Krystina's house

[Dantes_river]

Pure T0rture

"Good," Shayde hummed lightly, snuggling closely to Sky when he was pulled closer to him. If he got any closer, he'd be in the other's lap or at least that's what he was thinking.

"I noticed and other than the damage done to this room, I'm surprised I haven't gone into my other side and tried killing anyone yet. I'm still rather nervous about having all of these taken off though," Ephraim breathed out a little shakily. He didn't mean for his nerves to kick into near panic mode, but he hadn't been without those seals in years. He'd always had people telling him it'd be a bad thing to have them removed and yet here he was trusting Rissa and Shadowheart to help him feel better by doing the very thing he was told never to do.

"Of course I am. I've only lived with them for most of my life," Sheik chuckled lightly only to frown slightly when he noticed Adramalech's presence having returned. That guy still gave him a bad vibe... "Adramallama's back. I think I'll leave Shadowheart, Trevor and Hades to deal with him 'cause he's got some serious negativity going on in his head and he actually seems like less of a dxck when they converse."

Giving a soft snicker, Lucian gently brushed his fingers through Truth's hair before hugging her close. "I'm sorry. Your hair was tickling my neck. I'd like for you to still feel free to talk to me about anything though so don't go thinking you can't talk to me about something because of these confessions. Like I've said before, I don't judge just pass along whatever comes to mind afterwards," he rumbled gently while hearing Adra's return. Looks like he did as was asked of him.

Ending up finding himself near where Adramalech was, Hayden gave a quick whistle so as to catch the demon's attention. "What's up with the grouchy face, mon ami? Need me to take a look at your arm?" he asked while briefly scratching the back of his neck. How distracted could he be if he'd wandered this far into the house yet only passed the bathroom with Ephraim and Rissa in it?

 

[Pure T0rture]

Dantes_river

There was a moment of silence before sky finally asked ".... wanna go back out there....?"

Although it didn't show, rissa was rather nervous herself about the seals coming off. she still remembered what trevor had said about him getting those, and she didn't want him to hurt anyone he cared for. "okay... that's all of them..." she mumbled, giving him a rather tired smile. burning through magic of any kind took a lot out of her.

"I'll probably talk to you more now that that's off my chest..." the redhead smiled, scratching her neck as she took a step back.

"damned brat didn't say nothing about the shadows fighting back! i mean, i expected the old f*cker to put up as good a fight as he did, but...." he groaned, banging his head against the wall. "the goddamn shadows.... it makes no sense..."

 

[Dantes_river]

Pure T0rture

"Out there as in outside or out there as in back in the public eye of those in this house? We haven't really gone outside in a while so some fresh air sounds pretty nice," Shayde asked with a light hum to his voice, his fingers gently brushing against the skin on Sky's arm.

"And I haven't gone all loco... So they lied to me? They lied to Trevor?" he mumbled after a few moments of awkward silence. It just seemed so weird they would do that... And there wasn't really any pain anymore or what pain remained was already starting to grow numb as the shadows seemed to reattach themselves to his shadow. "Why would they lie about that though? It's been a serious pain in my a** trying to work around them things for seven plus years! Ooh... Lightheaded, but the shadows are back and they're working on healing the burnt skin. They sound excited the seals are gone too."

"Good. I like knowing you feel comfortable enough to open up to me. You're an excellent kisser by the way," Lulu smiled only to feel his face heat up when he noticed his tail had come out into the open and was wagging. Good Lord, that was embarrassing to have especially since that meant his wolf ears were showing too.

"The shadows fought back? But if their prince asked you to- Tell me about it while I look at your arm," Hayden repeated in a questioning tone before kneeling down beside the crow demon and moving the hand holding the opposite arm out of his way. Well he certainly hadn't expected this, but it was definitely a good distraction from dreams about death.

 

[Pure T0rture]

Dantes_river

"outside sounds good" Sky nodded, his grin growing a bit.

"fear makes people do stupid things" rissa shrugged, smiling softly as she held onto his hand. "you let me know if you need anything... i'm just... gonna take a tiny nap..." she sighed, resting her head on her knees.

"So are you..." she hummed, a blush forming on her face when she noticed the ears and tail. he looked cute....

under his hand were several large claw marks that stopped near his shoulder. "i was just doing what he asked, bringing the kids back so they could return to their sleep until it was the right time. I got the kids all settled in and made sure no one else had been disturbed before i left them. after adding a few extra barriers to make sure no one bothered them, that is." he sighed, scratching at his shoulder. "next thing i knew i was being lifted up by the darkness and nearly ripped apart. lucky for me, i pulled a burn and boom to get most of them off. so, what's the damage? and don't go taking it on yourself, screw ball. you know the rule: bandages and meds; no magic."

 

[Dantes_river]

Pure T0rture

"Then let's go on outside," Shayde smiled before sliding off the counter and tugging Skylar's hands lightly so as to get him moving.

"Go on ahead and sleep. I feel drained myself so I can only guess how drained you feel from using that much energy burning those seals off," Ephraim murmured gently although he felt himself flinch from how different things appeared. All of his senses seemed to be getting sharper. Humming softly, the coppery haired male pulled the girl closer to his side and gently held her close albeit he was hesitant about touching her after having busted a hole in the floor with such ease. Since she didn't show any signs of pain from him touching her, however, he felt a little more at ease and gently set his cheek against the top of her head.

Giving a soft and shy laugh, he scratched his jaw slightly while inwardly thanking Hades for his blood fetish seeing as that was like practice kissing and he'd picked up a few tricks from him. "I'll thank you for that. I feel like a puppy when my ears and tail pop up like this especially when my tail's wagging. They're pretty hard to miss or at least under Sheik's opinion they are," Lucian rumbled while trying to force his blush back down. He couldn't help his instincts of cheer much less excitement of more than one kind so he wasn't sure why he felt embarrassed about his tail showing up and wagging in front of Truth. "Y-you can touch them if you want. My mother used to say girls liked cute things and that cute things involved things like animal ears and tails... Just, um, if you touch the tail, be careful of how high you touch it. Cats and dogs have most of their nerves in their back, especially around the tail."

"Mmhmm... While that would be the easiest way to fix this kind of damage, I already know that. Scars are tattoos with better stories and pretty sexy, ne?" Hayden teased lightly while carefully shifting the demon's arm a bit. When the other finished speaking, he flashed a light half-smile. "Unfortunately for you, this wasn't like the damage Shadowheart and Ephraim cause meaning it wasn't the shadows or if it was, they weren't exactly after you but rather something on you. If Shadowheart asked you to do something, they wouldn't have lashed out at you after you took the extra precaution of taking care of what is theirs. What's even worse is how there is an air of black magic surrounding these injuries." Taking a breath, the assassin tapped his earring and started going through a metallic box full of various charms and sutras. "As Trevor said earlier, black magic actually originated from the light realm whereas white magic came from the dark realm. Unfortunately, humans confused the differences in magic as everything from the dark must be evil and out to hurt people. Morons is what they were. Ah! Here we are. This might sting a bit."
Flicking a sutra up into the air, the light purple haired male made a few quick handsigns before the glowing sutra hovered in front of Adramalech. This was eventually followed by several others shooting out of the box as the first started to combust into flames. Once the sutras floated back down to the ground, Hayden sighed lightly and started returning them to their box. "As I was saying, the light realm is obviously trying to keep eyes on activity in the dark much like how they came here after that psycho bxtch was dealt with as they felt a dark entity here. Since you have access to the dark realm, they were more than likely trying to kill you so you wouldn't be able to revive others from the dark. That's my theory at the very least. We'd have to figure out what the predecessors of the dark intended to do by sealing away their young in the neutral territory without a single adult to tell them anything about themselves. From what we do know, the shadows release bits and pieces of their abilities and their history to those who were already awakened. Shayde did say those kids weren't supposed to be awake yet and he himself isn't fully awake yet. Either way, those from the light can't reach as far into the dark as you three can apparently. My guess is these tombs are too far into the dark that the light can't reach and for all they know, you could've been waking the others still sealed away. This would mean that they know all of the dark realm wasn't destroyed and the war from eons ago is still continuing to this day. The threat they feared still exists and they're afraid of you... Don't stress your arm too bad, give it few days to heal with stitches, a few days without stitches and you should be right as rain. You try straining the arm and you'll only add to the damage. I'll bandage it up now that I've gotten rid of the black magic and given you my full assessment of your arm." Tapping his earring again, the metallic box switched to a white metallic box with a red plus sign on it and he began cleaning up the gashes on his arm. Silly crow demon thinking he could tell Runealis Sareila what to do. Once his arm was as close to clean as it was going to get, the assassin threaded a needle with what he felt was plenty enough thin wiring and glancing up briefly at the demon as if asking if he was prepared for the repetitive pricking sensation that came with needles.

 

[Pure T0rture]

Dantes_river

Sliding off the counter, Skylar's wings ruffled a bit at the idea of being able to stretch again.

"mmm.... Mkay....." she smiled, readjusting so she could hold onto his shirt as she slept.

"t-they really do make you look cute..." she mumbled, having to go on her toes again to lightly touch one of his ears.

"They really are quite far in.... I can usually see the castle when I check on the ones my spells are on. I suppose I should check there once to see if anything has changed, shouldn't i?" he sighed, nodding towards the cuts to let him know he was ready.

 

[Dantes_river]

Pure T0rture

"You can stretch your wings again while we're outside too, but no trees this time. I'd rather you didn't mangle your wings again. And I can follow you with much more ease now that my leg's healed," Shayde suggested while leading Sky out the door from the dining room. He'd need to stretch himself before doing any chasing though. He'd been cooped up without much excercise ever since that stupid leech dislocated his leg.

As soon as he felt Rissa had drifted to sleep, Ephraim drifted into a light sleep himself with his arm still around the girl's torso. Hopefully he'd be completely better when he woke back up.

"Glad you think my ears are cute. I can always slouch a bit if it'd make it easier for you to reach them," Lulu snickered lightly before letting his muscles completely relax to the point where he was slouching a bit for Truth to touch his ears. He was, of course, biting back something between a groan and moan of her fingers rubbing his furry ears as it was complete ecstasy. Oh how sensitive his ears really were. And that's when that soft moan of pleasure escaped him, his face heating up once again while he covered his mouth so it wouldn't happen again.

"It might be a good idea to check over the area to see if there have been any changes. I can put some protection spells on you in case there are other magic traps set into place before you go too. I suggest letting yourself heal first though 'cause I can only fix so much of you with just supplies without taking injury upon myself then returning your regenerated parts once they're done healing," the assassin smiled lightly as he got started stitching up the gashes in the demon's arm. Over some time, his smile faded back into a serious expression and he cleaned up around the stitches as best as he could. "Remove your shirt so I can make sure the bandages remain in place please. So what, my grumpy lil' crow, can I do to turn that frown upside-down after I'm done with patching you up? Need I remind you that it takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile and you'll get premature wrinkles with such a grumpy attitude? It takes even less muscle to flick people off~."

 

[Pure T0rture]

Dantes_river

"Right. No trees." He agreed with a nod, scratching at his shoulders.

Pulling her hand away when he made a noise, truth blushed more. "S-sorry...." She stammered, letting her hand fall back to her side.

Pulling his shirt off, the demon shrugged. "A new pack of smokes would be appreciated." He grunted, holding up the empty box shayde had given him.

 

[Dantes_river]

Pure T0rture

"Right. Well give me a few minutes to limber up and we'll get started on our free roaming of the area," Shayde nodded before releasing Sky's hands only to set his hands on the ground a few inches in front of his feet. Shortly after, his feet lifted up off the ground and shifted to where he was in a backbend. Oh yeah. His back just popped from doing such a simple movement and he could actually feel some relief in his back from doing that. Stiff muscles were not fun.

"N-no. That was my bad. I forgot to mention they're very sensitive. I will also have to admit that you touching them felt really nice. It's fine if you keep at it, just don't be surprised if I do that again. It's a very pleasurable sensation after all," Lulu murmured shyly after having removed his hands. He didn't mean to make her feel bad about it.

"I can do that. Perhaps I'll put a charm on the pack so it'll regenerate any cigarettes you remove from it considering you're a chain smoker," Hades responded gently before starting to put a bandage around the demon's arm. As it moved up the arm, he set pieces of gauze with a light purple paste on them over the gashes in case it started bleeding again much less began secreting fluids that would make it stick. He didn't like it when it happened to him so he doubted others liked it. What made it better was the paste would lessen the risk of infection. Once he reached the shoulder, he made sure to cross the bandages over the demon's chest a couple times before setting little metal pins in it to keep the bandages in place. "Done! Is there anything besides the smokes you need or would like?"

 

[Pure T0rture]

Dantes_river

Nodding, Sky gave a smile as he took a few steps back and let his wings stretched out behind him. Oh man that felt nice. "Just say when" he smirked, eyes glimmering in the sunlight.

"O-okay..." She nodded, reaching up and touching them again.

"Um.... Nah I think that's it." He mumbled, scratching his head. "Thanks for patching me up though." He sighed, pulling his shirt on. "So, where's your girlfriend?" He smirked, raising an eyebrow.

 

[Dantes_river]

Pure T0rture

"Will do. Ooh. That was a chain of pops. I know Hades wanted my leg to heal and whatnot, but it's such a pain stretching when you're all stove up," Shayde breathed out as he shifted his weight back onto his hands and stretched his legs out over him. Of course he wasn't exactly expecting a chain of audible pops from his spine right then, but it was pretty helpful to getting his limbs loosened up. After a few minutes of stretching, he finally just shook his arms off to the side while giving a few quick hops on the balls of his feet. "Alrighty. Let's get a move on. Any other pops will be whatever's left as I move."

Smiling lightly at his ears being touched again, a low groan of his pleasure to such touches began bubbling up in his chest after a few moments. And there was his tail wagging again. "I-I can leave 'em out too if you want. I don't mind it if you really like 'em."

"It's no problem, Adra. I owe you for a lot of things after all," Hades hummed cheerfully at having been thanked by the grouchy demon. At being asked where Lianna was, his smile faltered a bit yet never completely vanished. Tapping his finger against a completely different earring, he snatched a small red box from the air and started making a small set of black runes scribble themselves on the side. "She's still asleep right now. My original intent was to take a shower, but I got distracted by my thoughts and then I noticed your presence so I thought about checking in on you since Shadowheart isn't exactly in his Shayde personality right now. In truth, I think they're the same person in all technicalities, but until his princely side finishes lessons with the shadows he opted to make himself seem bipolar with a bit of amnesia... Then again, he could always just be playing innocent and when he gets pissed all of that bad stuff happens. I really didn't completely expect him to snap out of his irritation in complete shock when he stabbed me though. He never really seemed to grow close to Maso, Sheik, Lulu or myself and yet that look of horror he expressed made me smile 'cause it reminded me of how those of you attached to the dark can appear so unaffected by those around you yet can still grow attached. You and I grew attached after all. We became friends, complaining about things to each other and putting me in a lot of debt to you. There's plenty of things I'm still doubting I can ever repay to you, but I'm glad you were there... I'm glad you were able to know the stupid side of me and see how I've grown a little bit smarter and stronger over time. I am still pretty stupid and weak though. It makes me even happier I knew the proper people to help you instead of letting Sheik do as he wanted. I've missed you and being able to talk to you, especially the complaints of all the things that happened since you up and vanished on me. I could've used your wisdom on a certain ninja female who kept interfering in my work." With that, he held the box out to Adra with that oh so cheerful smile of his.

 

[Pure T0rture]

Dantes_river

"alright." Sky smiled, hovering just off the ground so he could test his wings safely. "wanna race?" he smirked, raising an eyebrow.

"i like them... but... you should choose if you want to keep them out or not." the redhead grinned, giving his hand a tiny squeeze.

"i missed you too, ya giant dork." Adra grunted, quickly pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. As soon as the smell of tobacco filled the room, the demon's shoulders relaxed and he smiled at Rune. "you know, you should really open up a bit more to these guys. i can tell you're worried about it, but i can also see that they are too" he sighed, standing up.

 

[Dantes_river]

Pure T0rture

"Sure. What's our route to take?" Shayde smirked slightly whilst remaining on the balls of his feet in preparation of this race of Skylar's.

"I really don't mind them being out unless Sheila or someone like Mara are around. They're the kinds of girls who like picking at a flaw or weakness just to prove they can get anyone to do their bidding. In short, they are like a dominatrix, finding things like fear and S&M amusing if not arousing on their part," the lycan rumbled gently while gently squeezing the female's hand in his own. Sheila was the main reason he kept his ears and tail hidden other than being in front of enemies and letting up those wagging motions. That tail expressed so much emotion when he wasn't meaning it to.

Giving the demon a slightly unamused gaze, he stood up himself before starting to stretch. "And what, pray tell, do I tell them? I need a history book to point out events in time that I've been involved in yet can't quite recall because I died and the Brotherhood refuses to let me have a free will which was the very reason I went AWOL after my alias Altaïr Ibn'Alahad? That if the Brotherhood ever finds out they know who I really am they'll be branded as traitors and threat to their cause?" Runealis questioned only to shake his head slightly as if already knowing the answers to such questions. "There's so much to say and so little time with them. I wouldn't know where to begin besides the start of my memories. I become lost more often than not and I told you that back when I was still training to be an assassin. Without the Brotherhood, I don't know what I'm supposed to do or how I'm supposed to be. After the fae opted to make me out to be a murderer, I didn't know what to do or where to go so I tried figuring out who I was for the umpteenth time and ended up figuring out my real name and what my occupation had been, even found out there were other Sareila's in the Brotherhood. They didn't even mind me hiding amongst them as some deaf kid of theirs... I just wanted to get inside that fxcking safe the masters spoke of that holds onto all of the memorabilia of who I was 'cause for all I know, they could be hiding serious information from me. Now I'm just as far away as I always was while waiting for word from the other Sareila members about having retrieved any kind of intelligence from that safe... I can't even sleep without remembering how I was buried alive or died of hypothermia or even died cause I was stupid enough to let a ninja girl get to me..."

 

[Pure T0rture]

Dantes_river

"Out to the fence and then we follow it clockwise for two laps?" He asked, a grin on his face as he noted the fence just poking out of the trees around Kristina's house.

"Sheila is really creepy that's for sure. I hate having to admit I'm related to her." she grimaced, sticking her tongue out for emphasis.

"alright! I surrender!"/color] the demon sighed as he ruffled rune's hair. "As for that ninja girl, I suggest you just focus on the faerie for now."

 

[Dantes_river]

Pure T0rture

"Sounds like a plan. Get ready... Get set... Go!" was how Shayde responded, his positioning shifting ever so slightly so as to be prepped for sprinting yet waiting until Sky seemed more prepared for the race before continuing on. After having said go, however, he wasted no time with the stereotypical taunts of 'see ya' most people would waste the breath on. The easiest path of travel on foot, not to mention the fastest, would be the trees. Now the only thing he had to worry about was the speed of Skylar's ability to fly and how fast he could turn. Then again, who really cared who won the race? They were mostly just stretching and getting fresh air with some play involved in it.

"At least your only real relation to her is over some distance ie your grandparents. Sure, she has similar blood to Trevor, but it's only because they share the same parents. In all truth, you only share half of your blood with her so only half of you has to love her. She really is creepy. My first encounter with her had it to where she tried ramming her tongue down my throat. Shayde ended up jumping out of the shadow she cast near me and ended up flinging her into a wall. He didn't really talk much back then so I suppose the fact that he spoke more when you first got to meet him than back then shows he's grown more comfortable around people since the fall of the Silent Shadow Clan," Lucian snickered lightly although he briefly stuck his tongue out at mentioning Sheila's and his first encounter. Ugh. If it hadn't have been for Shayde, she'd have probably succeeded. "It's pretty embarrassing admitting a girl of her size is capable of overpowering a purebred lycan much less one who is a ninja assassin."

Scowling slightly at having his hair ruffled like he was still a kid, the assassin gave a soft sigh. "Sorry for making you surrender. My thought process has changed over the many years I've existed in this world and I honestly don't know how to get everything out without finding myself retreating back into this eerie silence I developed after you were gone while also trying to get it all out in their lifespan," Runealis muttered while brushing his hair back and out of his face with his fingers. Lacing his fingers together behind his back, he gave a slight nod and gave a brief cough as if clearing his throat. "I'm going to remain focused on Lianna. I even went so far as to tell the ninja to go away before one or both of us ended up dead again. Then again, I've almost died like three times already with my lil' faerie. Maybe I'm just cursed into dying anytime I find someone I'd give the whole world if it'd make them happy. I'd give you the world if I could, but part of me wonders if you'd be happier claiming it for yourself. Just let your arm heal and remember that you can come to me for anything at any given point in time."