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 Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 6:22 pm
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"I'm not about to try to keep a thing like that a secret from him," Crystal answered. "Although he can probably figure it out himself from the increased furyoku signature of the demonic dragon spirit now that the seal has been so substantially weakened."
"Don't worry, Hao isn't going to blame you for what happened out there," she could see that Roveth seemed a little bit nervous, which was understandable given the circumstances, but a little unusual to be seeing from Roveth. "He's going to be way more upset about Hana being here. As the rightful heir to the Asakura family we can't afford to have him die, but Hana really doesn't care about any of that and this isn't the first time he's put himself into a dangerous situation without thinking things through. Hao isn't going to be taking too kindly to this latest act of blatant stupidity on our nephew's part."
Soon enough there came a knock at the door of the main entrance to the Emiya estate. "Well then, we'd better let him know that we have things under control for the moment, if only to prevent him from going off on his own killing spree of stripping the souls from people's bodies," Crystal reminded Roveth as she went to go answer the door.
Hao seemed understandably agitated when Crystal got there. "This entire city feels like one huge blight against humanity. I'm amazed the the purity of this house hasn't been tainted by the outside energies even with all the protective wards placed upon the grounds. And why exactly am I picking up on so much residual murderous intent coming from Shiro? No, don't tell me, I'm sure it must be related to the demonic dragon spirit. Something serious must have happened for the pressure to increase by so much in such a short span of time."
"We've been having an eventful evening since I called you here," Crystal responded while dragging him inside to get him away, at least temporarily, from the horrible mass of negative energy writhing throughout the rest of the city. "Shiro met with a person for whom he already held a great deal of animosity and that person pushed him over the edge." Crystal decided not to mention the reason why Shinji had so thoroughly provoked Shiro because then even she wouldn't be able to discourage him from killing the b*****d by his own hand.
"If it's Shiro, then I'm certain there must have been a very good reason for it," Hao pondered. "But I am glad that you were able to put a stop to him before he could become too much of a threat to handle." He paused, raising an eyebrow, and then frowned when he realized who else was at the estate. "I should have realized... the brat was gone all afternoon and it was much too quiet at Funbari Onsen," Hao muttered mainly to himself. "Well, I'm really not surprised that he'd want to come here after all the fuss Shiro was making about it last night, but to think he managed to beat me to it. Hana is far more devious than I've given him credit for."
"It's just a pity he isn't being very bright," added Matamune.
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Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 7:29 pm
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Rin of course kept quiet while working on the information for Crystal and Roveth, and Emiya-kun. Emiya of course was making a plate of food for Hao since he was not about to get in-between Shaman-esque things. Roveth? well, he just stiffly waved to Hao, and idly listened to his ranting about the negativity outside, sure, he felt it too, but he was used to such negativity, for some reason, like he belonged in it, or thrived in it, either way he was keeping to himself at the moment.
Shiro of course finally snapped awake, not because of Hao's presence, but his own nightmares finally getting to him, making him gasp for air as he clenched his fists, not because of anger, or self loathing, but trying more to assure himself that it was all just a dream, a very very bad one, as he slowly got up with a stumble, and started to head to where everyone was gathered, not realizing who was now there, but more along the lines of needing to be with people he knew, to know they were alive.
Roveth had been fiddling with his Oracle Pager under the table when he spied Shiro showing up in the dining room before slumping down into a seat "you okay Baka Hikari?" Shiro looked over to Roveth with the haunted hollow eyes, shaking his head "couldn't stay asleep, nightmares -again-..." he muttered, while simply just sitting there and trying to calm himself down, Kurama having appeared out of his own tablet to sit next to shiro and nuzzle against him to try and help calm him down, which worked to a small degree.
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Kuukyo_Fushichou Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 8:01 pm
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Seeing as Rin and Emiya hadn't yet been properly introduced to Hao, he soon felt obliged to carry on with his own self-introduction. Doing so would at least serve to make him feel a bit better about this whole arrangement considering he knew exactly what not to say. "Hao Asakura," he spoke with a smile that made him appear entirely too smug for his own good. "But you can call me God."
This naturally prompted Crystal to elbow him to make him shut up before he got any more carried away. "Right, that's enough out of you," Crystal gave off an exasperated sigh. "Just sit down and eat."
"As you wish," Hao chuckled as he took a seat at the table. "But it's still technically true."
"That isn't the point!" Crystal retorted. Seeing Shiro awake reminded her of the fact that she still had blood all over her clothes. "Right then, I should probably go get changed," she decided. "You stay here and try not to say anything that's going to get us thrown out," Crystal instructed Hao before going off the guest room that had been set up for her to change out of her bloodied outfit and into something suitably clean and comfortable, something that wouldn't distract her from the ritual she needed to perform in the next few hours. So, with that in mind, cue Crystal wearing traditional priestess attire that will probably be quite a shock to see for Roveth and Shiro when she returns to the dining area.
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Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 8:31 pm
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Roveth had blinked a moment when he looked up to see Crystal i nthe traditional priestess garb, and then proceeded to raise both eyebrows "wow, been a long time since i've seen you in something like that." he said with amazement and all, though he said nothing perverted thankfully so he was probably safe from Hao's wrath at least.
Rin had just sweatdropped at Hao's introduction, and nodded a bit with a nervous laugh "Tohsaka Rin, heiress of the Tohsaka fortunes, and the Second Land-owner, magically, for fuyuki City, and no, i did not have a hand in creating the Grail System, just a hand in stopping it the last time it came through." Emiya had brought out a new plate of food, piping hot, for Hao, and Matamune too if he could eat, and also had brought out some herbal tea with honey in it for Shiro. "Emiya Shirou, nice to meet you Hao-san." he said unflinchingly.
Shiro of course thanked Emiya and sipped on the tea, though he was hardly relaxed, given he really need to shake those nightmares off, but with them being so fresh compared to the last time he had any, it was pretty much making him a mess, though he merely nodded towards Hao's direction acknowledging him, not really finding a need to speak at the moment with his mind disarrayed as it was.
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Kuukyo_Fushichou Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 9:23 pm
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"Matamune," the nekomata introduced himself to Emiya as the boy was clearly able to see him. "Thank you."
"Well, I figure this is probably the most suitable outfit I have for performing the ritual later," Crystal explained to Roveth as she returned to her own spot at the table.
"Oh, the unflappable type, eh?" Hao mused when Emiya set down the plates of food for him and Matamune. "I like this guy already," he added with an honest smile before digging into his own plate of food. "Ah, the food is excellent too. I see we've found ourselves a fine host, indeed."
Crystal was profoundly glad that Horohoro wasn't present to filch alcohol for this gathering. Hao was being mischievous enough without the need for liquor to fuel his antics any further. Well, at least he was behaving himself to the best of his ability and being reasonably polite with Emiya. Crystal just hoped that Hao wouldn't see it as a challenge to try to get a rise out of him as his new plaything.
"Anyway, none of you need worry over any threat from me," Hao spoke seriously for a moment. "I can sense perfectly well that the malicious and evil aura that strangles this city didn't originate here. The monster that plagues this city is situated elsewhere and that person is the one you need to be wary about."
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Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 10:23 am
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Emiya of course just chuckled a bit nervously at the mention of the unflappable type, he was no such thing, he was just trying to be a polite host and all. Rin of course had finished the document for Crystal and was working on Roveth's copy next, passing it over to her "that's the basic summoning chant i know for summoning a servant, with at least lines to specify one class, there are probably more, but you can use these as a guideline to make your own summoning chant."she stated while continuing her work.
Roveth nodded as he awaited his copy, but more along the lines of looking to Shiro and keeping an eye on his idiot light, as he so typically calls him, more out of concern than anything, given the haunted and hollowed out look in his eyes was slowly going away, or maybe slowly being able to be masked so Shiro could at least somewhat return to himself "you know, Shiro, Hana actually had an interesting idea before we sent him to bed. it's also a bit in your area of expertise, so maybe you should find a way to talk to that Demon Dragon inside you and try to understand it?" he got a wild 'are you insane' look from Shiro as a knee-jerk reaction, before he quickly settled down "it's possibly the best way to find common ground between you two, and maybe help the Demon Dragon sort itself out."
Shiro just pondered over Roveth's words, while sipping the tea as he seemed to be in thought on it, minorly cringing in phantom pains it seemed, probably from when he had transformed "... might be an idea, but i don't think the demon dragon will be very talkative... might try to eat me instead."
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Kuukyo_Fushichou Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 12:23 am
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Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 3:58 pm
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Rin had nodded in agreement to Crystal's work, having finished the second copy for roveth, and was working on the last copy for Emiya when she stopped writing, of course, the reason why was because the table was shaking minutely and she didn't want her handwriting to become sloppy, so she looked up to see who was causing it, and gulped, seeing Shiro the one shaking, but probably not out of fear.
Shiro of course just stared down at himself, having long since sat the empty tea-cup down when Hao started lecturing him about handling the demon dragon spirit inside of him, shaking not because of raw anger or fear, just... raw emotions trying to assault his mind as if in physical pain, given the emotions were giving him headaches as he ground out his words "you think i had a choice of doing so? you think i actually chose to ignore it all and snapped on someone of my own village after it was sealed in me? guess again -GOD-." he spat out with as much venom as any viper would inflected in his voice "let me tell you something. i had no contact from the spirit except snarls and growls. why? because one of the more fearful villagers tampered with the seal while i was still young and unable to stop anything that happened if the dragon managed to possess me. i don't know what they did exactly but i think their intent was to block all contact from me and the spirit, it did it's job, but led to the dragon possessing me anyway, and viciously gutting and ripping apart -every- villager. and left me the memories of it all, so tell me, would your mother dying because of humanity's stupidity leading to -your- suffering be greater than someone whose barely old enough to walk being forced to experience their entire village being turned into a bloodbath at technically his own hands, and forced to suffer from those memories, and the memories of every time after when he kills people for simply getting angry? stew on THAT for a while -GOD-." he then got up from the table, and turned, with his hollowed out haunted face masking the deep turbulence his voice had at the moment, straining himself to at least keep from going to irrepressible rage right now "... i'm going outside." he said with his strained voice before leaving, not for the front door, but for the back door, full intent to go out into the garden to get away from everyone.
Roveth of course just looked at Shiro leaving, and then sighed, while pinching the bridge of his nose "... Hao, i think you pushed the wrong button this time." he said, while slumping forward "man... didn't know that was why his paranoia and fear of the demonic dragon was so deep.... and he never told me anything about it.... ugh... some friend i turned out to be." he just seemed a bit more depressed even about things in general.
Emiya and Rin of course stayed silent, though Emiya seemed to be showing a similar understanding of Shiro's suffering, given he was still plagued himself about the Fuyuki Fires, the end of the Fourth Grail War...
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Kuukyo_Fushichou Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 2:15 pm
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 6:21 pm
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Roveth merely continued reading over his copy of the summoning ritual chant from rin, apparently pretty much ignoring Hao now given he said his piece and didn't plan on listening to his explanation, though when hao was done, he'd look up from his studying and raised an eyebrow "hm? you say something?" he said in an honest tone of confusion. of course, mentally he's just being his Arch-b*****d self just because, he knew Hao was right, but it still made him insufferable sometimes, so the best thing Roveth usually does, is tune Hao out when he gets lecture-ish.
Rin of course just sighed shaking her head a bit, and finished her work, giving Emiya his copy, and just put the pin on her upper lip a moment with a frown "hmmm... seems this shaman stuff sounds as complicated as Magecraft can be at times." she said ponderingly, while shrugging, not really her business to try and cheer Shiro-san up, mainly because she doesn't exactly like him for being the trouble magnet similar to Emiya.
Shiro of course had just sat down in the garden, grumbling a bit as he stared up to the sky, even if he could see the stars, he still felt unrest, probably from the nightmares, and the cause of them ~Hao may be right, but that doesn't mean s**t right now, at least i care about all life and the spirits, humanity included, unlike that jackass...~ he thought to himself, while trying to relax to no avail as he grumbled a bit and tried to figure out how to talk with the damn dragon, granted, he's hardly ever tried visiting his own mind much less his soul, so he was at a loss at the moment.
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Kuukyo_Fushichou Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 8:23 pm
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"Not that I would expect a simpleton like you to understand the importance of any of that," Hao jabbed straight back at Roveth. "Just remember that when the time comes, you're the one who has to help him because Shiro isn't going to come seeking any advice from me. Then again, from what I've observed, he's too much of a stubborn fool to seek help from anyone."
"That's enough," Crystal finally told Hao off. "We all know Shiro has trust issues. He won't ask for anyone's help and if it were offered to him he'd only turn it down. Just drop it already."
Hao fell silent and went back to concentrating on eating the food that was in front of him. Crystal wasn't mad at him though. She was mad at Shiro. Mad at him for keeping so much to himself, keeping everything bottled up inside, and for being too afraid to even try to improve his situation. She had always thought that he was a better person than that, but apparently all these years she had been wrong and Shiro was really nothing more than a huge idiot.
She couldn't stand for it anymore. Crystal got up from the table, spotting a conveniently placed and heavy looking phone book positioned on the counter. "I'm just going to borrow this for a minute," she stated simply as she picked it up and stomped outside toward the garden where Shiro had run off to. Crystal tested the weight of the phone book in her hand as she continued to walk toward him and once she got within range she promptly decked him in the head with it.
"You know something Shiro, I thought we were friends, but the more I think about it you've always been pulling these stupid shenanigans of not telling anybody anything about yourself that might let us help you. You've always kept everyone in the dark," Crystal muttered at him. "That kind of friendship is too damn one-sided. And to think, back when I first met you, I never would have thought you could be this stupid!"
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 10:13 pm
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Shiro of course after being decked by Crystal by the phone book, flopped face first on the ground (he was already sitting) with a smarting head, hearing crystal admonish him to almost made him want to snap back, but he just sighed laying there in that uncomfortable position "... the only reason i didn't say anything about my childhood was because i wanted to -leave- it in the past, Crystal. call me an idiot if you want, i know it's true, but that's what i'm sticking by, i don't need nor want pity over it, so i never spoke of the story." he just sighed "what i want to do is work towards the future right now, and to do that, i have to figure out how to contact the blasted dragon, and then we have to survive this war." he said, while laying there, Arturia coming out in spirit ball form sweatdropping at her partner ~Lord shiro... why didn't you open up..?~ Shiro had seen the look on Arturia's spiritual face, before sighing a bit, just wondering what to do, another time in his life where he was clueless aside from just dealing with the war, THEN work towards dealing with the Demon Dragon, though he may have to deal with the dragon soon.
Roveth meanwhile just raised an eyebrow at Hao's comments, though he had been silenced, he shrugged, and just went back to reading, not before saying one last thing "there is no 'God' so to speak, there's the Great Spirit, so it'd be nice if you stopped the god complex yanno." he said calmly while reading.
Rin just sweatdropped at the two, and shook her head lightly and decided to check the time before raising both eyebrows "Emiya-Kun, it's almost time for you to do your summonings!" of course, this snapped Emiya out of his musings before reading the chant a bit, and nodded lightly "right, my workshop then." he said, the two magi heading for the back door out to the garden to the shed.
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Kuukyo_Fushichou Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2015 3:50 am
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"You really are an idiot," Crystal muttered. She was still holding onto the phone book, but refrained from hitting Shiro again for the moment. "You might have wanted to leave it in the past, but it sure as heck didn't want to be left there. It got out on more than one occasion back then and it was only by sheer dumb luck that I managed to survive those encounters well enough to put you back to normal again afterward. But you just carried on like it was perfectly normal so I didn't even bother to question it. You think I'm angry at you out of pity? Get over yourself. You aren't pathetic enough for pity. You're just stupid enough to endanger your friends by keeping your past a secret, exposing us to a monster lurking inside of you without any information that might have helped us. I mean, you might have mentioned something after the second or third time that thing nearly killed us."
Crystal took a deep breath. "But I'm willing to forgive all that if you're willing to stop being stupid now and let us help you for a change. And I think I might know something that can help you to get in touch with that demonic dragon spirit. Why don't you try a guided meditation?"
"Now that's where you're very wrong, Roveth," Hao intoned as he ceased eating rather abruptly and turned serious. "It's not that there is no 'God'. It's that there are too many gods from bygone eras who can no longer agree on how to manage this world. My predecessors are already plotting to do something drastic to have me overthrown as Shaman King and some of them are even worse jerks than I am. Regardless of the outcome, I can guarantee that their intentions for this world aren't any more noble than mine. Naturally, it's pointless to decide things in a contest between past and present Shaman Kings so things will ultimately be determined by contests between outside parties. There's no telling yet who might get dragged into it." He fell silent again after that outburst and went straight back to eating. He certainly wasn't happy about the situation. It wasn't like he had a lot of supporters to choose from. And there was no telling what the competition was going to be like. Hao was in a bind and he knew it. But, he also knew that he was just going to have to make the most of a bad situation. He already had certain candidates in mind with potential, but it was still going to be a long shot. As much as he liked watching people fight, Hao hated having to rely on others to fight for him.
"You really have a lot to learn about the politics of who controls the Great Spirit, Roveth-san," Matamune spoke up. "It isn't all fun and games being 'God'. Of course, the real difficulty comes from the fact that Hao-sama now has reservations about endangering his loved ones to hold onto his position when even with their best efforts they might still lose. However, he also has to contend with the fact that some of his predecessors are by far even worse people than he is."
Hao glowered mildly at Matamune. "It's not like you really had to tell him all that," he grumbled. "Besides, it's not like he should even care. Regardless of what happens to me, the world won't undergo any significant changes from how it is now. It won't make any real difference for anybody else."
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Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2015 11:45 am
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Roveth looked between Hao and Matamune as he let the words sink in, he knew of other gods and goddesses, yes, but he never really liked putting the word 'god' to a face, especially one he's an aquaintance with, as he nodded "what i meant to say, Matamune, Hao, is that to me, Hao Asakura is Hao Asakura, yes, he is the Shaman King, yes, he is 'God' but to me, he's Hao Asakura, nothing more than that. i can't put faces to words like 'God' and the like, that's usually why i reject the word outright and just call Hao by his name." he said, continuing to read "and don't think i don't know about politics, i have to deal with it every time i have to work in the background to do my underground dealings and stuff as my 'Arch b*****d' persona. not to mention if i get sent back to my personal hell again which i kinda took over." he said with a roll of his shoulder "all that paperwork.. ugh!" he shivered a bit lightly.
Shiro had just continued laying there, thinking on the words "... honestly, the only ones i'd trust to help me is you, Crystal, nothing personal against some of the others... but they're either idiots, or just rub off on me the wrong way, or are out exploring the world." he said, sighing as he sat up "... sorry i've been an idiot." he said, while glancing to her about her mention of the Guided Meditation "hmm... that's something new to me, given i do meditate, but i think mine was more Zen meditation than anything." he said with a curious headtilt.
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Kuukyo_Fushichou Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2015 1:43 pm
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"Don't tell me you're actually still hung up on that," Hao raised an eyebrow at Roveth. "You must have realized that that bit of self introduction was only a joke to get a rise out of Crystal. I don't expect for anyone to actually call me 'God', except for Hana when he's angrily cursing the heavens, but that's a wildly different matter. Besides that, the name Hao Asakura was given to me during my first incarnation by the emperor of Japan himself and while I wasn't terribly impressed with it at first I've become rather attached to it during the past one thousand years."
"And when you stop to think about it, most gods and goddesses are well known by their proper names," noted Matamune. "Ra, Anubis, Zeus, Hera, Hades, Odin, Thor, Loki. They didn't become famous by being gods, but by being gods with a real identity that can be related to."
Crystal, meanwhile, started trying to explain the concept of guided meditation to Shiro. "So, with regular meditation your goal is ultimately to clear and quiet your mind to put yourself in a peaceful and detached states. In guided meditation you need someone else to provide you with a narrative that will take you on a mental journey. I think by doing that we can lead you to a place on the mental plane where you can confront the dragon spirit in a reasonably safe setting."
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