid tongue, “How strange. Intruders. In the castle.”

He looks as though he was a dead corpse that finally risen from the bottom of a river. It was frightening to see such palesque features house dead crustaceans on the crevices of his body. Coral juts out from the opening of his turquoise robes and seaweed enwraps his limbs in a spiraled manner. Such strange bodily accessories, and yet they were easily ignored for the boy’s most prominent feature: a maggot-infested octopus that sucked to his back with its tentacles.

“Should I prepare the matcha?” the boy tilts his head. Water droplets dripped from every angle of his body. He was completely soaked, puddles forming under him. Truly, it was his white blank stare that really unnerved everyone... even the retainers who swore to protect this villa found it hard to relax in his presence. Faun was slightly thankful he did not have to return the gaze this time.

“Ah. I shouldn’t,” the boy shakes his head, remembering something. Perhaps what the shogun said. He moves in such a monotonous manner that the teenaged boy never seems to blink, “The shogun would not find it acceptable in this situation.”

Faun feels his throat dry. He knew how dangerous it was to enter the shogun’s castle; however, the rate of danger of this well-protected grounds could hardly compare to what lies outside the walls. The percentages of getting out alive barely dwells in double digits. And once they get out, hopefully the numbers will become more comforting. The man hangs his head down low enough for his lips to touch Lydia’s ears.

“Address where the shogun is right now,” he whispers discreetly, refusing to turn around. He does not dare raise his voice in the Kappa’s presence. His faint speech risked enough to fully expose him, for now he tries to make Lydia bluff out of the situation “Gently remind him there are two more of us that lies outside these walls. Emphasize that WE WILL NOT FAIL."

 

[InkedFox]

FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT...

Lydia flinches as she feels the Ram's lips graze her ear, but she listened intently and doesn't move a muscle as the drowned young man circles them. His pale gaze makes her hair stand on end and his macabre uniform only further sends shivers down her spine. She hears and slowly absorbs what the Ram is saying to her, but grasps the mask in her hands tightly as she notices that the she recognizes this room. This very palace was from an earlier scene in the movie--

She couldn't recall it clearly, and she never got far enough to see what the shogun looked like, but there was one character that she did see, who was supposedly in good graces with him. A veiled woman, whose face was forbidden to be seen. In all her scenes, she always wore a veil, and no one knew her face. All that was shown to the audience was the fact that this woman was extremely powerful and wealthy and the Shogun was interested in her romantically; her name was Lady Hoshiko. Apparently she was a moon maiden that many across the land fawned over, yet she was not the main protagonist in this movie. Though--- if Lydia had seen the rest of the film she would have learned that this 'moon-maiden' was also betrothed to the shogunate.

Lydia could feel the sweat glaze her palms the longer the silence stretched out and she was caught between obeying Ram's request and reliving the movie.

"I am Lady Hoshiko! --Do you not recognize me?!" She spoke before her mind registered what she was saying. "Where is Lord Shogun? My protectors are waiting outside; I expected a more gracious reception then this-- did you not receive my correspondence? --How dare! I will not be deterred!" Lydia's voice took on an air of confidence and indignance that shocked even herself. She couldn't believe what she was saying, but she was doing her best to sell it. Maybe it would work, and if not-- they were most likely fish food any way. Her stomach turned as her eyes flashed back and fourth between Ram and the drowned man-- wondering exactly what all this lunacy would result in.

sadladsalad