Outline of events leading the the 2nd ruin of Nefretiri's family and her disappearance (WIP) There are actually a lot of missing key posts to this RP as this happened during the Gaia server crash where they lost data. I hadn’t been saving RP documents back then so some points are lost.
• Few days before Festival of Souls ---◦Rosemary orders gun modifications from Bithmar in Dalos City. BlackMN and a Limbo soldier named Andrew head to the Renfair right outside of Barton town. BlackMN disguises herself as Rosemary in appropriate attire for the fair since she was supposed to volunteer. Galantros joins them and convinces her to attend the Festival of Souls. --- ◦ Alzamus asks Rosemary, who has been staying in Limbo to study to improve her telepathy with other telepaths, to dinner and a drink to clear his mind after dealing with an old fart.* ---◦ Niearcim mage with a Shadow Goblin servant named Urlik start summoning demons including hunter demons and a hunger demon on gaia. ---◦ Veni at the Renfair shows off some rapier swordsmanship and does an opening act with some group of performers he has trained. ---◦ Sephiroth cooks hotdogs over an open flame and Kus joins him ---◦ BlackMN noticed the smell of death and a deer was found that had been ripped into. She wonders if it was near a full moon and is due to a lychin.
• April 25 happens to be the day before Festival of Souls that year. ---◦ Rosemary tests out her modified Baby Desert Eagle. ---◦ BlackMN, Rosemary, ShyBoy, and Celes, Kus stay to attend festival with GL, Chewy, and Alzamus.
• April 26 the day of the Festival of Souls ---◦ The old fart angers Alzamus enough from his rude comments and insults to everyone including his wife that he throws him out of the house. ---◦ Rosemary in bat form hangs off BlackMN’s dress and sleeps until evening ---◦ Tree climber lizard greets them, eats fruits and bugs, little omnivores. ---◦ Githar and Minazi join them. ---◦ Rosemary gives up on sleep and plays War of the Inakum for the very first time. This quickly becomes her favorite Holo-game which she, Sephiroth, Veni, and Ma in the future play; Rosemary maintaining the high score of them all on he game at home. ---◦ Inazuma, Reason, and Delirium (angel of personalized chaos and general loopyness) make an entrance
• April 26 evening actual festival begins ---◦ BlackMN sees her parents. ---◦ Apparently souls can choose to reincarnate or stay in Heaven according to Inazuma. I don’t think this is ever mentioned again, but if they can reincarnate...hmm is the one Ma Jianshen is hoping to see finally back? ---◦ GL gets a kiss from Black’s mom from his mother ---◦ Niearchim has spike demons, shadow goblins, hunter demons...uses a bunch of hunters to summon a hunger demon ---◦ Niearchim has spike demons, shadow goblins, hunter demons...uses a bunch of hunters to summon a hunger demon ---◦ Heegh notices the summoning of the demon ---◦ Apparently we acknowledged that reincarnation is a thing and that people in Heaven can chose to do so whenever they like. Not sure about Hell though as everything indicates that you don’t leave it. Black’s dad indicates that Veni’s brother is waiting for him…we will apparently retcon this. He also hints in very vague terms at who someone is waiting for…probably was supposed to be Nef. ---◦ Chaos ensues. Githar, Minazi, and GL are snatched away in a portal. The souls return to heaven. Inazuma teleports Rosemary and BlackMN back home. ---◦ As soon as they arrive teleportation of any kind no longer works. BlackMN can’t even do the short distance kind that requires no portal. Some demon immerges from ground to try to get them. ---◦ Power goes out at THoR where Gerix, Sephiroth, Pac Ghosts, and pets are located. Monsters resistant to and mass multiply in fire appear. Jacob’s barrier spell protects them in game room. ---◦ Veni notices his usual keen senses on the location of his children seem to be a little dull. Veni, some friends, and some of his children head towards THoR to check on things since that’s where disturbances have been happening lately. ---◦ Several missing posts and good lord finally one that survived with some demon description. Maggoty worm like demons that eat through wood immerge from summoning portals, black impaling demons immerge from these. Corpses raised by Kui’mov spider venom. Rosemary and co reach the house. ---◦ Heegh is in the forest and discovers that the Niearcim’s anti portal spell even affects his ability to summon hellish demons…so he starts using his blood on trees, rocks, and such to create his own minions. ---◦ Inazuma senses Heegh. Attacks shadow goblins. (they shoot jagged bones? They also have magic skills)--- ---◦ Heegh’s created demon army intercepts Veni and Co and kill almost everyone before anyone can react. Heegh revives those he killed into twisted forms of themselves to serve him before their souls could leave the area. He then turns on Veni. ---◦ Entity is formed. Works to protect the screwed group with Rosemary. (BlackMN, Inazuma, Limbo soldier named Andrew, Sephiroth, Gerix) ---◦ Enter the Hunger Demon; every other demon quake in its presence. The fight for it to capture Rosemary begins. ---◦ Heegh leaves Veni with a bunch of other demons to go after Inazuma, but not before he chills him to his very soul with a stare. ---◦ *coughBradforcesmetoOPVenisothathedoesn’tdiecoughcough* Veni has one of those moments where everything seems to be moving slowly as a fire demon is about to fall on top of him. He uses his sire master powers to have what few vampires left with him transform into tiny creatures, grabs them, and runs for it. He travels through the shadows away from the fire one.
• April 27th daybreak ---◦ Heegh leaves Veni with a bunch of other demons to go after Inazuma. ---◦ Veni has what few vampires left with him transform into tiny creatures and runs for it. He travels through the shadows away from the fire one. ---◦ Rosemary tosses BlackMN into the clouds and is caught by the Hunger Demon as the c**k crows forcing her out of her mist form. ---◦ Unlike Rosemary, Veni is powerful enough to stay in the shadows when the c**k crowed. But he is in a burning part of the forest near THoR. ------ ▪ About 3-4 hours after sunrise a rift somehow opens in Barton’s main vampire lair. ---◦ Veni kisses Rosemary and somewhat improved her daytime condition while at the same time weakening his resistance.
Posted: Tue May 25, 2021 12:12 am
The 2nd Ruin of Nefretiri's family and her disappearance DDM's Escape April 27, 2005 Daytime
That morning Father hadn’t come home much to Bixia’s annoyance. He must have gone to see his wife and failed to tell anyone. He was doing it more and more lately. They must have recovered from whatever fight they had the last time they hardly saw each other for years. Which really was usually Rosemary being angry and not wanting to see him as far as Ma Jianshen could ever tell. Father wanted to see her, but he was soft hearted and didn’t push enough for fear of her distancing herself even more. This latest one had lasted almost 40 years; almost ever since Dan, Daisy, and little miss Black were brought home. Ma really hoped Father wouldn’t be punished for not coming home or that he himself wouldn’t end up suffering the brunt of Bixia’s anger.
His elder sister insisted on keeping the little fire fox which Jianshen never understood as she was a bit dangerous to vampires. She had lit a fire in her sleep in the household and was banished from staying there….yet Bixia allowed Rosemary to leave with her; Ma never understood this. Why would she allow her prized Rosemary who share a similar power with her leave for a time and for this long? Father wasn’t allowed to stay with her though and he had been ordered to stay. Laoming knew he was slightly bitter about that; her leaving with the girl rather than staying with him and leaving the two vampire children which often was dumped onto this humble one to care for.
That is when he was at home, which he was for a good portion of their early years. He often traveled for years at a time before coming back. This was in part because he was very active in learning different new forms of fighting from the humans and would share with his relatives. He enjoyed observing the graceful movements of such people, mimicking, adapting, and improving them to his use. Repeating them over and over again until he could do the motions without thinking about it, completely automatic.
Of course he didn’t teach everyone everything, but tried to focus on what he thought would suit the individual. While many of his relatives thought it a waste of time as they were physically superior to most things on the planet other than themselves, Bixia for some reason did not and neither did Rosemary. Bixia almost never hindered his practice like he had seen her hinder other relatives in their desired activities. Father of course had always encouraged it once he died.
This early morning many unusual yet not so unusual events were occurring; phones dead, power out. Did a car crash into the lines? It was so close to daybreak that no one tried the radio. The children were already in their room and he planned to retire early for him to avoid the fuming Bixia.
In truth Nefretiri felt that something was off, but she couldn’t quite figure out what.
….
Ma’s body woke to a scream. It was the scream of someone who was about to die. His body was already moving to kick the creature's appendage away and attack it before he comprehended what was happening, but it was too late. She was already dead and bleeding out as the vampire killed the creature, closing the tiger’s mouth on its throat and ripping. He dropped the fleshy bits he relieved of the creature's throat and licked the blood from his clawed fingers. Then he was awake.
There was a strange creature dead on the floor and it had killed her. It would have likely killed him too if it hadn’t gotten her first. His room smelt of the mixed blood and fresh death. And he could taste it on his tongue. He could hear more out his open door. He didn’t linger to process what just happened and started to move. Fortunately he normally slept in his undergarments (the inner layers of his clothing, if he was wearing hanfu it would be the inner robe) so he slipped on his outer layer, tied a belt, and had his shoes on in less than a few seconds.
Shouts came from A-Dan and Daisy in their room. He grabbed his jian (double-edged straight sword used during the last 2,500 years in China; the Jian character in his name is from this sword) in its jianqiao (scabbard) which he shoved into his belt and a staff (gun...but that might be confusing so I will use English) . The staff he focused his energy into as if it was an extension of his arm and charged at the new thing coming through his door and shoved it away as it reeled from the pain of the sudden force.
He quickly spun into their room, grabbing the threshold to change his momentum, and crashed into the creature assaulting them a blade in his shoe popping out right before he hit, moving the blade up the spine as soon as the blade was in flesh, hand gripping at the appendage reaching for him. As he did this he felt Nefretiri commanding everyone to rise from their sleep.
Dan had been on the floor bleeding from gash marks while attacking the beast’s legs while Daisy was keeping its claws away from him and her with a closed fan, popping it open and closing it to misdirect it. The outcome of the fight wasn’t clear before Ma had entered, but once he was attacking the creature’s back a clear winner was now apparent. Daisy shoved the closed metal ribbed fan into the demon’s neck, who was now reaching for what it felt to be the more pressing threat on its back rather than pay attention to the kids. As soon as it was in deep she opened it and severed the head.
Her nose wrinkled and she said, “eww that’s gross,” at the rancid demon blood that spurted at her.
Meanwhile Ma wiped his shoe blade on the rug and pushed the blade back into his shoe as he forcefully pulled Dan onto his feet and saw that he could still move fine and was already healing. He quickly looked around their room, grabbed their shoes, and tossed it at them along with a pair of shorts to go under the night gowns. He then quickly snatched some items from their room and tossed one of Daisy’s purses at her and slid a box of her sewing pins and needles along with a pair of spare erhu strings up his own sleeves.
To the kids he looked frantic as he silently with haste went through their things, putting some on his person, giving them shoes and shorts that they immediately put on, pinning his long braid into a bun with a pink bunny pen. He hadn’t said a word yet as he put erhu strings up his sleeve. Dan who was almost recovered from his gash marks asked, “what’s happening? ...Jianshen? ...Cousin Ma? ...Laoming (Old Ming)? Gege (big brother)? Tang ge!” (堂哥older male paternal cousin...yes very specific….I almost used older male maternal cousin 表哥 biaoge as that’s what kept coming up until I found a translator that told me that I was about to use the maternal form...to Ma in mandarin they’re tangdi (Dan) and tangmei (Daisy))
Ma simply turned after knocking the thing out that recovered whom he had originally beat back on his way to their room, looked them in the eyes, eyes appearing redder than usual to them and more like a killer, and placed a hand on each mouth as he frowned; his eyes shifting towards the door. One of the two of them would have tried to bite the hand under other circumstances, but his serious look was frightening. He had never beat them before out of malice or ever attempted that, but the two of them were suddenly afraid that he would and then leave them if they didn't shut up so they remained quiet.
On top of that his touch further gave them the impression that he would as it stung like a constant static shock on their lips. He was not converging and condensing his energy inside like usual to prevent this; he was letting it spread like cotton towards his limbs, focusing it outward, to help give him strength and consequently made it hard to be touched by him without feeling it. None of this was his intent of course as the thought of actually beating them never crossed his mind. He firmly placed another of those custom fans that would be unpractical for a human their size to seriously wield due to weight into Dan’s hand and his backpack which had his hunting slingshot and some ammo. They wondered if he would he really break their legs this time if he found them lacking.
Beckoning at them to follow, he entered the hall. More demons that he didn’t recognize...but he had not encountered actual hell demons before so he wasn’t entirely sure what he was looking at. He glanced at the main exit; the exit was still closed and they weren't concentrated in the direction of the other potential entries. Why were they more concentrated towards Bixia’s room and not near them and the exits?
He recognized some of the creatures for he had heard stories of the strange demons that appeared in a place called Limbo from Father when Rosemary was accidentally stabbed in the heart in a competition and he was there to help keep her alive. However what he knew was don’t get scythe, blade, or shadow goblin’s blood on you, it burns and is also explosive flammable. As he headed towards Nefretiri’s room whose aura he felt, he quickly found out what type was the ‘goblin’ as his jian tip (jianfeng) had started to corrode away, quite depleting the usefulness of his weapon, as he flicked off the blood.
However they didn’t get much further when he heard, “get out, escape, survive, and protect those two only if you are able.” He heard her command as if she was next to him.
He tripped his current foe with a leg sweep and, as it fell, slammed his jianqiao with his internal force applied into the creature to stun it, and put his jian away. Dan and Daisy were about to pounce on it to deliver the finish but Ma had suddenly turned the opposite direction, grabbed their hands and tugged hard, dragging them like rag dolls, getting them past several demons as he made the way to the nearest exit. He had to let them go when he was blocked by what he would later learn was a chain ghoul. The two of them made an ‘ah’ sound as they rotated their shoulders having felt like he was pulling it out of its socket though the feeling quickly went away.
The thing ahead of them had too many limbs for him to easily dodge in as narrow path as they were in. It shot out many chains at them which he deflected with his hands. The chains didn’t move like normal limbs either and could bend and wrap in unusual ways. As several came and threatened to stab him from multiple angles, he took out his staff, thrusted it forward while twirling it and caught several of the chains. He then slammed it down to pin the limbs. He did all this almost faster than Dan or Daisy would have been able to see if they weren't distracted with problems from behind.
The two of them slashed at the demons that they had previously dodged past, who now decided to go this way to get at them. Dan glanced back at the smell of Ma’s blood that was caused by a rogue hook that got past his entanglement of the other limbs and slashed into his side. He moved just enough to prevent an even deeper cut. Daisy jabbed her brother and said through gritted teeth, “pay attention to what’s in front of us. Ma Sifu will be fine.”
However it didn’t appear that way as Ma stumbled a little losing his footing when he let go of the staff to grip his side and his foot landed on the dropped object as he moved. The demon aimed the bloody hook at him again and was about to impale him when the vampire suddenly exerted a lot of force in his feet, stabilized his stance as he pinned the staff under his foot firmly to the ground. At the same time he grabbed the blooded hook that came at him again at the last possible moment to reveal that he played the pig to the tiger (1). He sent his own force down that chain limb and caused it to feel as if that appendage was being torn from its body. The thing jerked its chain back and Ma let it; springing back at the ghoul like a rubber band and cut itself with its own bloody hook.
And then he discovered something both wonderful and horrible; he no longer had to touch the ghoul for this to work. He didn’t know the horrible part as in the future this very skill would cause a Qi Gong Chu Pian (qi deviation) when used against an Abysmal Demon in a friendly match that he has yet to recover and regain his grounding from. His lips curled into a cruel smile as he felt his power still in his opponent. Not only that, but this new discovery allowed him to push this faster than anyone, including himself, ever thought possible. Nefretiri had once voiced surprise at his speed on transferring pain to another with his qi, but he still felt it slow and not the most efficient compared to the auras.
The ghoul was suddenly writhing as it started to relive its own worst torments since the vampire figured that these demons probably suffered worse than he could ever have synthesized.
He took many of the needles from his sleeve into his bloody hand and then threw them at the beasts attacking Dan and Daisy behind him and more at the chain ghoul. He then grabbed Dan by his collar and literally tossed him at the writhing demon. He pulled his staff free of the limbs after the boy was clear and did the same with Daisy, but by the time she hit, the creature was dead as Dan had finished it.
Dan glared at him after he dispatched the multiple limbed creature of death. “What was that for?!”
The old man ignored his impertinence and moved past them and removed some of the weapon chains from the corpse. He hoped these were resistant to the dangerous blood many of these creatures had. Otherwise he would have to remove most of the dexterity of his hand to enhance his claws and hope that was resistant or waste his stamina to heal it quickly each time if not.
Daisy flicked her brother’s ear. He put his hand there and turned to her. She had a warning look on her and shook her head. Did he think Ma would do that if he didn’t think that they’d win at that point? He wasn’t like many of the other relatives who would have either left them in their room to fend for themselves and would have never made an effort to get to them even if they could or kept them around to potentially use them as a shield. Dan rolled his eyes like fine, I’ll let him do whatever, but that had really scared him. The elder vampire then handed them each a new blade he took from the chain ghoul.
As they moved on Ma grabbed everything sharp he could: letter openers, pens, pencils, broken glass, etc., held them to his bloody closing wound, and threw them at the soft spots he saw, effectively disabling most opponents in mere seconds. This allowed them to slice those that weren't affected enough from his power with their claws or weapons without being completely overwhelmed by numbers as they pressed forward. He never had to use what he had been practicing so seriously before against this many strange foes to where if he messed up, he would die. It was both exhilarating and terrifying. He started to actually enjoy the hunt and so did Dan and Daisy, but to a lesser extent; they preferred finishing the weakened foes off over fighting fresh ones.
The three of them moved like this till the main exit, but Ma could sense something sinister on the other side that he didn’t dare try to go up against. He then had them head into the throne room or Nefretiri’s den and Ma had them slip into a narrow hidden corridor that the two of them hadn’t known about which he made sure to seal once again behind them. He released a breath he seemed to have been holding and nudged them forward.
The hall was narrow enough that Ma felt compelled to walk somewhat sideways as they went through it. When the two of them looked back at him as they moved since he was still breathing despite the wound being long healed. They noticed at first that he still carried that unsettling smile of a predator who enjoyed a hunt, but then it slowly faded as the events began to sink in.
Eventually Ma sensed that his blood had stopped working either due to all the demons death, which he hoped was the case, or because it simply wore out as it was only a small amount so it wouldn’t take hold for long like a larger dose would in changing a mortal. The walk felt long to the kids and Ma hadn’t spoke yet, much to their frustration, but they resisted the inclination to demand to know how much longer or if they were there yet; he was now frowning and appeared lost in thought. After walking what seemed like a while to a child, they came to the end.
On the other side was a small basement or cellar in a relatively empty lot that exited near the edge of town. Safe for now, he put on a pleasant face when he crouched to be more on their level and was about to brush his fingers through Daisy’s hair, but paused and made a slightly disgusted face with a tch and sighing aiya (he doesn't accentuate these so they sound almost like a normal sigh) sound as he looked at his messy bloodied hands. The rest of him didn't look much cleaner as his front side was also splattered with drying blood. He wiped his hands off on some rags he found the best he could.
Once satisfied he got in position again and gathered all her hair into one of his hands, twisted it, and bunned it without a tie. He then took out a kerchief and wiped some of the dried blood from her face. “Fuh chan recently describing to me Hell demons he saw in place called Limbo. It is where Black’s new friend coming from,” he finally said. It was the first thing he said to them this whole ordeal.
“Hell demons? From that fabled place meant to scare us? And they appear to be here?” Daisy asked very skeptical.
“Mnnn.” He was now wiping Dan's.
Daisy hardly believed it even though he said it. Though Ma had believed Veni at the time, he had trouble grasping it, accepting it, and comprehending it as truth for being the form that it existed in; that hell was eternal torment. The hell he knew was temporary and meant to purify so that one could still enter into the reincarnation cycle.
Dan had a similar look as his sister from that news. “Is that why you fought more....unlike you than usual?" He was about to say 'more dirty,' but decided against potentially insulting him. He didn't usually see his cousin use sneaky tricks like his shoe blade or feinting even when he was in serious fights.(2) " What now?”
At first he responded frustrated sounding in his dialect about not having to 'keep face for dogs.' His grip tightened on the kerchief till his knuckle made a popping noise and turned even whiter. Dan's eyes went a little big briefly and then he silently waited for him to translate what he said. Ma might have taught them a few phrases, words like vampire and ghost, and some honorifics in proper Mandarin and Cantonese from watching movies with him, or the proper names of some items, but not fluently or in his older dialect. He then inhaled and let out a breath as his fist relaxed and he put on his usual perpetual shadow of a smile in the corner of his lips and brows, considerably softening his expression from when he first looked at them this morning. Dan felt this smile was more superficial than usual. He didn't give a proper translation, but it was still related, when he said in the slow calm careful almost monotone voice he used previously, "they low belted us first."
The demon's attack timing soon after sunrise was indeed the dirtiest low belt of moves to use against vampires. He patted Dan's shoulder and then ruffled his hair as he straightened and looked around. As soon as he looked away from them, the smile had faded. There was some furniture covered in cloth and tools such as hammer and nails. If they were forced outside, the children couldn’t yet run as fast as he. They were fast, but they weren’t as fast as their elders. He didn’t want to leave because he knew that once he left the boundary of their lair and out into the sun above, their stamina would drain quicker and he would be unable to easily keep his current pace for as long. Would he be more successful out in the open in the damned sun or was survival more likely in the closed cramped space in the shadows?
Dan folded his arms and tapped his foot silently waiting for him to answer his second question.
“We keep each other alive,” he said simply when the boy was becoming impatient. Dan frowned for it partially meant that he didn’t know. However he couldn’t think of a more appropriate response or what he expected him to say otherwise.
That very notion is what Ma was thinking about as he looked at the cloth covering the furniture. He might have to carry them, but still have his hands free. Fortunately if it came to that and they were forced out, their weight wasn’t a problem. The problem was size and positioning as they were almost too large to be carried together at a running pace. Singular would be no problem, but Laoming had two to carry. He also couldn’t have them be as secure as normal children tied in rucksacks as they would have to be able to get off as quickly as possible. At least he could rely on their strength to cling to him. He ripped the cloth and created two slings out of it.
He then looked at the other things to see what he could use. With what he learned he could do with his blood earlier and the fact that many of the demons had dangerous blood that needed to be to avoided, the nails would be useful. He put some in the empty needle box and more into a larger container that he put into Dan’s bag. He also found a few packs of box cutter blades that he also kept on himself.
While his cousin rummaged, Dan located one of those emergency radios. Since he seemed to be allowing some noise he hand cranked it and turned it on searching for a station. He set it to the lowest volume setting which they could hear as clearly as if it was louder. In the background Ma struck a match and then put the matchbox into Daisy’s purse and tested a different box of them which he kept on himself remembering one of the parts of Father’s story; he had burned an entire room of goblins with a matchbox and ran like hell before it exploded.
Once done rummaging he sat to recuperate some, but he dared not sleep as he kept his senses listening and feeling out for things coming down the passage they came from and towards the exit of the basement door. He did however allow the two newer vampires to fall asleep as there wasn’t much he could do about that since they were now idle. Eventually he turned off the doomsday news and added the small radio to one of the bags. Aiya, he didn't think to grab his flip phone. Not that he expected it to have reception now. It was usually poor to begin with. (remember 2005, not everyone, especially older people, was carrying the things yet)
At around noon Ma himself almost fell into that death like sleep he craved, but jolted awake. Things approached from the narrow passage they came from, small things, larger things, and things so large they scraped the wall. There were now things on other side of the outside exit. Too many, too many. He heard far too many unfamiliar pulses and shifting bodies coming from both exits. He poked the kids awake with a broom which they attacked and then whacked them hard with his pole to get them to wake up quicker when he started to sense at least one creature of immense heat. He might be able to handle whatever came in through the entrance to the corridor they came from, but they would not do well in a pincer from all sides if they came in through the basement door even if he covered the door and the kids took the corridor. And that heat was worrisome as everything about today was abnormal; what if it could spew fire into the room? They’d be burned for sure!
He pushed on a spot and twisted his staff to reveal that it was really a modified sanjiegun, a three sectional staff, that could be merged into a staff. He folded it to be shorter and hung it from his belt. Before they broke in he tied a cloth over their heads into a hood to help with the sun and had each child sit in the sling he made earlier. He tested his balance and arm range movement. He then removed the ribbon like cloth wrapped around one of his wrists and tied it around their waists for extra security. This could easily be cut with any of their claws if need be.
He then approached the exit hatch, focused his qi into his palms and legs. He put on his fake pleasant face when he looked at them to say, “grab me, holding tight,” and slammed his hands against the exit exerting his internal force against it causing it to explode outwards and bolted forward with the explosion as door pieces flew towards the things outside. For the first time since becoming vampires and in their whole memory, the children were out in daylight and hissed for it stung their eyes.
Once outside, in the open, and unfortunately in daylight, with a child clinging to each side, with a burst of speed that required extra energy to execute, thus he could only maintain for a few seconds especially after what he did to the exit, he got past the bulk of the demons and continued to run, barely touching ground, carrying them silently without leaving any tracks or making any noise. He didn’t loop back to any of the other distant exits to see if anyone else got out, he didn’t check for survivors. He kept running away from the now death trap. He relied on the kids to tell him if something he couldn’t sense from behind got too close.
Fortunately they were a blur to some of the monsters that would have paid them heed. Fortunately the monsters had just begun their assault and fortunately were more interested in those in town that were screaming and bleeding. The sound and smell of which didn’t escape the three of them. He was ordered to escape and to save these two if he could. If he went back, he might not escape so against his own inclination he kept going once out with the two of them rather than going back alone. Later when he would finally get to contemplate the events that very few of his family escaped from to his surprise, not going back to help others escape would be one of his regrets.
Holding him stung the two of them like a burning sensation and it was almost unbearable as Ma hadn’t fully reigned it in after using his energies so fully to get them out, but they didn’t dare complain. The feeling was dying down anyways. It effected them faster and was worse than usual, but was nothing they couldn’t stand for a few minutes. He suddenly made a sharp turn for several hundred meters and then jumped into the trees when he made another turn. It didn’t escape the kids' notice that his steps became heavier, that his feet were touching the ground more as he ran, and that he slipped on some of the branches he landed on. He kept going for a couple more trees until they came upon a large hallow tree outside town that he knew about.
Much of the heartwood had rotted away about halfway up and there was an entry hole he could squeeze the two of them into out of sight from the ground and hidden by branches and leaves making it difficult to spot from above. It would be much more tight fit for him to get in and out during the day, but inside would be a tight squeeze with some wiggle room for the three of them. If it was that brief period around noon he could change his form significantly to make it easier for himself to get in, but he couldn’t change his form much during the day time otherwise.
He didn’t really have much of a choice but to get them in as he couldn’t keep up this level of activity for much longer even though, naturally, his pain tolerance was higher than anyone else; he couldn’t escape the fatigue, blurry vision at times, and nausea that was setting in. That move earlier had cost him more than he anticipated, but he couldn’t think of a better way to have escaped and avoided so many monsters. He couldn’t escape his body’s limited functions in the daytime while being this active and like Rosemary and Veni some miles away he was starting to feel awful. His sense on Father's well being was unusually vague when he tried to focus on him, but he was grateful he didn't feel anything horrid from Father yet beyond fatigue...and sorrow.
They got in the damp hallow tree with Ma on top of them like a mother hen on her chicks. He wrapped that cloth around his wrist again. After a while the kids noticed that he was still breathing and his heart slowly beat despite not using his internal energy anymore. He was mostly normal to the touch. When they looked at him, he still smiled at them but he couldn't hide the weariness on his softer expression when he noticed either glancing at him. When he didn't think they were looking, they saw the sharp yet disquieted look on top of the jade he had as he kept his eyes on the exit and focused his other senses to detect anything else.
Though his breathing and pulse was steady and slow, he hadn’t stopped yet and it was increasing as the day went on. Daisy looked him over again and this time saw that he was pressing a spot on his arm near the wrist. He was pressing the neiguan acupuncture point which is used to help relieve nausea and headaches; she knew him well enough to know that he was pushing that spot for a reason.
It was clear to Daisy that he overdid it. She tugged on his sleeve and said as loud as needed for their superb hearing (barely a whisper), “you need sleep. Our Tang Ge Sifu can’t help us if he’s too tired. He’s super impressive, very strong, and well driven but very tired right now. We do need him to be able to move well if something should show up... and....” she lowered her voice even more, no longer having the playful tone of before; softened it, coaxing him. “you won’t be able to protect us if you don’t rest properly.”
Ma’s eyes widened and his body shook with silent laughter at what she said or, possibly, from the stress of holding back tears. Daisy couldn’t tell which... though it might have been both. He mnned in response a moment later. They shifted so that Ma ended up lower while they could peek out the hole if they sensed something coming.
It seemed like he wasn’t going to say anything more before he put his hands on their tiny waists suddenly and said, “be silent, wake me if you falling asleep.” He stared at them intensely until they nodded. Then they felt him finally relax as he blinked a couple times before he let sleep consume him into the abyss.
For the most part this hiding place for the day would work out for them. Their body temperatures matched their surroundings so it helped from the heat seekers. They didn’t require to breath, nor did they have to let their hearts beat and the sleeping Ma certainly wasn’t doing any of these now having gone stiff.
At one point when demons got too close, Dan flicked one of his slingshot rocks at a bird several trees away to grab their attention from the ruckus the animal caused. By the time some more mind sensitive ones came by, they were all asleep as Dan and then Daisy fell asleep without realizing it so they hadn’t woken Ma for his turn...and thus the tree seemed like a tree and lacked the brain activity for those demons to pick up on.
1) "Playing the pig to the tiger" is an idiom for "pretending to be weak to catch a stronger prey."
Update 7-9-2021 for more context "It is a tactic reserved for your strongest enemies: employing your hidden strengths to attack with the element of surprise. Almost like being a wolf in sheep’s clothing. You must act weak and innocent until your adversary lets their guard down and then you may rush in with your victory. Surprise your opponent when the time is right.
There are 36 strategies in the ancient Chinese art of war. They were originally used during a period of great turmoil in China, the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-589). “Playing the pig, eating the tiger” is strategy number 26. Those familiar with Sun Tzu may recognise one of his axioms: “Those capable of acting as the tiger from the start are capable of defending themselves while achieving victory, other times, it is better to act as the pig until the time is right for a lightning offensive.”
2) Ma also was doing more hard/external style than usual since he doesn’t know points to jab at or is not sure the equivalent locations would work on the various demons to make it really hurt like he would a human. Also with all the claws, bladed limbs, multiple mouths with sharp teeth, his more usual style might be more dangerous. So he was doing a mix, leaning on the hard...in his qi usage an example of hard would be when he pinned his staff to the ground by applying it to his limbs, another is when he pushed the door open to escape. Here he was putting his all in trying to overcome his opponents with brute strength. He normally does internal or soft style which often involves redirecting or using the opponent’s strength against them. An example of internal/soft qi style used above is actually how he got the demons out of his way when he left his room and then again out of DD’s room; he was actually redirecting the momentum and applying his own force with pain touch for the the final loss of balance. When he uses his vampire power most of the time when touching his opponent it is also an example of soft/internal. It is also what he was doing to himself at the end, which he could change around to do the opposite and cause it to hurt really quickly were he to grasp an opponent there even without applying his power. In part his knowledge of such spots allowed him to figure out how to use his ability more effectively quicker and better than the previous user (probably killed before Nef met Eydis or is currently in the party and will die. I have had in my head that there was someone before him for a long time, possibly as long as the character’s existed). Of course my whole understanding of this topic could be wrong even for the fantasy setting
(Old definition of jade= an inferior or worn-out horse... yes I am using this form of the word in the sentence above when referencing Ma (馬=horse) and it's a double or potentially a triple pun XD)
About an hour before sunset Ma Jianshen began to stir. He glanced around, seeing the unfamiliar wall from inside the tree and feeling the bodies of A-Dan and Daisy sleeping on top of him. His mind became less hazy as memories of that day returned to him in a rush. He wanted to let out an aiya, but didn't make a sound. The two of them had failed to wake him, but they were alive still, and that’s what mattered.
Though he heard foreign noises more distant and near, it was too quiet; the normal sounds of the native animals were greatly reduced. So fewer heartbeats from them; even from the insects...even the worms. These demons were worse than locusts. He waited for the youths to wake as they seemed relatively safe for now.
He inhaled deeply. So many foreign scents and mostly foul. There was a dreadful feeling in the air both similar and dissimilar to the one Bixia put off. What had happened while they slept? He wondered if they should wait it out here. Was there waiting this out? Did they have to adapt to whatever this was? Was this the end of days those Abrahamic religions talked about that a good portion of this country worshiped or, at the very least, claimed to believe? Were his efforts like catching fish on a tree(1)? The one in his room…he had failed her.
He couldn’t sense Fuh chan or Bixia’s presence at all anymore. Was Fuh chan alive, asleep, or dead? Normally he could at least sense his father when he was asleep when he tried. Did Fuh chan die when he was mostly dead to the world? He couldn’t easily remember what it was like not to sense one of them anymore; to not feel their presence within him... A part of him felt empty and alone where they normally were. He hugged the two little ones with him. There were still some things he could do to potentially give himself some advantage against any creature that approached them tonight and ‘one cannot refuse to eat just because there is a chance of being choked(2).’
………
The sun set and the two of them had trouble opening their eyes. They were trapped somewhere between sleep and awake. There were visions, almost like dreams...but they were more precisely memories.
1) From this idiom 缘木求鱼 which describes a useless or fruitless effort 2) You can't refuse to do the thing you need to just because there is a slight chance to fail. (因噎废食 choking waste food)
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First Encounter with Cousin (As close to a day one as you’ll likely get with these two, but it is a type of day 1. I had never thought before on how these three characters first met other than that they naturally did sometime after Rosemary brought them home.)
Early on, very early on… Rosemary had left already with BlackMN much to their dismay the previous night. The fox girl, they liked the fox girl; she tasted good and was fun to play with. She often whimpered when she saw them. It was a cute noise and she made it a lot.
Tonight the two scruffy children had lost sight of the lady who had been assigned as caregiver for the night and taken them out for dinner among the trees. She’d taken them in an unusual direction compared to the others on previous nights. They looked around trying to pick up on her, but could sense nothing. They didn’t even sense her when they were suddenly injured and on the ground without seeing their attacker. They held hands as they got up to run, but barely took a few steps before they were down again, and then again it happened. They stood with their backs to each other looking around but couldn’t figure out where their assailant would come from next. They felt a blow and were thrown against the trees like rag dolls and began to wail.
The invisible hands of their attacker stopped in front of them with long slender fingers gripping the wrists to stop them and suddenly he was there; long dark hair and eyes, clothes dusty from days being in the mountains, yet his face and hands with long claws were mostly clean. He came out of nowhere in their eyes and grabbed the wrists of the hands that came at the two of them as they lay crumpled on the ground. “You know Bixia not permitting the willful attack of children.”
“She told me to take care of these two tonight. You would have me disobey her?”
The mostly dark eyes glanced at the two children, eyebrows raising slightly as he took the sight of them in; there was some red in those eyes. His eyes looked around as he released her wrists. He said calmly, “Bixia wording? I doubting use of ‘care’ meaning.”
“Tch of course YOU wouldn’t understand the subtle meaning.”
His hand twitched at his side. “I have us clarify.”
“You question her order?”
He paused for a bit before answering, speaking even slower than before as if he was really considering his words. “.…..…..I question interpretation. Don’t desire...”
The caregiver began to rub her wrists and made a loud pained noise. Some of the hairs on the back of his neck visibly rose and his eyes started to dart around. A fog began to come in, it was around the surrounding trees, and slowly crept around them. “OOOW what are you doing?!” (She’s faking it btw, but since I am sticking to the kids POV, you’ll miss some details)
“Tsch shameless!” He suddenly slammed his palm into her chest and she went flying away from him. Immediately his feet twisted on the ground as his body turned around, his back now towards where she was less than a second ago as he barely dodged the ambush from behind. His hands weaved with their arms until he grabbed a spot and, using their forward momentum against them, he twirled the newcomer around till their back was now to him as he twisted their arm behind them, forcing them to their knees (seem familiar?), and then immediately broke it, arm bent in the wrong direction, as one of their aunts was suddenly just there. He pushed the one who’s arm he broke at their aunt.
The children couldn’t see the adults' movements well after that as they were terribly fast to their young vampire eyes. They tried to sneak away, but their caregiver for the night blocked them. What they could catch of the scuffle was that he appeared to be on the defensive with this aunt; not fully able to dodge everything but moving just enough to not receive a blow in its intended, more devastating, mark. This one moved in unusual ways. When he struck it appeared to go right through her and do no damage, but when she attacked he was marked.
The one with the broken arm recovered and came back at him as he continued to move fluidly while he dodged them almost automatically...until…. He suddenly raised his arms in front of himself to block his chest and face, as gash marks appeared through his slashed sleeves. She tried to strike further but his hands followed their aunt’s gently applying pressure and countering her movements blocking with an invisible force. Her hand suddenly jolted away and his immediately jolted forward into her eyes, his claws moving down her face. Blood slid down her gashed cheeks from her injury and she screamed like a banshee. He flinched and then was on the ground with the other two on him, caregiver having left the two children to plow him down, all blocking him from view. His involuntary cries were heard and a strong scent of blood came from him.
The area became impossibly dark for the brightness of the moon that was out. They could hear the woosh and feel the movement of air but see nothing. There were thuds against the trees with oofs, b*****d, and “Vaffanculo Vennil!” That last one screamed after saying that. The two little ones grinned in a few moments of joyous schadenfreude from the sound.
When all was clear, he was on the ground slightly shaking and badly injured but the others weren’t on him. They too were on the ground under trees, flinching, but in a different way, as if struggling to move. The kids found that they couldn’t take a step towards the injured one either. Uncle Veni was now there with his hand in front of him, fingers splayed as if something was attached to them. His expression was a mixture of anger, glee, and concern all depending on who he looked at.
“What an oddly specific place you three went to. How curious, how curious!” He tossed a throwing knife in the air behind his back with his other hand and caught it as he spoke. “It’s as if there isn’t enough wilderness!”
The knife dropped and somehow landed next to aunt’s face missing it by a hair. “Don’t even try… It would be such a shame to be unable to properly regenerate your eyes.” The knife vanished from the ground and was suddenly in his hand again as he started casually tossing it.
Uncle Veni’s anger melted into sadistic pleasure in his expression as he approached their aunt, lifting a finger, her head lifting as he did so. He leaned in close and whispered intimately in her ear with unhidden glee in his voice, “he can almost beat you now dear sister...probably would have if you weren’t such a coward.” (1)
His voice became even lower, so low the two of them couldn’t hear him. “(I will wipe you out if someone else tries whether or not you were involved because of tonight.)” He straightened up as his fingers flicked upwards and the three of them were suddenly on their feet. “Now, get out.” His fingers moved up and down to the rhythm he hummed of Funeral March of a Marionette and off they went as they walked away in tempo.
Uncle Veni turned to the one still on the ground once they were gone. “父親 你個鱉孫!”(Father, you jerk (lit. grandson)!) (2)
Uncle Veni looked down at him with the loving smile of a stalker getting close to his target. “Not grandson. I am your ancestor!”
He looked younger than the one on the ground who said, “...Father, you jerk,” at his response.
Uncle Veni picked up his detached limb and bent over cousin. “Aiya Jianshen, how did you get ambushed in the woods?” He held the arm in place until it reattached itself.
“Fuh chan...{precipice rein in horse (3). Tears rescued not fire (4). House leak slanting happen upon continuous night rain(5).}” he bit his lip, hand gripping at something, and grunted as Uncle Veni pushed on that same shoulder causing a loud cracking noise as it popped back into place.
Uncle then helped him up, patted him in a few places to get the leaves and needles off, licking the blood from a scratch from his cheek while purring. “Jianshen say too many chengyu (idioms) at once. You weren’t ruthless enough. {Raise tiger bequeath misfortune(6). Fortunately, they didn’t pay attention well enough.}”
Jianshen turned his face away slightly a little flustered (not in front of everyone father) looking towards the children who had inched closer. His face was strangely calm for someone who was just mauled. “{Fuh chan snow up add frost (7).}” He started frowning at their intense hungry stares. “...these two...?”
Uncle Veni pulled away from his kid, twirled in his step as he got behind the two of them, crouched and with one hand on both of their shoulders, pulled them in closer to himself. They looked none too pleased to have his arm there when they glanced at it and then at him. “These are your cousins Dan and Daisy. They are the remnants of …..” He spoke the name.
Uncle Veni looked at each kid, arm now resting on their shoulders as he pointed towards Jianshen. “He’s your tong go (cantonese for older male paternal cousin), tang ge (mandarin), Cousin Ma,” he said with a toothy grin which Dan tried to mimic. Cousin Ma seemed to accept those terms. “You might not believe me, but he’s usually a nice fellow.”
Uncle Veni stood back up and continued to fuss over Cousin Ma. They couldn’t understand what was being said now as Veni briefly explained what had happened including that they hadn’t spoken since getting here. Yet Rosemary insisted she heard one of them speak.
The two shabby little beasts slowly got closer to their cousin...cautiously to see if he’d react. He didn’t move. They each took a side; he remained still. They stuck out their tongues to taste the blood on his hands and that’s when he moved something as he pulled the hands away out of their reach, hissed at them. He looked at them, looked at his hands, looked at them again, brought one close to his mouth, and started cleaning it himself(8 ). Uncle Veni grabbed the other one before he was done and started to lick it clean like a cat as well. Dan and Daisy took a few steps away and watched. He wasn’t going to let them have it, specifically a taste of his blood from the healed gashes on his arms that had mingled with his assailants’.
Uncle Veni patted Ma’s arms a few times like he was going ‘there there that’s better now.’ “Now I have to beat those three back and make sure they don’t cause further trouble so please,” glancing at the two kids, “you know...” and he was gone.
“Fuh chan might have already invited more trouble to Laoming.” He looked towards the two of them who were waiting. “{Raise tiger bequeath misfortune... (6).} aiya…” he turned away as he ran his fingers through his scalp, looked at them again, the corner of his lips and brows turning into his perpetual shadow of a smile that they would become all too familiar with, and said, “A-Dan, Daisy, please follow.”
That night they had plastic bags filled with blood. It wasn’t the best or most exciting or even the right temperature, but their cousin seemed content with eating it and he let them have their own without it being his leftovers. What mattered most was he allowed them to eat as much as they wanted. And that was a first.
When they got back he finally revealed his true nature as he tormented them as he cleaned them up, easily evading their attempts to bite him while stinging them with a flick with each bite or claw attempt, and made them all more presentable. Though he didn’t have any better clothes for them and settled for washing what they had. Nefretiri praised everyone for being so dedicated to following her orders. She ordered Ma to care for Dan and Daisy for the next week and to inform her of any progress. She then, with a vicious grin, asked Cousin Ma to give her a demonstration of his own progress on the three whom (ambushed him) graciously volunteered to assist him.
1) First off that knife is silver and there’s a chance she wouldn’t regenerate a wound from it. Let me give some context here about the time period of this particular incident. It is either 1973 or 1974. Ma has probably been back from his recent almost decade long trip abroad, mostly in the People’s Republic of China, for less than a month. This last trip he took is the one where he had an awakening of sorts to his pain inducing powers. However as he’s only had it for 1-8 years, even using it isn’t ingrained yet like it is 30 years later. Plus he wouldn’t have figured out a lot of stuff yet. He probably was getting to know the surrounding forest area again (chopped trees, dead fallen ones, new hallows in trees, checking hiding places, etc) and hadn’t bothered coming back for days using the water sources to clean his hands and face at least. Dan and Daisy had probably only arrived in Nefretiri’s den mere days ago at this point. And if they have been around longer, whomever they were with for the night probably kept them out of everyone’s sight. I also don’t see anyone exactly announcing DD’s existence to everyone either, but rather whisper about it so Jianshen could have missed it depending on how long he was being a mountain dweller.
This encounter wasn’t entirely an accident either. When told to take care of Dan and Daisy she chose to, potentially rightly, interpret it as get rid of them. However, they (meaning all 3 of them) chose to do it in an area they knew Jianshen was likely to be near. She was going to continue to ‘play’ with Dan and Daisy for a few more minutes to try to draw him out and have a twisted justification of fighting him once he touched her to prevent her from further hurting the two and questioned the action. Jianshen realized this right before he said shameless and knocked the first one away so the “spear” couldn’t back-stab him while he turned to take care of the “arrow from behind” trying to back-stab him.
Jianshen’s aunt probably saw this as an opportunity to be rid of him since he basically had a power potential upgrade whereas before he was considered normal, useful, and not a significant contribute to Veni’s power dynamic. Here Veni’s rubbing it in her face. Ma worried that this last statement would cause him more trouble.
2) “父親 你個鱉孫!” Lit “Father, you grandson!” In this context he’s calling him a jerk by saying he’s younger than him and thus inferior with the irony of still saying the formal version of father…I wonder if it is similar, but not as insulting if he said 我是你的祖宗 (I am your ancestor) to Veni. Which is insulting to say to someone who’s your social equal, but I imagine far worse to his elder. Veni is actually being a smart a** in return by using the literal meaning and saying he’s not his grandson, but his ancestor which is technically true vampire lineage wise.
The following are idioms or proverbs with literal character translation 3) 懸崖勒馬 (precipice rein in horse) Rein in the horse at the cliff edge ie Realize danger at the last moment. 4) 眼淚救不了火 (tears rescued not fire) Tears do not put out the fire ie Decisive action is needed in a crisis not regrets (proverb) 5) 屋漏偏逢連夜雨 (house leak slanting happen upon continuous night rain) When the roof is leaking, there will be continuous nights of rain ie Misfortunes tend to come all at once (similar to ours “When it rains, it pours”) Used this one specifically because of our discord rain gif thing. This is actually a proverb instead of idiom and also probably the one that took Veni a few seconds to understand 6) 養虎遺患 (raise tiger bequeath misfortune) Helping a tiger invites misfortune ie Being too softhearted with an enemy who is bound at some time later to bite the hand that fed it. (similar to ours “Rearing a nest of vipers”) 7) 雪上加霜 (snow up add frost) Add frost to snow ie ‘To add to misfortunes unnecessarily’ or ‘Add insult to injury’
8 ) Ma would have rather cleaned his hands on a cloth or in water, but he wasn’t going to risk them trying that again before he got to. As for Veni... father can do whatever he wants, and it doesn’t matter if it embarrasses Ma.
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Cousin’s lectures
“To overindulge leads to carelessness, to under indulge leads to disaster. We cannot ignoring our body's needs, nor can we give into our tendency to devour too much. One must finding balance between the two to avoid trouble. You also must be discerning in who you hunt and not bring attention to yourselves. Not every food creature is food when other options available,” said Ma as he dragged them away from targeting someone too well known to be a safe target.
…….
Later in time (at least two decades) with Ma dragging the two of them by their ears away from one of his living lady friends who he still kept at arm’s length to a point. “The ones (who) know and accepting are precious. Some helpful. If you do not wish for you, do not give to these(1). Treat these people how you want to be reciprocated by them. Yes this principle doesn’t always work, but rewarding when it does.”
In a more serious tone than his usual lecturing one of before he continued, “it is also disrespectful towards me if you go after this one. Don’t do unless offend me you are wanting. It dangerous going after another vampire’s humans. Please don’t play that game. This is also why I telling you not every food creature is food.”
“Oh! They’re useful like some pets! Ow!” Ma had twisted Dan’s ear some.
“And they’re desperate, last option, rations also like a…hey!” Ma sighs aiya since the comparison isn’t completely wrong since it does happen, especially when they lose their mind a little from thirst, just more degrading than he’d put it as he now twisted Daisy’s ear before she could get the word pet out.
“Hay is for horses Daisy!”
“And cows like you Dan!” (Remember this silly phrase we said in the 90s? razz) Ma held them apart as they struggled to reach for the other despite his grip still on their ears.
“Why are you still treating us like kids?”
“We’re older than her!”
Ma released their ears. They missed his pained expression as realization set in; by the time they turned and looked up at him there already was a smile on his lips, but not his brow. “...that’s right……time is perceived different for me…as you wish………Loaming is wrong treating you like his kids still...”
In time many would come to call her his pet. And Ma Jianshen soon would occupy himself more with cultivating his own skills and less with nurturing theirs’.
1) Closer to a word for word translation of the famous Confucius phrase 己所不欲，勿施於人。(“Do not do to others as you would not wish done to yourself” is one of the common translations)
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Continuing
But he was often there when we needed it. Once she had them open the rest of her felt sluggish. Only her eyes moved as she took in her surroundings noticing that Ma had one of his hands resting on her and the other on Dan. Ma’s eyes were closed and he appeared to be napping as his chest slowly rose and fell, but it wasn’t at a normal breathing pace. He was tasting the air periodically and listening.
She realized it was later in the evening than normal for them. They wouldn’t rise on their own in a night or two. Did he know this? Was he having trouble as well? Certainly not… Could he help them...would he? But he was often there when we needed it....Did he know how?
He was often told to watch them…but was the reason because he was told to like they thought? He came to their room without anyone telling him…Nefretiri told him to help them if he was able to, but he was already doing that before anyone suggested him to. Would he have all along?
His eyes suddenly opened, he glanced at them, frowned, and easily slithered out now that it was night compared to when he got in during the day. After a few seconds they finally sensed the creature right before they collided. The scuffle could be heard along with the smell of freshly spilled unfamiliar demon blood. Then something louder appeared as a swarm of many more unfamiliar heartbeats. First it was small squishing sounds...then within minutes more sentient things arrived. Then was the slight smell of Ma’s blood.
“Oh an injured one!”
“Nails? You really think….aaaargh! Where are you?!”
“A Chain Ghoul?!”
“Not a Chain Ghoul! A local monster.”
“What type?!”
“….vamp…blargh!” was this one’s dying syllable as Ma ended the one who got close enough to him in the gloom to get a good look at him.
Many groans and cries filled the air and the ones with the power of speech said insults and threats such as blood whore, overgrown leech, dust-c**t, bat brains, stake bait, damn mosquito, you will be Heegh’s soon, and worthless you’ll beg for death when I am done with you.
Their words and taunts might as well have been on deaf ears as he didn’t lose focus in causing minor injuries from a distance with blood coated nails. Then he started his real attack which caused them to scream very loudly. “Must you be so noisy?” Was the only verbal response he gave them.
Some begged for what he was supposed to be begging for (death). And of the insults came Dan’s favorite “AHH AHH AAAAAH ******** YOU a** HOLE.”
The seemingly inextinguishable amount of heartbeats faded minute by minute and as the last one ended, there was the sound of a sickening splosh and an impact like a flurry of arrows. And finally the smell of more than a little of Ma’s blood and silence.
Come out,” he finally called. It came out more as an order as if he was testing if he could since they were being sluggish or maybe he was being urgent. It almost worked. He was just missing something.
The two of them peeked out. He flicked blood from his hands and started wiping them on the brush. A look of relief appeared on his face when he saw them. The area was full of dense mist. He had summoned it and gave himself some advantage in the immediate area while the two of them had slept. Their cousin looked wispy in places. Despite how cool he looked in his more ethereal form, there was something off.
He reached behind himself and pulled out a pulsing spine. The barb had a strange substance dripping out of it and was covered with his blood. He pulled out another looking worse with each second that passed.
Daisy looked around at the carnage in their immediate area. There were several corpses and the last one had exploded in death leaving pulsing spines lodged in several of the bodies and trees. How on earth did Cousin Ma survive that attack? He doubled over as his body fought whatever that extra substance was. His position was reminiscent of a human puking. There were still several more pumping venom in him. He was having difficulty grabbing them now as he missed one he was grasping for with a shaking hand. Not good. Not a good way to start the night already.
“Now you can worry about him,” said Daisy. They always tried to hide injuries or downplay them. For him to fail miserably to do so meant his injury was getting to him.
The two of them helped him remove the rest of the poisoned needles as he was shaking and appeared feverish though his temperature hadn’t really increased. Now that they were out he was starting to look better. It had to be some really nasty stuff as their bodies were resistant to the venomous animals here. Some of the flesh pierced with a barb on a corpse was boiling and bubbling. Oh.
“Tang ge will you be able to get up?” Dan asked as Daisy kissed some of the crimson tinted sweat from his brow as he swayed. It was unusual for him to take comfort from them.
Deliriously he responded with, “soon,” as he smiled and tried and failed to stand even with Dan supporting him. “I heard… gun fire in town…perhaps…” he covered his mouth with his hand to help muffle the coughing fit clearing out the ichor in his lung from one of the removed spines that pierced it.
Daisy looked around attentively while Dan looked back and forth frantically making sure nothing was attracted to the noise Ma was now making uncontrollably. It was hard to see far due to the mist. Dan patted his back on the side that wasn’t a healing injury.
Ma went through his bag with his free hand and got more nails out. Then he actually spit once he was done coughing. He motioned for them to gather the venomous spines and put them in some cloth while he cleared his throat and prepared the bladed Chain Ghoul chains he got for later use, handing back the ones he had taken from them.
When he found his voice he spoke. “We needing day time help. I can keep doing this all night, but once sunrise hits….so limited compared to Fuh chan and Bixia. Demons in the ground. They corrupting tindie (天地 heaven and earth/sky and ground ie world). We can’t even be safe burying ourselves for few days.
“I need you helping me keeping this fog up while we moving. Take advantage of your ability to fit through most cracks and (limited) mist abilities tonight. I know it’s hard for you to do these things (currently or still). I require you to be creative night terrors.”
“Tonight we will be real monsters of the night,” Dan agreed with his devilish teeth showing grin.
Ma suddenly threw something covered in his blood and the creature it hit squeed. Even weakened he could still sense them before the other two. He started to have a true smile, but slightly deranged, as he flexed his hand in a rhythmic way as the creature screeched and cursed while its tormentor had his vitality come back even faster. He was enjoying this feeling, as it was almost as euphoric as sinking his teeth into flesh, but different yet gratifying and he was receiving his highest dose from these demons.
His other hand clutched at the ground. He did not enjoy it intellectually, but unfortunately it was proving to be one of his most useful tools for many reasons ever since he figured out how to accelerate its effects. One being it made them flinch and left them more vulnerable, while another was the useful information he was gathering from sensing the things the demons had been through when he touched them and being able to replicate that sensation on another target. He hoped using it this much today didn’t have consequences. Rosemary and Nefretiri were a little crazed when they got high dosages of fear…or even too little. If it became like a blood need or an addiction, how was he going to balance that? Scaring people could be harmless fun, but inducing sever physical discomfort…he wouldn’t like it if his body started to demand him to do it more.
“Kill it,” he said after several seconds as the thing started to crawl away.
Daisy ran before he got out the word ‘it’. She’d get it before Dan. Dan momentarily looked flustered as she immediately ran, he ran after her and picked up the pace. He wasn’t going to be outdone. Daisy ran past the multi-legged creature to get in front of it and slashed at its maw and row of eyes with her bladed metal ribbed fan while Dan chose to tackle it and sank his fangs into a soft spot.
“Careless!” Ma rebuked at both of them as Dan found out that spider demons were edible. Daisy saw this as he didn’t detach and latched on herself while Ma continued to torment it from a distance. They finally killed it by the time he started to wonder why it wasn’t dead.
They headed back to tell him the news, but he suddenly looked alarmed, looking at his hand on the ground as he started to move it to another spot as he was feeling and hearing the vibrations of many feet moving very fast. Now he pushed himself onto his feet, swayed a little, and stretched. “Remember what I said is the best technique to avoid getting hurt in a fight?”
“Run and avoid if able to,” Daisy almost direct quoted him from a previous lesson.
“Precisely. Run. Help with fog.”
Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2021 2:54 am
DDM’s Escape Part 3 April 27, 2005 Night time A good portion of Part 3 brought to you by Come Little Children version by Erutan and Toxic, along with other songs from the character lists….but mostly those two.
Jianshen started to run in a direction not quite straight towards town but diagonal towards it. His pace was slower than earlier in the day. It might have been due to the injuries and little recovery time or he was purposefully being slow to avoid carrying the two of them or he might not have been able to have his extra cover move at that faster pace. The area they just left was soon filled with Kui’mov baby demon spiders and adults. Many of these followed suit while others lingered.
While they ran heavenly bodies streaked the sky lightning it up and making it brighter in their mist. A rumble was felt in the distance from its impact. Daisy and Dan nearly fell from the earthquake, gripping at a tree branch.(1) Ma had been mostly bounding with each step stretching so long before he touched down it seemed like he was floating and almost lost his footing from the impact. He put his arms up for balance. “Why you so grounded?! Float! Fly! Use every trick!”
Avoiding the topic one of them said, “Tang ge, these spider-like demons aren’t completely terrible taste wise.”
So that’s what had taken them so long earlier. “Mnnnnnn….” They didn’t like the face he made as he began to consider the risk and potential reward of taking on spider demons. He wasn’t sure when he would run into more, let alone any other edible demons, and he was likely going to need to resist going for his more natural prey when he saw them. “….perhaps worth risk… Use poison barbs to ones that get close. You are bait.” Ma grabbed some of the spines Dan was carrying and silently leaped into the trees.
“What?!” The two of them exclaimed looking for him as a few lesser demons fell. The mist became denser as Ma prepped, it was hard to see more than a few feet away, and the area’s temperature dropped significantly despite the warmer temperature the hell corruption had caused. If they had warm breath, it would have condensed in front of their face.
The spider demons were catching up. Daisy began to throw some of the venom covered spines like darts, as several hit the adults in the eyes and into the maw. She didn’t throw enough to hit the number of spiders nor far enough to some of those that were going down. The demons squealed in pain. Many of the babies just ran over or to the side of the fallen ones while many more stopped as the adults perished from the unknown potent substance…and in part the extra torment Ma was adding to it.
Once enough spiders got close enough, there was a faint sound of something like a pebble bounced off the bark of a nearby tree. “Run!” Both Daisy and Ma said at the same time. Both their voices not sounding to be near Dan at all despite Daisy being next to him.
The light sound of a thwack kept being heard as they ran and went towards each bit of noise as Ma from above guided them in the direction he wanted them to go by hitting the trees with small objects. Daisy kept making noises, but the sound was heard in another direction and led some of the spiders astray as she threw her voice.
They ran some distance with some of the babies following, not as many as before, as the fog was dense but also many had lost them with their misdirection tactics. The demons were left in confusion from the ambush as Ma kept picking away at them from above to make hunting for food more manageable. On top of this the spiders were slowing in the freezing temperatures that didn’t bother the vampires. The first spider that did catch up to them pounced at Dan only to find its claws miss their mark. As his body twisted, he made eye contact with the creature, and he clawed into a soft spot. He learned another thing then; the spider demons were also susceptible to their hypnotic abilities along with being edible.
The sound of a foot slipping followed by branches snapping came from above as Ma suddenly crashed down on one of the spiders next to the kids with his hand on his face and head, his face contorted in pain.(2) He was momentarily blinded as he felt an immense agonizing infliction in the back of his skull going through it all to a point at the bridge of his nose near between his eyes. He wasn’t injured so where had that come from?! The spider beneath him shivered and twitched as his other hand laid firmly upon it and he began scanning the creature searching for a vital weak point.
The two of them didn’t stop despite being surprised at their cousin’s unexpected fall. Both wondered what happened as he didn’t appear to have any new injuries, but there was no time to ask him about it as the closest spider demons were pouncing.
Dan made a lot of eye contact with stop commands against the ones popping into view in the fog. It didn’t always work, but it at least slowed down the ones it didn’t fully work on. Meanwhile Daisy grabbed for sifu’s jian and began to cut off the limbs of the spider he was on so it couldn’t easily hurt him. Before she finished his hand firmly gripped a spot and he squeezed, paralyzing the creature but not killing it before sinking his teeth into it. Dan had grabbed at his sanjiegun and quickly reconnected two of the three sections and whacked at the next pouncing spider he had failed to slow much, swinging it more like a bat or club.
Once the blinding pain reduced itself to a tolerable throb, he got up and started to move them out of there. Before they took more than a few steps all three of them along with the remaining spiders were hit by some dark illness orbs from above. Ma’s hands quickly covered the kids’ mouths as he pressed his lips and bit his own tongue to remain silent. The remaining Kui’movs squeed and ran off. About a dozen or more Shadow Goblins arrived having broken off from the main swarm headed to Barton Town to investigate the activity in the area.
They continued to blindly pummel the area with their orbs as Ma directed the kids away and danced with their footing to avoid it. Some of the creatures landed and began to walk around listening, but the vampires were silent even in the woods. Ma slipped the erhu string out of his sleeve and prepared to wrap it around the neck from behind of one that gotten dangerously close and kept getting in their way of reaching the nearby buildings.
Very abruptly he stopped and silently stumbled backwards his hands covering his face and chest. It felt as if a blade was going through his skull and down his neck and chest, dangerously close to the heart, his eyes tearing up from the shock. This time he was certain it came from Veni. The sensation had caught him by surprise and his heart sank as he thought his father was dying.(3) He then felt a pressure in the back of his head as a similar, but not as deep, sharp pain from earlier returned…. With a very pained teary look he said, “Fuh chan…” and the world went black.(4)
Bye Bye Shadow Goblins (Mostly listening to Toxic while typing up the first part of this…no it’s not a song that generally inspires a character, more like a scenario one as it wouldn’t work normally for Ma and it’s mostly the beat as I actually don’t understand half the lyrics as I listen to it…this section might even have more of an interesting impact if you listen to it while reading.)
Ma suddenly slumped forward without fully losing his balance and stopped moving as Daisy stabbed a critter directly behind him (spine spitter), flinging it away, her eyes narrowing at what she saw. He was then hit with one of those illness orbs thrown by the demon he was going to assault with the strings. Like a switch was reset, he straightened rigidly with the focus in his expression gone and now deadpan. The two kids suddenly had to work a lot harder to keep the same constancy of mist around them as he was barely doing it. He made an inhuman raspy guttural noise gaining the attention of all after being hit and lunged at the winged demon, hand going rigid as he stabbed it with his claws like they were blades. The two of them vanished in the fog.
“Is Uncle Veni...?”
“That creature I killed shot needles into the back of his skull. He’s not crazy for any other reason,” she said with a finality to her tone to emphasize that’s what she thought was wrong as she removed needles from her own body. He was too strong for that she told herself…he wouldn’t be permanently damaged or lose his mind like this from his father’s death.
The reaction to the pain inducing goengsi’s attack was almost instant. They heard the demon howl faster and far worse than others of its kind previously had from the goengsi’s touch. What the fog covered from the twin’s vision was it was becoming physically wounded merely from being in contact with the goengsi. Normally this wasn’t possible, but these demons were a special variety of Shadow Goblin taking great advantages from being the residence of and having some form of mental link with a great Abomination demon that was destroying an area in the distance.(5) The night filled with screams of their agony.
Some of them dropped from the sky as the pain effect was reaching them, others struggled to stay in the air. And when the goblin he was tearing up died…it didn’t explode on him like normal ones would. Ma instantly leaped at the next one. By now the demons were questioning what monster was attacking them, if it was a rogue demon of Heegh’s or one of the Niearcims’, as they didn’t get a good ‘look’ at him either before they died.
He leaped into the air and brought down another of the winged demons that was trying to keep in the sky with all its might as it twitched from the sensations it felt from its brethren. He slammed it into the ground under him as he was hit with even more of the sickness spells, but quickly recovered. More precisely he wasn’t affected at all by the spells meant to weaken and make prey feel sick.
The two of kids tried to follow his movements and not lose him… When they managed to cross paths with him finally and got to see him, they saw that his claws looked more deadly and his general movements were a bit peculiar; they seemed stiffer, yet he was still incredibly fast. They pounced on him and reached for the thing lodged in his head, but he just smacked them away without further pursuing them having no interest in them at the moment. Several more of the demons jumped him, stabbing even but missed the lethal mark. Unfortunately, they now figured out too late that they couldn’t handle touching him either even by claw and that he was both ignoring and rapidly healing injuries so the remaining began to retreat.
They were now very close to the beginning of the buildings next to the trees. Daisy headed towards town and Dan stayed near their injured cousin who continued to pick off the Shadow Goblins one by one. If those two moved away from that area she could easily find them if Dan stayed with him. Cousin Ma said he heard gunshots in town, maybe one of their relatives were still there or maybe even she was still alive… or were they better off worrying about their own? She was unsure as it was in their nature to be loners and feel animosity and be weary towards other creatures. Plus dealing with vampires could be dangerous and this one was injured.
The town itself was a mess. There were several unfamiliar, but not demonic creatures, in strange battle attire shooting at the sky. At first they were mostly too busy to pay attention to the kid rushing past them as they fired at the thousands of winged demons.
“What was that?”
“A kid?!”
“Hey kid, it’s dangerous!”
But she ignored them as she had caught the scent and sound of someone familiar and was now looking for her. Daisy spotted her far down the street currently not in her human skin that the young vampire normally saw, but her physically impressive werelynx anthropomorphic one.
Then someone else blocked her view and she growled at them, instantly opening her bloodied bladed fan to help hide her dissatisfied expression for it was another vampire she didn’t recognize in that soldier’s gear. Daisy tried to sidestep this obstacle, but the foreign vampire kept getting in her way. “You should be in the shelter,” the voice pestered her.
She knew she could probably ask this one for help, but she felt such aversion to this unknown vampire that it worked against such logic. “Out of the way!” She continued trying to sidestep the obstacle, but they were insufferable in their insistence to block her. Finally, the winged goblins did something different as they sort of stopped suddenly and that got the nuisance’s attention as Daisy slipped by.
“Valarie!” The woman in question just stopped shooting at the things and her ears twitched and she turned to see the young-looking girl.
“Daisy!” When she saw the dirty girl in her gown alone her face suddenly became sad, and her ears drooped a little. “…. don’t tell me Danny...”
Daisy shook her head and looked down her nose at the familiar mortal. “Don’t even entertain such nonsense! He’s alive, but my cousin is...a bit off from an injury.”
“What about…?” Valarie worked at a restaurant in town and had known of Jianshen since she was young as she often saw him fishing or playing a boardgame with her grandpa especially after her grandma passed away, but she never got a good look at him and he would vanish when she approached as if he was a ghost. Her grandpa usually referred to him as his “fishing buddy.” Eventually he didn’t vanish immediately until he finally allowed her to approach him and even helped her with her condition in the beginning. She was also, unfortunately, the friend of Jianshen’s deceased inamorata who had some tolerance or resistance to his bite.
Daisy silently sighed. “These...things...” she closed her fan and gestured at the demons above and corpses around them, “appeared and flooded the place after we were asleep...and... his room, I didn’t see, but reeked of her blood.” She held her fan in her right hand, allowing it to point downwards, covered her right fist with her left hand and bowed slightly. “I am sorry for your loss.”
“Yeah, the sun had been up a while (when the demons first showed up)...” She inhaled deeply and swallowed wanting to say other things, but being unable. “What’s ailing Jaden?”
“He has three needles in his skull and we can’t get near him to get them out. Is there anyone still around? I can’t sense them!” A loud cry, chains appeared on all of the stopped goblin’s necks, dropping and disintegrating. The swarm silently left.
----------------------------------------- (That Dan/Ma interaction you requested razz )
Ma killed the last one of that group right after its hell chain broke, freeing it from Heegh. It looked particularly miserable to Dan despite the lack of familiar or distinguishable facial features outside of teeth, but he didn’t know that at that moment it had gained its freedom from a vial master only to die.
Jianshen for the most part stood relatively still at first save for the occasional shaking of his head and ignored Dan once the Shadow Goblins were dead. It wasn’t until the boy crept closer that he acknowledged his presence and hissed at him. The goengsi turned his attention towards town and noise of people and started to head that way until Dan flung pebbles at him. The boy amusedly watched them harmlessly bounce off his body, but Ma ignored it after a couple hits and continued. Once one hit his head, he chased Dan for a little bit while making the guttural sounds.
Eventually he gave up pursuit and tried reaching for, but lacked the coordination to grab the things in his head, pinching his fingers together a centimeter or so off each try. Dan tried to help him with it but was smacked away again. Frustrated the boy took his cousin’s staff, crept his way towards Ma, and slowly got closer until he was close enough to poke at him.…
By the time Daisy returned with help, Dan was silently giggling as he ran in circles while his cousin languidly hopped after him. The breaths of the new arrivals caught Jianshen’s attention away from his pursuit, though they were still at quite the distance, and he stopped. The new arrivals included Daisy and Valarie with a couple soldiers who were aiming a gun and spells at him. They were giving off an air of caution over hostility since their goal was to subdue.
This approach didn’t work, and he shifted his position. The goengsi was quick; even quicker than the sniper that ended up hitting Dan with the first shot by mistake since he was on the other side of Ma. Dan fell to the ground after a second feeling more and more feeble. He demanded to know, “WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?!”
To which Daisy let out a small laugh at her brother’s minor misfortune but didn’t lose her focus as her cousin was immediately on them before the soldiers knew it or could ready another shot, the goengsi having moved around the casting areas. The injured goengsi grabbed the most exposed of the appealing living targets, Valarie, who lacked any armor. To the lynx’s surprise he gave her a solid blow in the gut and winded her right before he had her. But Daisy was ready and fast enough to sink an injection in his leg before he got away. The sedative dose didn’t work as well as they hoped. He stumbled but didn’t fall as he continued to move away from them, albeit slower from what Daisy could tell, with his prize in his arms already sinking his teeth into her neck.
The werelynx’s hand was unsteady from the gut blow as she stabbed at the air. Her body suddenly felt very weak as pain shot through it and she did her best not to drop the injection as her arm hung loosely at her side. Her body went limp in his grip both from his influence and her will to relax to, hopefully, encourage him to handle her more gently. Her thoughts also threatened to unfocus.
It hurt a bit less when he removed his teeth, but still wasn’t very pleasant as he hugged her tighter while he kissed and licked at the wound he caused. She was grateful he wasn’t actively trying to make it feel worse. She vaguely sensed his feelings and unclear thoughts, scrambled as they were. “Ah! You’re really hurting, aren’t you?”
There was a blur of movement in her vision. He moved his lips from her throat having hardly took any blood at this point going from relatively neutral looking to quite hostile almost instantaneously. There among them was another vampire in the unfamiliar armor, having decided to join them after refusing to help earlier. He was close to matching Ma’s hindered speed as he moved after them.
This was the opening Valarie needed as her head cleared and body gained more of its functions back, having his focus shift away from her, and she jabbed him with the sedative. His movements quickly slowed down to almost a human speed before he slowed enough for her to get her feet down and plant them in place to stop him. The other vampire kept several paces away from him now to not risk stirring him. He slumped against her quickly passing out. She wrapped her arms around him to prevent him from falling further than her bosom. “Jeeze Jaden, friendlier than usual…” she tried to tease.
“I wish I had a camera,” said Dan only half serious.
The two of them lowered to their knees as she felt too weak to support him standing, propping him a little higher, resting his head on her shoulder. Her hand went to the back of his head and felt for one of the bone needles and pulled it out. He twitched and made a small noise. She went for the second one, but by the third one her fingers were too slick to remove it. Daisy approached, grabbed and pulled it out quickly and with ease. Jianshen made an involuntary cry with the last one. Once the soldiers had him, they put a pulsing blood bag over his mouth to entice and distract him to go for that first should he awaken hostile. Dan was awake but was still affected by the tranquilizer and had to be picked up and carried.
Both younger vampires looked at Valarie questioningly, still half expecting her to freak out from the shock of being attacked by a vampire, despite having put the face of that very one next to her throat moments ago, and being aware of it… as was usual. Instead, she said, “oye, let me see some of that healing stuff. I don’t want him to know he did that if it’s preventable.”
“Why…” asked Daisy.
“We all have enough on our plate right now, don’t need to pile on the troubles…”
The girl wasn’t fully satisfied with that answer, but she didn’t pursue it…and…she didn’t try to pry it from her thoughts with her eyes because of something Cousin Ma once said…
They all were led back into town; they were isolated in a building and had a few people on watch with guns at ready as the vampire could still be a threat. Daisy got some clean cloths, soap, and water and wiped the blood and grime from her cousin’s face and hands going so far to try to remove it from under his nails as well. Nothing could easily be done about the soiled clothing. Dan worked at trying to move normally. Valarie hung around slumped in a chair as she had nowhere else to go for the time being, having lost almost everyone else she knew…or at least she didn’t know where they were currently.
While waiting for the sedatives to wear off and their cousin to wake, Daisy saw their caregiver for the night they had their first encounter with Cousin Ma pass by the entrance. She slipped away to ask her about the others and called out to her. Either she was ignored or not heard as ex-caregiver kept going and turned a corner.
Daisy tried one more time and this time the ex-caregiver turned to her. “Still alive I see and as arrogant as ever to think I should acknowledge you even after you three ran off!”
So much for a normal conversation… “Nefretiri told us to leave. You know very well we can hardly resist an order from her. Complain to her if you have issue,” said Daisy knowing very well that Nefretiri wasn’t around. “What do you need us for, aren’t we supposed to be the weaker lesser vampires to you?”
“You could have came back and helped. Jianshen might have made a difference. He abandoned us!”
Her words greatly angered the girl. “Not really if you properly took what he gave you. The way I see it, he gave you everything you needed to increase your chances to survive when he’s not around. He would have made a difference without being there if you honed your skills as I know he likely gave advice to. It would be as if many of him were there. It’s not his fault your egotisms didn’t allow you take his lessons seriously because you’re some big dominant hunter.”
“You’re not much better of a student either,” the other pointed out. Such a taunt might have worked on another night.
“True, but I don’t despise him for petty reasons either. You don’t work well with him anyways, how could he help you?” So insufferable. Ma would have been happy to see anyone, but if she was going to insult and guilt him… She began to back away to leave. “Besides he killed plenty on his way out and you probably would have backstabbed him first chance you got if he ended up with you.”
The ex-caregiver quickly moved at Daisy, who could barely follow the movement, to potentially grab, slap, beat, or kill her; she didn’t know which. The girl’s arm shot upwards, hand stiff, claws ready as the other woman bent over her; her hand sliced into the chest with relative ease and went right through the heart and destroyed it. As soon as the little beast realized she had her hand in the other’s chest a deranged triumphant smile appeared on her face. She couldn’t believe that actually worked! She shoved her closed fan into the slowly opening shocked mouth to help prevent sound from coming out of it as the woman perished.
Unlike Ma Sifu who merely pushed this woman away all those years ago, Daisy succeeded at something more permanent. This woman must have been in terrible shape or wished to be a ghost for her to succeed. How funny! And she picked a fight with her like that. With that she died without a sound and turned to dust as it fell. Daisy was fascinated by the sight having not known what it looked like to witness an old vampire die.
I see why you were so shameless when you ambushed him.
When the drugs started to wear off and the vampire started to twitch, Valarie gave the creature a little cut to entice him further before he came out of the drugged haze. He bit into the pulsing creature at his lips before he was awake enough to comprehend the current taste in his mouth. The creature squirmed uncomfortably though it wasn’t supposed to feel anything. When it was dead he tried to move, found he was unable to, and began to tug on his restraints feeling slight prickling sensations on his skin as he struggled. They were designed to hold a creature such as him.
“Tang ge, it’s okay. You were injured and we were afraid you’d rampage when you came to.”
“Mn…” That was reasonable. He knew he’d be only more dangerous to other creatures the older he became. The two of them wouldn’t be able to easily handle him either. He inhaled as he forced his body to relax, though he was still feeling panicked from being tied down. His eyes moved around as he took in his surroundings, hearing a lot of heartbeats from familiar species now, taking in the scents, and noticing several familiar presences.
When his eyes started to aim at where Valarie was, she had moved over him and consumed his vision. “Hey there, old man,” she smiled with her feline features and began to undo his bindings.
As he stared at Valarie, his eyes lingering on her neck, he felt like he wanted to sink his teeth into her much more than he usually did and couldn’t figure out why since he wasn’t feeling thirsty at the moment. She would be quite the difficult target in this form if she struggled. He gripped some of his clothes between two fingers. He also wouldn’t want to do that to her either. It was almost maddening. He began to move his tongue in his mouth tasting what was in it as he began to contemplate why his desire to attack her was greater than usual.
As soon as she noticed he was staring when she was done unbinding him, she plucked the pink bunny pen from his hair. “Was this really the first thing you could grab?”
With his hands free, he removed the dead blood sack from his face and paused as he looked at it and his cleaned hand and smiled slightly appreciating their thoughtfulness. “No, I could grab brush.” Water color type paint brush most likely since it came from the kid’s room. “But I thinking it amusing. Give smile and prettier.” Then his thoughts went to darker places as he thought about what happened minutes before he put the pen in his hair. The guards were satisfied and left.
Daisy returned at that moment holding some prize in front of her with a pleased grin. “Look! The soldiers gave me some special soap we can use later to completely remove all these nasties off us.” It was the type used to decontaminate a person…or for someone full of wounds to clean up mostly painlessly with such as the Necromancer Jacob as it fizzes as it removed everything.
Ma pushed himself to sit up, sliding his feet to touch the ground. His mind still felt cloudy. “I feeling…off…”
“They also drugged you. You had something lodged in your head and you kept smacking us away when we tried to get it out… so when they arrived, they had a sedative that works on vampires…” one of the twins said.
Ma thought about a vampire sedative. He saw that it was useful in cases like this, but people weren’t always friendly with them for good reason so such a tranquilizer to exist was unsettling. He merely said, “…Mnnn…what happen?”
“You received a head injury, blacked out, and we took care of the demons attacking us. Then some Limbo soldiers with Valarie showed up and helped us. They drugged you, we removed spikes, moved you here, and tied you as a precaution,” the other twin said.
“…aiya…” He closed his eyes rubbing his temple. He still looked confused, but he wasn’t going to push for more details.
The area became louder with voices and scurrying of people as the ability to teleport was back and more of the foreign aid came through. He opened them and started to stare at the exit. He felt Fuh chan again and he was nearby.
Valarie held out the bunny pen for Jianshen to take. “It sounds like something is going on again so I am going to go see if they’ll let me help since I am satisfied you’re okay…also don’t worry about telling me…I know…I am sure you did your best.”
“Thank you, and I’m sorry.” He put it back in place to secure his braid as she walked away.
He firmly put his feet on the ground. To the two of them it looked like he was dazed or thoughts in another place as he stood. He was handed his jian. Jianshen unsheathed the sword and looked at his damaged blade and sighed, “I am broken (blade represents the user).” He then sheathed it with a clicking sound, looking distant again. “Fuh chan is nearby.”
He was torn between wanting to clean up to look presentable and going to see him immediately. He didn’t feel as empty or alone as earlier, but Fuh chan was very down hearted and full of sorrow.
“Really? Go see him now!” --------------------------------------------------
Veni was slumped in a chair with his eyes closed. His clothing, like Jianshen’s, was a mess, but his were ripped to being indecent; his chest was exposed for all to see. On his wrists, ankles, and face to lower ribs were the fading markings of injuries he received that evening. “Luung…” (Spelling/dialect choice for this may change, but character used will not unless I find out something that makes the name inappropriate/inaccurate)
Jianshen’s features softened as he glanced around as if he needed to to know that no one was really close enough to listen in. Veni put up a wall of darkness to prevent onlookers from easily looking in; they would also find themselves facing the way they came should they try to step in. When Ma was satisfied with the invitation, he had a waggish smirk as he walked closer, his hand sliding through the blonde’s hair touching to the spot he had a knife enter and fondly said, “Gweilochan.” He kissed his father’s brow. His other hand gently traced the exact line Veni had a knife go down his face, neck, and chest.
“Am I going to need to be wary of you as well?” Veni asked while staring intently at him after Jianshen’s fingers had moved from his lips to chin.
“Never. It would break my heart if you did, but I have to know. I would deliver this sensation to your enemies if you asked.” He said that last sentence in almost a whisper and his lip twitched showing off his teeth as he scanned what happened to his father, his hand stopping on the bare chest.
“You are angry?”
“Very. Is the thing that do this a ghost (dead completely)?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“But…now that I think about it… it wouldn’t have phased this one. He gladly did so much worse to himself…So many of your brothers and sisters died these last 24 hours. You didn’t sense it did you Luung?”
Tears started to form in Jianshen’s eyes. He wasn’t tearing up entirely for their loss, but the loss he felt from his father when he said that. Which ones? He’d find out soon. “No. I couldn’t sense anyone; not even my Fuh chan, my gweilochan...” He stopped and didn’t finish his sentence, ‘until this happened,’ hand trembling against Veni’s chest.
Veni finished pulling him in to a hug and started to move his hand from the back of his head and down his body trying to examine his condition as well. “Sorry about that…Were you seriously injured?”
“Mnnn…”
“You can tell me when you’re ready. If you see one of these bald dark-skinned reapers with blue clothes and yellow eyes with an orange center, please tell him where to find me. He’s a friend of Rosemary’s and we are most likely to go to his house for now… you are able to, right?”
“Yes.”
“Good. He would like to know we’re alive if he doesn’t know… His name is Galantros…”
…………...
When he happened upon Galantros, he wasn’t sure what Fuh Chan introduced himself as and knew that Fuh chan or even Father might be insufficient to identify who he meant to a stranger so he went with what he thought was safest name to call him…a name that rarely escaped his lips when he said, “blue clothes, yellow eyes with an orange center, are you by chance Galantros? Master Vennil asked me to tell you where he is if I see you…”(6)
DDM Part 3 Footnotes Heey I figured out a way for Ma to go berserk on the Shadow Goblins and have no one know about that weakness of Dieamos before it happens to not create a loophole. ;P Most of these footnotes are the posts from the original RP whose actions effected DDM somehow. Since they’re posts and many of them long for a footnote, I put them in spoiler tags.
1) This is what happened elsewhere when the light streaked across the sky.
*Sephiroth fell back from the earth shaking from the force of Dieamos's hands going into the ground.* You mean to tell me that that big fella is a nice guy and your friend? *Inazuma soon left to find Jacob, probably to leave them to do her request, and dang it they weren't doing much good against the guy despite trying to give him a 'proper fight.' He sighed and raised an arm. * It is done. Fairies raise a strong shield. *The fairies rose a shield and he cast one of his own. A comet was coming down from the sky at a rapid speed towards the large demon.* --------------------------------------------- *Dieamos actually managed to time his hit, and smacked the comet towards the military's barricade and shields. The barrier put up by the faries and Sephiroth took a major hit, and the creatures started to assault the weakspot where the comet had struck. Dieamos was still wounded though, suffering a few broken fingers. Grunting, he straightened them out, and waited for them to heal, still keeping up his attack with his other hand. The abomination then noticed that Inazuma had left...*
2) This is the original posts relevant to what was happening to Veni when Ma fell out of the tree. Didn’t realize I had it mirrored as much when I wrote it as having him jump up into the trees was sort of on a whim as I wrote it.
*Veni's explosive arrow had devastating results. Several of the demons (Shadow Goblins) blew apart in balls of flame, spreading the fire onto more of the crowd. At least ten or twenty of the shadow goblins met their fiery end. *
*It was at this time though, that a blade suddenly drove itself through the back of Veni's head, stopping as it jutted out of his nose. Several more pierced through his arms and stomach, before he was thrown towards the ground. Whatever was on the blades burned... it felt like fire was suddenly coursing through his veins. Yaotli snarled a bit... normally the venom would've been enough to make most mortals scream as their skeletons melted... He didn't slow his assault one bit, immediately coming after Rosemary with his blade, attempting to stab her in the face to temporarily stun her before attempting to disable her.*
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*Veni was busy preparing another bomb arrow to shoot into the hole that Dieamos released the shadow goblins from. He dropped his bow as the blade went through his skull. He tapped Rosemary with the arrow, who was on her stomach still sniping with ringing ears. Another blade.* Rosemary... *Another one,* Someone... behind... *and again,* ahh... *the final one.*
*Rosemary turned her head and looked up at Veni when he tapped her and said her name.* Veni! *She rolled over and stared at him in a shocked disbelief and fear that she just lost him, as the mage grabbed his already falling body and threw him down the branches of the tree.*
*He stopped on a lower branch and laid on it writhing as he tried to move one of his arms to get a blade out of the other. His blood was getting into his vision and he closed his eyes. His head felt like it could explode.*
3) Here’s the post of what is happening to Veni that causes Ma to stumble and lose focus right before he gets a needle stuck in his head.
*A quick flick of Yaotli's wrist, and one of Rosemary's hands were severed. The appendage fell to the ground, zipping by Veni on it's way down. He quickly disarmed the vampire, and lifted her up by her hair*
Yaotli: I tried to be nice, but you insisted on being troublesome.
*His head suddenly darted forward, small teeth piercing the skin on her face. It took her a second to realize that he was pumping her full of some venom. When he finished, he yanked her head away with all the gentleness of an angry rabid dog.*
Yaotli: You put up a rather decent fight though. Still, not enough for Jiluzix to go through all this trouble if you ask me. You're impressive...
*A clawed finger traced her face, before ripping a flesh wound from her left eye, down her check. He then made the mark of the Niearcim over the damaged eye socket. He snickered, since it made her look like a niearcim mage.*
Yaotli: At any rate, you resisted. Which means, I will dispose of that pathetic creature you called a husband.
*He lifted the now extremely weakened Rosemary over his shoulder, and leapt down to the branch where Veni was. He drew a dagger with his free hand, and made sure Rosemary could see*
Yaotli: You know, you are both such beautiful creatures. It gives me great joy to disfigure you both...
*The sickening stab of the blade entering Veni's skull could be heard, and the niearcim slowly dragged the weapon down... through his face, his neck, ripping at the flesh of his chest... until his rib cage was exposed. He lifted the dagger, and poised it over the vampire's beating heart*
Yaotli: Any last words, you two?
BLAM!
*The niearcim lost his grip on the blade, letting it fall to the ground below them... he also dropped Rosemary, as he was slammed against the trunk of the tree. A huge gaping hole was in his stomach, bleeding a dark yellow ichor.*
Trabb: You're not taking them with you.
*The soldier took aim with his sniper rifle again, but missed. Yaotli had vanished, and suddenly appeared in front of Trabb. Daggers tore away at Trabb's protective suit, and blood soon flew through the air. Yelling in pain, Trabb managed to fire another shot, forcing the b*****d back*
4) Ma was most likely hit in the Naohu (GV 17) spot which would hit the occipital lobe. He was also possibly hit on both points (not sure these are the right ones for what I am going for) of GB12 or GB20 which are both following the base of the skull with GB12 closer to the ears and GB20 a little away from that. I have seen nails in the head used to control corpses in Chinese movies, but I don’t know the positioning except for the side.
5) Reminder of what happened to Dieamos when Jianshen had landed his attack.in a later RP. It had caught me so off guard at the time...I hadn't expected him to have it work so well; like he rolled several 20s and Dieamos rolled 1s.
With all the various distractions going on, Ma Jian-shen... was successful in his attempt. Dieamos never noticed the vampire, and he pulled off his attack. The shuriken dug as deep as it could into the thick flesh of the demon, and the punch almost seemed to cause his skin to ripple slightly.
There was a momentary pause it seemed, then Dieamos arced his back and roared in undignified pain, a loud roar that deafened everyone, especially sensitive hearing vampire, for miles. (telepathy would be a must now). The massive demon fell forward onto his clawed hands, panting... An unexpected result was the boiling, lava-like blood starting to seep from every pore on the demon, and his blood puppets splashing out of existance. He was physically, and severally wounded from the pain assault. Forcing himself back up, Dieamo's eyes were pure red, and the sky followed suit.
Ma Jian-shen was surprised. Not just because it worked but because he knew something went wrong. Dieamos was suffering far too much. His goal was moderate back pain, not a lifetime of it. He hadn’t even seriously considered going that far. Even when his power did force a person to suffer the pain of old wounds or fake imagined ones they never received any real injury from it.
He also sensed that even though he wasn’t sending his power at the demon willingly it was still flowing to him like a battery connected to a circuit. Though he tried to cut it off it kept flowing… It didn’t help that it felt really good to him if he’d let it be. It feels pleasurable to a vampire in his line to use their powers even if they possess one that they don’t like to use for moral purposes. Because of this moral dilemma the last time he got to use it so much was when, at the time, mysterious creatures (demons from hell) showed up and attacked which was the a day or less before Rosemary became an angel (in other words several years).
After realizing he couldn’t lessen what was happening he concluded that to allow his power to continue to flow into Dieamos in a game setting at this point would be doing it on purpose just to satisfy himself of a denied pleasure since he could easily stop it in game and you don’t purposely torture friends or opponents you well respect, but had this happened in real life…they’re lucky they weren’t doing a real world trial and had this happen. He didn’t know what he’d do in that case and it seems like it would result disastrous with how it appears to be going now.
However the now standing Dieamos was enraged and looked like he was about to either unleash his spell or make it worse and take everyone out in a horrible way. He wanted to stop what was tormenting the demon but at the same time deal a blow to possibly buy more time and cause the giant to flinch. He reminded himself he was still in a game and proceeded to kill himself off in the most painful but not too slow way he could think of and let gravity do its job and fell into the boiling blood. Right before he hit he heard Rosemary's voice in his head yelling at them to take Dieamos out now.
Back in the main room, Ma Jian-shen sat in a kneeling position on the floor, watched the rest of the game pondering what had just happened, and tried to return to a calm state.
6) Events that lead to and include the first time the character that would later evolve into Jianshen was ever mentioned. Well making it canonically him now…though I think the interaction would continue differently now that he’s more developed.
*The machete savagely tore through Heegh's tail, throwing him off balance for a moment as the appendage was lopped off. It squirmed on the ground, dismembered and spilling blood. Hi ignored it, his teeth having found a chance to strike into the niearcim mage's side. Not hesitating, he tore out a large chunk of the mage's flesh, devouring it for food and more energy. Coatli wasn't able to take another blow. He may have been a high-ranked mage in his order, but he was still going one on one with the Devil himself. The niearcim cried out in pain and fell to the ground, clutching his side.*
*Their battle had been a particularlly vicious one... Limbs torn off, only to be regenerated later. Large gaping wounds inflicted by blade, tooth, and claw... So much blood spilled, that it seemed like a war between two armies rather than two individuals.*
*Hi stood over Coatli, victorious, his grin full of malicious intent as sadistic and brutal thoughts ran through his minds. Picking up the mage's dropped machete, he used his own dagger and that blade to pin his arms to the ground. He admired the sight of the mage squirming for only a brief second before his tail regrew, and was sent hurtling towards Coatli's face to smash his skull apart...*
*The blow made contact with dried earth, sending rocks and dirt flying. Being so suddenly denied the pleasure of blood and flesh soaking his tail, Hi roared, looking around like a wild animal...How had the b*****d just disappeared!?*
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*Coatli was finished. He swore at Heegh as he was pinned to the ground, determined to rebel against him with his last dying breath. He cursed the satan and his Hell, and praised the "mighty" Jiluzix. His death blow was about to be delivered, when he suddenly felt the blades freed from his limbs. Something unseen wrapped itself around his torn and battered body, and dragged him to safety. Disoriented, he realized he was floating high above the ground, suspended by unseen limbs.*
Coatli: "... Hyn Dorot rin Regolunie Jiluzix, aus ghra Onur?" ("My Lord and Master Jiluzix, is that you?") *his voice was tired and strained, and he realized he suddenly had slipped into the tongue of the Niearcim. A feeling of security and warmth overcame his entire being, and something flashed by his vision. Looking behind him, tears of joy streamed down his mutilated face as he embraced one of many tendrils he saw. His Lord forgave him for his failure! The mighty Jiluzix knew he had tried with all of his being, and even though he had failed, was coming to bring him home!*
Coatli: "Hyn Regounie... Dorot Jiluzix..." ("My master... Lord Jiluzix...")
Jiluzix: Ah, Coatli. Faithful servant, you have done well. Thus your punishment for your failure will not be severe...
Coatli: " Grashkitunark, hyn vitafura Dorot, grashkitunark!" ("Thank you, my merciful Lord, thank you!")
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*The horrid... no other word than abomination could be used... that appeared in the sky, could be seen from miles away easily. It was emerged half-way through a portal, and witnessess could only guess at the monstrosities size. It far surpassed the size of Dieamos, Heegh's Hell-Serpent... some would even dare guess it's mass was more than most worlds. Jiluzix himself had come to Gaia Earth, the barrier maintained by his now pitifully weak servant not even an obstacle. Jilzuix was a creature of no single shape, seemingly a mass of eyes, teeth, claws, and tendrils. Those able to get a better look using binoculars or other such devices realized with horror that his flesh was covered in screaming, writhing bodies that more resembled slaughtered corpses.*
*Heegh stared at the massive demon, making sure to burn the image into his mind's eye. This would be his future obstacle. When Jiluzix finally left the realm, taking the wounded mage with him, a sound that can only be described as million of tortured hell-souls blasted the land, defeaningly loud for the next several minutes. It was accompanied by a strong feeling of unease, fear, and pure evil that tightly gripped the hearts of all who experienced it, even Hi himself... There was no single soul that did not feel that disturbing presence, leaving many confused and frightened...*
*A bit shaken himself, Hi managed to recompose himself and turned to where he expected Inazuma to still be imprisoned... He snarled with shock and rage when he realized that the whore was free, and that traitorous demon Dieamos was tearing apart his Hell-Serpent. It helped that literally thousands of winged goblins were assisting their master, claws ripping flesh, blood spilling... Something damn near knocked him over from behind. Was he that tired, that he could be taken by surprise? Jacob... For ******** SAKE, the necromancer's head was plucked from his back! A shadow goblin, flanked by a hundred others, carried off the head*
Heegh: ENOUGH! I'll lay waste to EVERYTHING in this pitiful world! NOTHING WILL BE LEFT UNTOUCHED OR PURE! *He then dove into air after Inazuma, not even caring about his original plan anymore at this moment. The full need of death and destruction had swallowed him whole, and he was about to indulge his cravings.*
Heythere's my rescuer! I'm afraid in all the confusion, I lost track of you. *Willow buzzed around him.* What's wrong? *She tried studying his expression and the feel of his emotions.* You have the air of someone who blames himself for something... not just sadness over the incident. What could you possibly be blaming yourself for? *At that moment Jiluzix appeared and she stared up at the sky. Willow forgot what she was originally nagging at GL about and hid under whatever was left of his hood and peaked out. When the creature finally left and she was able to talk she practically screemed;* Eeep! WHAT WAS THAT?!
*After shaking off some of the shock of what had just happened, one of the vampires spotted GL and was going to keep an eye on him, like Veni had asked because he tends to blame himself for things that aren't his fault...but first... he walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.* Blue clothes, yellow eyes with an orange center, are you by chance Galantros? Master Vennil had told me to tell you where the others are in case you woke up and moved about since everyone is located in different places. *He then proceeds to tell him where everyone else is.*
*GL fell down, unable to get back up... He could only stare out the window where he had seen the thing, and sputter for a moment. He was shivering from the unexplainable fear as well that had froze him solid.*
GL: "I... I don't know... I don't know what that was. No idea at all... I just know I'm going to have nightmares about it for the next year or so..."
*It was at that time the vampire approached him, telling him where he could find the others. Trying to get everything sorted in his wearied mind, he slowly stood, dusting himself off.*
GL: "Uhm thanks... I'll... visit them a little later. Right now, I uh... need some time to myself."
*With that, he stumbled away from the vampire, completely forgetting that Willow was still under his hood* -------------------------------------------------------------
As you wish. *He took a few paces back and then started following the reaper at a distance.*
*Willow spent her time sobbing silently in his hood.* --------------------------------------------------------------------- *GL's irritation was visible... he would rather not be followed by the vampire, or by Willow... who was currently crying? He could barely hear her, but his natural empathy sensed it easily. He stopped walking, leaning against a wall for support to fight off a slight wave of dizziness, he carefully removed the pixie from his hood and placed her on his shoulder. Shaking off some of his own frustration and depression, he decided to find out what was wrong...*
GL: Uhm... Willow? What's the matter? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- *The vampire stopped and started talking to a female for a little while and then walked off to go about his own business.*
Bonus Original start of Dan Version of going into town. You can also use this to see how much my writing evolves from the initial type up as what happens here practically happens to the whole thing
They were now very close to the beginning of the buildings next to the trees. Dan headed towards town and Daisy stayed near their inured cousin as he picked off the Shadow Goblins one by one. Cousin Ma said he heard gunshots there, maybe one of their relatives were still there or maybe even she was still alive… or were they better off worrying about their own? He was unsure as it was in their nature to be loners and feel animosity and be weary towards other creatures.
The town was a mess. There were several unfamiliar, but not demonic creatures, in strange battle attire shooting at the sky. They were too busy to pay attention to the kids rushing past them as they fired at the thousands of winged demons.
“What was that?”
“A kid?!”
“Hey kid, it’s dangerous!”
But he ignored them as he had caught the scent of someone familiar and was now looking for her. He spotted her far down the street currently not in her human skin that he normally saw but her physically impressive lynx anthropomorphic one. Then someone else blocked his view and he growled at them for it was another vampire he didn’t recognize in that soldier’s gear. Dan tried to side step this obstacle, but they kept getting in his way. “You should be in the shelter,” the voice said.
He knew he could probably ask this one for help, but he felt such aversion to this unknown vampire that it worked against such logic. “Out of my way!” He kept trying to sidestep this obstacle, but they were annoying and kept getting in his way. Finally the goblins did something different as they sort of stopped suddenly and that got the nuisance’s attention as Dan slipped by.
“Valarie!” She just stopped shooting at the things and her ears twitched and she turned to see him.
“Danny!” When she saw him alone her face suddenly became sad. “….don’t tell me your sister.”
Dan shook his head vigorously, “she’s alive, but Cousin Ma is hurt! He has something in his skull and we can’t get near him to get it out!”
Posted: Sun Feb 20, 2022 6:11 pm
DDM’s Escape Epilogue April 27, 2005 Later that Night
Upon arriving at the Lazeranos manner, it was hectic, and some cleaned up, others (mostly the non vampires) passed right out as they were so tired. Everyone was filthy. Of the ones that chose wash first and rest later, Ma Jianshen was done faster than most people, having used the special soap Daisy obtained to aid him in his mess.
Afterwards he walked around the manner grounds with his hair spilling down his body and spread around him like a cloak as he waited for it to dry better in the warmer air of this unfamiliar place in his damp, tattered, yet clean clothes. He also was waiting for A-Dan and Daisy to clean up as they expressed they wished to have some privacy. They had comically pushed him out of the room they claimed as their own.
He enjoyed the new sights, sounds, smells, and sensations of this tiny yard in, comparison to, the big unfamiliar world outside. Even the sky looked immensely different. It was a welcomed distraction…but being alone still left him to his thoughts and they were more melancholic than usual. Yet there wasn’t anyone he wanted to be near that he could be with at the moment.
A-Dan and Daisy wanted some privacy and Fuh Chan had to make sure he had control of his non-children to be sure they didn't do evil to this household…so few…how did he survive, and they did not? He didn’t want to think karma caught up to his family and delivered accordingly, but...以后必当自食其果 (In the future, we shall eat the consequences of ourselves...ie I know I will eventually reap what I sow.) How many of them didn’t even wake before it was too late?
He sighed. He’d have to ask Rosemary if there was somewhere he could get his sword repaired or most likely reforged to keep it the same length…she had a new one, didn’t she?
(I even have ideas why he doesn't call Rosemary 姐姐 (older sister) or 養母 (adoptive mother)... the idea is mostly she rejected familial terms or respective nicknames and told him that she is not his sister or his mother in any way...so either she told him to call her Rosemary or he settled on Rosemary to be rude since she was rude to her 弟弟 "little brother" XD)
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After cleaning up and wearing the fresh clothes Rosemary had for him in the room she stayed in while she lived here, Veni stood blending in the shadows of the room staring at where Dan and Daisy had collapsed. Still, silent, and unmoving as he considered them. He looked at the clock, though it was not necessary. They had a good sense of time when it came to the light coming and going and the light wasn’t near enough yet for them to be out. Were they aware in that state?
Jianshen and the kids had told him the last they had seen Nefretiri, she had told them to get out and they had done just that. Others said that she was suddenly gone. Despite knowing her detestable ambience deep in his being was quiet, he barely believed that she was out of reach, possibly dead even, yet here the two of them were, the weakest of the bunch directly connected to her through their dad, unable to rise because they weren’t strong enough on their own now that they had left even their home soil.
Why didn’t anyone think of that? Ah well, the past day was all sort of messed up…Not everyone had the chance to retrieve any of their possessions before they hastily left in case some other disaster happened. Jianshen had not even been able to go back to retrieve his guiqin before they left. He hoped it wasn’t destroyed along with some of his own possessions. Veni would put that on the list of items to retrieve for them to have while the place was… cleaned… he was grateful that someone would do it, but it was annoying that it was treated like some sort of nuclear hazard zone. Like that would be dangerous to them. How dare they forbid them from going into their own home, but if he wanted help he had to comply… now these two…
He mulled over leaving them like that…they weren’t his and would be a drain on him albeit small. They had to know that they were about to collapse, but for whatever reason had remained silent… maybe they didn’t want to owe anyone any favors or potentially be humiliated…or maybe they were gambling.
Rosemary would be none too pleased if he left them. It would also be an awful hassle to explain their absence to their hosts. Actually, they had protested in the way they put on the air of liveliness and had made sure that they were known to several of the others here and based on what he observed of these people’s personalities, they’d put up a fuss of concern and be vehement in their insistence to help them...
Those others aside, Jianshen surely would say something or try himself when he came back from his walk around the premises and saw them like this… but the problem with that is Jianshen had never tried to lord over anyone with his blood, not even to sire, so there was a small chance that he might fail from inexperience. Veni was sure his kid could succeed, but he wasn’t going to risk him going through that kind of pain in case he failed. Not with these two anyways, not while he was vulnerable. These two had no doubt helped him survive somehow in their ordeal so Veni probably owed them. Even if they possibly did it only to increase their own chances.
He stepped out of the shadows, removing his waistcoat, and loosened his shirt collar as he approached them, head moving in close. His fingers brushed their little lifeless cheeks. The nail of his index fingers pierced both his thumbs until they bled. “Wake up,” he said as he shoved his bleeding finger into their mouths.
Their eyes snapped open, Veni removed his thumbs from their mouths, and they sprang at him.
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By the time Ma Jianshen noiselessly approached the room in which the twins were using to check upon them, he had braided his hair into his usual style. He felt something was off about their energies earlier. He wondered if them being a bit more sociable with strangers than usual, who were not their intended dinner, had something to do with it or if they were behaving that way out of relief. Upon hearing their bell-like laughter and the movement of the door handle, he turned back and left in silence; his presence gone, without alerting them he had ever been there, by the time the door was opened.
Moments later, GL came out of his room, fully dressed and headed towards the main entrance. He saw BlackMN talking to his father. “Hi Black... Good to see you're okay...” he seemed hesitant, or ashamed in his mannerism possibly because ran away from her earlier when he desperately believed the lie that his mother was there.
“GL... ah, I just realized. Your friends did bring a change of clothes with them, right?” Alzamus said thinking of the long-haired guest in torn clothes who was enjoying the garden and gave him a slight bow with one fist in the other before continuing to stare at a flower (lizard next to the flower, but also the flower) when the elder reaper rushed past in his hurry to see his son.
“... Aw CRAP.” GL was frustrated. They all had rushed here as soon as they were able.
“I see.. Well, just let them borrow some of your clothes. I'll see if there's anything in the attic rooms Minazi can wear...” Alzamus said ignoring that GL was almost a foot taller than many of the guests. (GL is 6’5” and Ma is 5’7” XD)
“Right... I'll see what I can scrounge up, I guess.” At that moment, there was a knock at the front door. The food Galantros had ordered for his unusual guests had arrived. “... Hey, can somebody get that please?”
“We'll get it!” Came the near singing voices of two children from downstairs as they ran to answer the door.
From Page 12
Alzamus: I'm alright, dear. I was more worried about you and everyone else...
*Moments later, GL came out of his room, fully dressed*
GL: Hi Black... Good to see you're okay... *he seemed hesitant, or ashamed for some reason...*
Alzamus:... GL... ah, I just realized. Your friends did bring a change of clothes with them, right?
GL:.... Aw CRAP.
Alzamus: I see.. Well, just let them borrow some of your clothes. I'll see if there's anything in the attic rooms Minazi can wear...
GL: Right... I'll see what I can scrounge up, I guess. *At that moment, there was a knock at the front door*... Hey, can somebody get that please?
- - - - -
*Chewy just blinked at what Rosemary said as she walked off, then shook his head. He had a feeling that when he'd go to ask GL what happened in a bit, he'd hear things that could cause nightmares for weeks.*
- - - - -
*Reason eventually made his way to Heegh's throne room... the fallen angel was slumped in his seat, red eyes glowing angrily from under a fresh hood. His claws dug deep cuts into the armrest of his seat as Reason approached, and his demons simply got out of his way*
Heegh: I don't remember sending you an invitation, Reason. Why are you here? It's never a good time to bother me, and now especially is a WORSE time...
*Before BlackMN could respond, GL came out of his room. He made a strange face at her, one she couldn't really read since she still hasn't perfected the art of reading reaper expressions...and this was a mixed one. So she ended up responding to Alzumus' comment about change of clothes.* I don't think the soldiers would have even allowed anyone to go home to get any.
*Rosemary could be seen coming down the hall with the plate for Black after dropping stuff off for Minazi and Githar, looking as dead as ever. She did nothing to look alive and not a vampire like she usually did. The skin lacked any color like most vampires, but she had an unusual feature: her cheeks and lips still had color to them. She handed the plate to the girl and rubbed her head a little. She didn't look away from Black as she said.* Veni haz three changez of clothez. I had zome in case he vaz ofer und ended up staying vithout originally planning on it. *She smiled a little.*
We'll get it! *Came the near singing voices of two children from downstairs as they ran to answer the door.*
The Missionary Portuguese had been monopolizing trade in the area to the east since the 1500s when I arrived as a stowaway. However the profit driven Dutch was unleashing tea to the world and would soon break their strangle hold. In a mere 10 years after 馬晚瑶 death, tea would hit Britain. For now, though, relationships between the Chinese and the western traders were confined almost entirely to port cities and the language barrier maintained as minimal interactions were permitted to the common folk in fear of taint communicating through art, gestures, or a pseudo language.
The native ruling felt they had everything they could ever need in their great motherland and didn’t really need anything from Outsiders. However, they were benevolent and enjoyed sharing their goods which the world would soon be ravenous for. The general citizens didn’t see anything they wanted from these suspicious settlers who were hungrier for trade, never satisfied in what they had, and in the case of the Portuguese a zeal to spread the word of their god.
However, most Outsiders are not me. I could go wherever I pleased and mingle with whomever I wanted. A fortuitous encounter with some rogue piratous villains had given me some great entertainment for almost half a century when I claimed their plunder and temporarily returned him to his family. How he found himself in such a position he wouldn't remember in his later years but would simply remember he was and that I was there answering his prayers to punish them. I only hope how he ended up there are memories Nefretiri doesn't stir. I killed them for him, making sure he saw at least one of them die, and carried him back while he enjoyed the feel of my fluffy velvety hair. His is extremely silky smooth if he allowed anyone to touch it while it's down.
Not only would my prize and their plunder be someone who’d at first unwittingly helped me start to understand the local dialect and also the more scholarly one, much like how Latin was at this point, but eventually be willing to teach me some interesting poetry, traditions, and wise words as the teacher himself was learning them. Best yet I was able to observe him almost out in the open, allowing only him to really see me.
Everyone else saw a bat, cat, or shadow as he'd play his guqin for me under a tree in the moonlight. His strange habit was questioned at first, but he convinced them that he enjoyed the calmness and beauty at that time from that position. When he hit adulthood, he started going by the name 馬晚瑶 but wished for me to continue to call him Luung or 馬(Ma) Luung as he considered me an intimate friend having given me the nickname Gweilochan sometime before.
Soon… my entertainment stopped being a complete game when I chose to not let this prize expire. From then on I was even more careful in my scheming when I considered the potential outcome of this relationship and what I hoped for. I only wish he was hundreds of years older or gave signs of being a prodigy to quickly fend off the older jealous ones like my dear Rosemary was capable of when she was at a mere 100. (Rosemary is about 420 art this point in time) It would be nice if we could be on more equal terms, but a truly filial son was a good alternative. Oh well, this way Jianshen had the advantage of harm the boy, deal with the father. And gods would I make them pay.
As we left China, I was relieved the first part of the process was complete and no one knew what really happened to 馬晚瑶. And, as long as they didn’t decide to move him or rob his grave, they never would know that he wasn’t there.
What came next was the most difficult part of my plans and the part I couldn’t control as well. My son was currently overwhelmed with all the new stimuli of his senses and I feared meeting the old hag might break him. I did my best to prepare him without insulting her, but I could have easily missed something as she’s unpredictable. Fortunately, as far as I could tell, as a vampire Jianshen remained mostly mentally stable and his drive was relatively similar to that when he was alive, but the negative energy his snake of a family emitted could possibly change that.
As long as certain lines weren’t crossed, I thought he would continue to be as little changed towards the worst as possible. He was surprisingly pliant to most things with a few hard stopping points. So far all my efforts had been working favorably with Jianshen. He continued to have faith in my care of him even when I thought it should be difficult... even when I had to discipline him for the most absurd or insignificant infractions, often at no fault of his, else Rosemary or Nefretiri would.
I hoped that his interests would catch enough favor for Nefretiri to allow him to seek them out. He still seemed to enjoy learning new things and sharing his knowledge. I wanted to see what he would do with it and possibly learn how to fight with more skill rather than relying on being faster.
As we approached the den, I could feel Nefretiri's power already working to oppress me and soon I would start to fall into a dark place in my mind, making mistake after mistake. The severity lessened over time as I learned to resist it better, but her hold runs deep. I feel a pull from her everywhere. Distance made it easier for me to resist since the added influence of her malice (aura) couldn't reach me.
Jianshen didn't have such a luxury. His strings could still be pulled by his direct elders. Finally she decided I was away long enough and started to pull on him as well. "Let me see you," she called to him. When she started calling he outwardly appeared confused. But when he started moving in her distant direction without a word as if in a trance, it became clear what was happening, and it grew harder and harder for me to wake him from it. I could stop him from going, but I couldn't stop the decline of his mental cognition. Wench, he's mine... let me nurture him as I please.
Finally, our adventures had to come to a close, but not before I exposed him to some of the local more...neurodifficient vampires. Once I conceded to her pull and started our journey back, his worsening stupor stopped so long as she thought we were making our way.
As we approached her, I could feel Rosemary’s glare on the back of my neck as she demanded to know who this was. This was another part of returning home I feared. She knows where I mark them. She detested what I did so much it was like she drank vinegar. Fortunately she was more likely to directly take the worst of her anger out on me…for now. I wonder how much more indignant she would act if my new child was a woman instead of a man.
I am a stray cat who hung around when offered a little bit of milk or, in Jianshen’s case, a pleasant stroke behind the ears and sometimes I would give my rewards to the ones I liked. The gifts I left were either considered a blessing or a curse depending upon person and she hated them. Both the gift itself and the way I gave it, hating that I have to touch them anywhere for it.
Jianshen walked a step behind me with one hand gripping his wrist behind his back. He was wearing his Sunday’s best as Christians would call it. It was one of the few outfits he currently had to wear and his only clothing left from when he was alive. The rest were burned when he died.
He would have mimicked me on my knee in a bow with my head lowered as I resisted sneering, but I told him that his normal formalities towards his elders might be taken more favorably by Nefretiri than doing what I did so he moved his folds as he went down to his knees his hands were up in a palm hold fist salute while he looked forward. If she demanded more, he’d lower even further to do a kowtow.
"Mother, I present my son Mǎ Jiànshén. Human family name Mǎ. Our languages are quite different from his, so, please take no offense, he will not understand or respond to you well. Currently his best language outside of his own is Portuguesa due to interactions with the traders," I said.
He understood less than half of what he heard, able to understand similar phrases to the ones he knew in the other Romance languages when I tested him and could read it a bit better having visually got the alphabet down. He hadn’t practiced writing the letters beyond how I thought his name should be spelt and his ability for verbal replies was currently wanting. Understanding and coming up with the words are two very different skills. He would later exploit his perceived dumbness when his comprehension was near perfect (1). It allowed him to avoid some conflict as well as know their true feelings as they spoke behind his back to his face.
“Quite different,” she said knowing his writing system to be logography based like her’s was.
Jianshen kept his gaze on her as he tried to look as respectful as possible. Just like I had been the first blonde he had ever seen, she was the first person he had ever seen with what he considered a regal demeanor possessing naturally dark skin clothed in what he thought to be shameless indecent clothing. Likewise, he was the first Chinese that many of them had seen as so few had been taken or traveled so far west at this point. Ironically, in a way, I had done what those pirates tried to do when he was a child. I could tell he was trying not to be self-conscious about all their various shades of red eyes on him. He later asked me if the red eye color is an age thing.
She rose from her seat and approached him, circling around, examining him. Examined him, like examining goods. She grabbed his left hand and assessed it. She was faster than most could perceive in this simple motion, and he tensed as his initial reaction was to try to withdraw, but she squeezed and dug her claws in. She commented on how his turned out exceptionally fine, not realizing that they were naturally long because his nails had been long and cared for.
Then she grabbed his jaw and forced his mouth open to look at his teeth and unusually long tongue. He tried to look neutral, but I could feel his slight alarm. She then looked into his eyes and he was unable to hide his discomfort at this point. His eyes were the darkest brown they could be, almost indistinguishable from his black pupil, some calling that type black eyes.
After a moment his eyes started to search for something. I thought it was due to all the malicious whispers he heard. While the whispers did make him ill at ease, he later told me he heard Rosemary say, “like ink,” about his eyes in his head and understood it somehow but didn’t know its origin.
Nefretiri tightened her grip on his jaw till he winced with the light sound of a crack as she moved his face around, taking in every angle. When she saw what she was looking for she smiled.“You do have red in them.”
I only imagine he was screaming on the inside as her aura covered him like a blanket for the first time. Her hand pinched his cheeks so his lips would puff outwards scraping against his teeth on his damaged jaw (think of that aunt face pinch). She forced him to look at me as she did so and started speaking in a language he wouldn’t understand at all. “How on earth did you manage to not get swarmed by those beasts and even get one out?” Nefretiri asked and she turned his face towards her again looking her newest member in the eyes. He started to look dizzy as he resisted when she forced her way deeper into his young mind.
She had wondered how I remained relatively safe there for years. How talented was I at hiding? She was no doubt looking for answers to that and possible slander from him. She’d get nothing. He was only aware of me hiding in the shadows or in animal form. I also had only warned him that she could enhance his fears and self-doubts. She expected me to have left the orient decades ago with her knowledge of the vampire like creatures there were practically fearless, ruthless, attacking outsiders indiscriminately. “Are vampires in that land not as fierce as they used to be?”
I shivered for theatrics and responded in the same language she used. “They’re not very pleasant. Jianshen…they appear perplexed by him … yet lash out still.”
“Probably because that is the place of his birth.”She finally released him with a shove, fortunately leaving no claw marks. And I let him fall. And he got back up into his salute, with a determined look. Struggling to not panic. Remembering to breathe to help calm down though he didn't need to to live. All while being exposed to IT for the first time while she smiled, slowly resting her hands on his shoulders, kneading them like a cat. Red tinted sweat now appeared on his forehead, as she distorted his perception entirely into something that he never spoke of afterwards...quite possibly blocking the memory. Long before we arrived I had informed him that his family wouldn’t be very welcoming and yet…and yet he would try to get along with them, going so far as to be self-deprecating, backing off at times when I thought he should show his fangs, and still do services to try to benefit them if he thought it led to something that benefitted me.
1) Dumb ~ “lacking the ability to speak.” I typed this hoping to circle back to this XP The mostly dark eyes glanced at the two children, eyebrows raising slightly as he took the sight of them in; there was some red in those eyes. His eyes looked around as he released her wrists. He said calmly, “Bixia wording? I doubting use of ‘care’ meaning.” “Tch of course YOU wouldn’t understand the subtle meaning.” His hand twitched at his side. “I have us clarify.”
-------------------------------------------------
Earlier
Several months earlier Veni and Old Man Ma had a conversation about how he probably shouldn’t go by his human names anymore. They were walking away from his home and most everyone he knew. For their safety, he couldn’t be near them anymore. When his thoughts lingered on them, he fantasized about tasting his family’s blood and was surprised the drive to harm them didn’t make him feel uneasy. Thus the longer he lingered, the longer he watched them, the more danger they were in as he felt his body lust for them as it twitched and his throat felt parched.
He smiled, admiringly, at his father who chuckled in his form as a stowaway dancing in the shadows. The young vampire fanned himself as they passed by someone bathed in the full moonlight while sleeping in their small river boat. As the foreign guest in these lands, the blonde would draw more attention if he walked out in the open than the native in his best outfit, the cross collar arranged right over left still as he never bothered to fix it. So Veni remained hidden, while Old Man Ma walked in the open. He carried his guqin wrapped in cloth on his back that Veni had retrieved for him, some clay jars with grave soil, and everything his family put in the coffin for him including his preferred inkstone and other calligraphy tools.
He was experiencing both the joys and the struggles of Veni’s gift. For one the world looked even more beautiful and he would often pause to stare at whatever caught his eye. He felt stronger and more alive in ways, like he could physically do anything he wanted; and he did. He ran, jumped, and executed the movements he had watched his family do all his life with ease. But when he saw and heard the pulse of a warm body, he was irresistibly drawn to it no matter who it was; good, evil, rich, poor, old friend, family, well known and dangerous, young, or old. And oh, when they ran, even just to get somewhere, it excited him and he wanted to give chase.
He could only admire his lifelong friend’s self-restraint now that he understood what it must have been like to be friends with him. The elder vampire had been by his side with little incident for long chunks of time for many years before he truly pounced him. It was truly worthy of admiration if he experienced a fraction of what he was going through now; now that he possessed the strong desired to devour those he loved most in life… especially his wife. He wanted her most…and…he was unable to even look at her without losing his sense of self.
Fortunately Veni was with him to help him pause when he almost went for it, draw his attention away, focus on other beautiful things about people, be more discerning about his meals and…bring him back from the monster his senses could easily lead him to be. Not every gift was completely good, not every gift was completely bad. Fuh chan was proof it was possible to overcome these new feelings, or at least have some control when he chose who to go for. He would strive to not disappoint.
He reasoned that if he was meant to see her again he would, whether it was this life or in one of her future lives in which she has forgotten him. But for now, he thought his kids still needed their mother at least and it would be too selfish to take her away from them as well. So, he had turned down Veni’s earlier offer and chose to hope that if he couldn’t see her without trying to devour her before she passed, that he’d see her in one of her next lives even if she couldn’t remember or love him. For now the stimulation overwhelmed him too easily to be near people he did not want to harm and a new one caught his attention in the distance; the heartbeat of another traveler.
The fresh vampire tried to pull his attention back on the immediate area and said that he thought a new name reasonable as it wouldn’t be good for someone to associate him with it. Rumors attached to that name could potentially still harm those still living the life he had to leave behind. It helped that his appearance was slowly changing nightly from his slightly wrinkled, grey hairs of age, to his more youthful mid 20s look. Currently the hair was most stubborn with several grey strands and streak on the side. It also could be risky if someone somehow recognized both his youthful appearance with the name.
Veni had expressed his delight when he started to look more like he did in his youthful days. Neither would have minded if he stayed looking older like he was when he passed away, but Veni preferred it this way. This way he didn’t look terribly older than him…this way he looked the way he remembered him when he had to leave when he could no longer resist holding back from either exchanging enough blood with him until he became a vampire within a few nights instead of several years later or outright killing him.
Veni was ready to sire a new vampire while Luung’s body was so weak and receptive to him back then. When Veni realized that this human was cleaver enough to realize in his teens that this was to be the likely result of their relationship and was determined to accept that in part because he valued their friendship, the vampire loved him all the more for it. Even in his delirious state the first night he stroked the blonde’s hair and told him such.
They had finally reached the climatic point in their relationship where his natural obsession over a mortal peaked and his human now desperately craved it. He chuckled while they walked as he thought it funny how hard Luung, confused to what transpired the previous night, tried to not let his new intense desire show the night after Veni had started the process until he couldn’t anymore once Veni rushed to him and had his lips on him. Completely smitten before the vampire’s blood touched his lips. By the third night and afterwards Luung was so completely enthralled that his normal self-restraint was gone once Veni was close enough, the vampire’s to do with as he pleased, and practically begging him to finish.
It was liberating for Veni to not manipulate someone into being partially blinded of what was happening to them. This one accepted it all even when he admitted his own inability to fully comprehend what it meant and couldn’t know all the consequences until they happened. The human wanted it. How could he not?(1) Still Veni had a shadow of doubt as Rosemary had been a disaster.
When Veni couldn’t control his passions anymore without killing him one way or the other and left, how Lung must have suffered too as what transpired sank in, dealing with a multitude of emotions including horror, joy, and confusion as his head cleared. He wasn’t spared the torment physically either, being somewhere in between human and vampire until human won. Human servant won that is; Veni always knew how Luung was after that and could have called him whenever he wished and Luung always knew when he was close. For the rest of his life he always craved the company of his vampire master and had to come to terms with what he knew he’d become. However since he saw his extra time as a gift, it helped him focus on living. His eventual marriage helped ease his longing even more as he came to love her.
Meanwhile Veni went through his own tribulations as he kept away. During all those years no other blood was satisfying enough to him until Luung died. Many times his obsessive nature almost won and he found himself close to returning to finish him.
Now that Luung was a vampire, Veni was quite impressed by the results so far even if he thought this one was a little weaker than his usual. He didn’t think it was necessarily due to the technique he tried. He’d have to test it on more people. For now he enjoyed the fruit of his strained patience, now able to walk with him as two vampires, watch his firsts as one, watch him struggle with himself and, so far, not resent his creator for doing this to him; going so far as to still give Veni a warm smile. (If you can’t tell this part actually jumped back to the first paragraph only slightly more in Veni’s perspective than Ma’s…the chuckle earlier is the one Ma smiled at)
Veni knew deep down Ma had enjoyed his stories and wanted to see the world like him, to walk with him, to repay him for bringing him home from his captors. As pleasurable as it was to be with this fledgling, he still couldn’t abandon his dread at what would come for him once he met the others. Would he change his mind then? He hoped that nights like this would last a while and that She did not call them to her any time soon.
Old Man Ma continued to walk forward while Veni admired his movements from the shadows. Walking with this new child and seeing him just stare at things in new awe was quite satisfying. After going through some common names such as Li (courteous), Xin (reliable), Jian (health), and Shou (longevity) in one combination or another as if he was considering them, they went quiet as they were close to the person that was once in the distance. Veni then whispered, “breathe.”
Ma wondered how he kept forgetting to do something he used to do constantly. The stances he was mimicking required controlled breath to execute. His fanning intensified as they approached. The stranger stood to the side with his hands in a palm salute as they passed and the vampire gave, in haste, the expected greeting in return.
Veni could tell that person planned to rob Luung, but he was unsure how keen the new vampire was to pick up on thoughts yet. However something about the decently dressed vampire, possibly the point in his ears, his long nails that didn’t look quite normal, the arrangement of his collar, maybe he noticed he wasn’t breathing normally, or the stranger perhaps recognized him, made the would be thief pause in taking his blade against him and ran in the opposite direction.
Luung’s fan dropped and was immediately forgotten as he came to a sudden stop, his intense gaze was instantly on the other man and his body moved before his mind decided to; instantly grabbing the living person, pulling his collar aside, squeezing the wrist until the blade dropped, and latching onto his throat. By the time he realized what he was doing, there was no stopping it as he already had the taste of warm blood in his mouth; meanwhile Veni marveled at his swift hunting impulse. He knew just moments ago he had intended to ignore the person, even going so far as to try to fan his scent away.
Veni thought the whole spectacle surprisingly graceful for one so inexperienced. After waiting what he considered long enough, he emerged from the shadows as he pulled his boy off the other man. He stood there in a blood haze as he watched Veni finish feeding off the one unfortunate enough to run into them. The older one wouldn’t let Luung kill them quite yet. One of his last requests, as he was changing and starting to crave blood, was to help him not to do something his human self would be ashamed of. While he had meant don’t let him kill his friends, family, and acquaintances, Veni was currently applying it to everyone until he either had better control of his actions or Nefretiri called them back and made it difficult for him to openly help him.
Once dead, Veni removed the outer clothing layers, along with anything of value or use to them including the blade, before showing Ma a more magical way to dispose of bodies. Noticing he seemed distant he asked, “are you well?”
“Mn…” said Ma still slightly in his stupor. Seeing Veni use the wound he inflicted to feed had stirred a thrill he was trying to process. He wasn’t experiencing the emotions he thought he should feel right now, while the ones he did were quite the opposite being very pleasing and threatened to consume him. He could at least still feel disappointment, frustration, and anger with himself for his perceived short comings. That was something. He had thought he’d be able to ignore that one like he had the one sleeping in the boat, until he ran. His hand raised to touch his lips. “…Fuh chan…this craving… usually so difficult?”
“Bad people live to eat and drink. Virtuous people eat and drink in order to live. The measure of a man is what he does with power.(2)” Veni stepped really close to Luung with his cat like grin, forcing the shorter man to gaze up a little at him. “The greater the difficulty, the more the glory in surmounting it.(2)” He cocked his head staring his kid in the eyes. “Did you think this would be easy?”
“All cats love fish but fear to wet their paws.” (Nothing worthwhile ever comes easy.3)
“When taking risks you have to live with the consequences (ride tiger difficult down 4).”
“Yes…” His hand trembled. If anyone knew about Gweilochan or whispers that this dead man was still walking, he’d just be a stain on the family. They would just say his mind poisoned by an Outsider since a young age. A disgrace that embarrassed all of them. His return as a child was seen as a blessing, a lucky thing; more so as an auspicious bat could be seen with him soon afterwards. If they knew the truth of the bat and what happened afterwards, they’d curse him, disown him. Damnatio memoriae. Would it have been better to die younger than for his kids to have such a shameful father? Everything he ever did, all of it, all of it wouldn’t matter and every misfortune within the family would be considered his fault as they were ostracized.
“Only you will.” Ma just mned with a sad smile and reached to touch Veni’s hair.
“But first, you must be unrecognizable.” Veni pulled off his load and stripped him of his nicer burial outfit, instantly causing Luung to blush. Veni didn’t stop there, oh no. He pulled open Luung’s zhongyi top, exposing the bare chest, his fingers lightly brushing the skin, instantly getting a “GWEILOCHAN” in protest, and flipped the way it was wrapped on him to the way he saw everyone else wear it (instead of being in dead man position) and put on him the more plain thief’s garment. Veni then draped Ma’s fancier top on himself, picked up his fan, and, as there weren’t any more prying eyes, traveled next to him in that fashion while fanning himself with the exact same motions Old Man Ma had done earlier. “He lived that way. We can spend our day there.”
1) Totally stole this line from you from Page 4 of Nightwalker War “The human would want it. How could they not?”
While Cian was uncomfortable with this turn in conversation, he could appreciate Sephiroth’s curiosity. He had an insatiable appetite for knowledge after all. ”Ah.” The brunette responded, his body becoming still as he thought. ”I suppose there are multiple ways to be turned.” Sephiroth’s statement was a good one. Eydís was small—a child. ”If the method I previously stated was indeed used, a maker does not need to shed a lot of blood. It is not their duty to replenish the circulatory system. The body will eventually do that itself, rapidly. Fast, but not fast enough that it spares the human her life. Vampires are the undead. The process kills the human and creates the vampire.” He paused, then added ”That is one theory. Others believe we are demons.”
Again, Cian’s mind fell to his own creation. He did not remember it as well as he should. His eyes closed briefly, his mind a thousand years in the past… Eydís’ amber eyes. He could remember seeing them for the first time. He had no doubt through the course of Veni’s maker’s story, he would remember more of it. Still, Cian wished he could retreat alone to some grand study or library. ”If the process is how I described,” He explained, ”The human would want it. How could they not?” Again, the vampire paused in thought, ”The alternate method is through multiple feedings. The human provides blood, sustenance. Then the vampire gives. It is not as much as the first method and it takes much, much longer. This is the method where the human chokes the blood down.”
Veni’s question came next. A simple one, a loaded one. Several faces flashed into Cian’s mind from different ages. "Oh no." He answered shortly, "But she is the only one that mattered." That sounded harsh, even to his own ears, "There were others...However, they were made during war times or out of early rebellion. " A ghost of a bitter smile came to his lips ”In the beginning I admit, I was not as discerning.” He could not only see their faces now—the sadist from Sweden, the swordsman from Russia, the marksman from India, to name but a few—but also how he made them and how they were destroyed. He knew of only a handful who may have escaped the true death. However, even that hope only stood on one leg.
4) 骑虎难下 [騎虎難下] Qí hǔ nán xià [qi hu nan xia]ride tiger difficult down When on a tiger's back, it is hard to dismount When taking risks you have to live with the consequences, it is difficult to back out Ie to get into a situation where both proceeding forward and backing down are difficult Ie; He who sups with the Devil should have a long spoon
(Also hahaha I bet one of the first things Ma worked on was breathing when he started getting serious in his martial arts)
Brought to you by these brain worms: "Humans would want it.." --> ma said no at first And: thraaaaaaaall giggles it's super dramatic and in all the romance books. And lots and lots of Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance...so much looped Bad Romance Oh and also because you (correctly) checked stoic in the streets and softie in the sheets for Ma Jianshen XP You know which “dad” probably influenced that trait (㇏(•̀ᵥᵥ•́)ノ)
Luung had felt strange that day, but he was unable to determine what it was that was strange. Maybe it was because he felt more energetic than he had in a while. Yesterday he had a terrible pain crisis after overexerting himself in his frustrations…today he shouldn’t feel this well even with Gweilochan around… The vampire helped immensely, but not this much. Did he manage to come across enough like his usual self around his family yesterday? He wasn’t sure. He had acted for weeks that he was normal, when in reality he went through several small spells. His mother gave the impression that she was happy as she had fussed over him throughout the day, but he wasn’t sure if she did this because she had been worried about him and was putting on a strong face or noticed that he felt better. He managed to even eat more than usual, which made her happy.
Gweilochan had been hidden in his room and Luung was glad to see his bat form when he got up… He almost caressed the bat when he found him…but…how did he KNOW to look there? He remembered Gweilochan being there the previous night with a distressed look. What happened afterwards? He was having trouble remembering and what came to him were disjointed moments like from a fever dream. The clearer images he could recall were of him being held and comforted. The sickly man’s ears flushed slightly red at the thought. The foreigner’s methods were to his liking even if unsightly.
He pulled up his sleeves, checked his macilent arms, and then felt around his neck and bony collar bones, pulling his collar aside, looking into a bronze mirror, and found nothing there. The goengsi hadn't appeared up to his usual tricks, but he also healed the wounds sometimes. And if the goengsi bit him…or…even gave him a little blood, it left him feeling more off than usual… he gazed towards where the goengsi was hidden…his bat form was indeed charming. He smacked his lips a little feeling somewhat parched and poured some water, but it didn’t fully help.
Throughout the day Luung's thoughts lingered on his friend and he frequently checked on him. Just to see if he was still there.. very tempted to pet the fuzzy bat. Where had he been the last few months? What did he encounter on his adventures? What did he see? His desire to fully retire to his room peaked at around noon as he really felt like needing a nap. Fortunately before sunset everyone felt like retiring early.
As the night approached, he started to doze off. Once night hit, he woke from his slumber feeling incredibly well with the phrase “I won’t let you die” in his thoughts as the scattered images in his dreams with Gweilochan quickly faded. When he sat up and looked ahead, he saw Gweilochan a few feet away standing with his face hidden in the shadows. He rose from his chuang (bed, but it’s multifunctional including used as a chair) and greeted him, but the vampire still didn't move.
This wasn't entirely unusual, but... something felt off with both himself and Gweilochan. Or maybe it was just him. He slowly lowered to perch on the edge of his chuang and gripped it rubbing his lips together and swallowing. He felt a yearning and disturbing uneasiness he couldn’t quite place. He wanted to get closer to the vampire. He normally did, but this was more intense. His heart beat with a nervous energy. Why was he feeling more fearful of his friend than usual? Why was the blonde more alluring than usual? "Gweilochan's travels go well?"
Veni responded with "One thousand autumns, twelve days(1)." The foreigner reversed the phrase "one day three autumns" which meant intense longing or missing of someone in its original form and replaced the numbers. Twelve was the number of years he'd known Gweilochan...half his life at that point…
Unfortunately his keen mortal mind was still too slow to realize the meaning for the impatient vampire who had moved. The human was in his grip and soon on his back before he noticed the other move, turning his head to the side automatically, ears blushing. Veni leaned in, opening the collar enough to kiss what he was offered, feeling the pulse quicken for him, but that’s not what he was after.
Luung realized the meaning of what the vampire said…that he meant his own life was a short time in the other’s long life. Was he…? He put his hands on the vampire’s shoulders and started to push.
The tiger did move for him, but in the wrong direction as he moved lower and had used that kiss to distract him while he undid his dadai (belt). His shadow took care of the other ties. He slid his hands between the daopao folds and pulled them apart.
Luung barely got a partially muffled "Gweilochan!" out in protest, quickly slapping his right hand over his mouth mid shout, still pushing against him with his left, before the vampire had opened even his inner layer, head having gone to his abdomen, lips brushing his skin, and tongue tasting him. “Time won’t come again. Life is too short(2). If I had been later… you scared me Luung!”
Trying to get his voice calm as panic would only excite the vampire he said, “Ma Wanyao is wrong for causing his friend distress. Is this punishment really…ghnn?!!”
The vampire firmly held his position, now touching his inner leg. Luung's breathing and pulse increased as he feebly tried to push the tiger off. “Cannot lose you(3).”
Why was he going down there instead of his neck or inner arm?! He forgot to keep his voice down after that, speaking rapidly. "Luung apologizes for… Aiya!” Veni’s mouth moved on his thigh, kissing it, scaping his teeth on the skin. He wasn’t threatening to do it, he really was doing it! A bit more frantically he continued, “…for being rash!!" He hissed from a tongue flick… He tried to pull himself away since the vampire didn’t want to move but the tiger easily held him with one paw, and he quickly ceased that effort. “The location might be too much for this feeble one!”
“How so? This was one of many (thousand) good days...You’re not rejecting me, are you?”
“Ma Wanyao wouldn’t dare…”
Luung was always so reserved when he first got back from long trips, the vampire mused to himself. Veni interrupted Luung before he claimed something along the lines of 'being unworthy of such a pleasure from Gweilochan' and said, “exactly, you’d be dead. At least twice now!” A cat’s hiss escaped his throat, hair puffing out slightly, his cat eyes rolling to stare him in the eyes with a feral look. His beautiful rat swallowed, nervous sweat forming on his brow. “Nor would you dare think this frail one unworthy for any gift this immortal would decide to give to anyone he favors.”
Luung went silent rapidly trying to think of a way to politely respond to this checkmate but didn’t even get a second to think after the vampire’s last statement before he felt the pleasant pressure of teeth and yelped, “Veni!”
That's it; a little distress, be a little bit horrified. It’s normal to be a little afraid. Not too much, just enough to enhance the flavor some. Not quite the type he preferred, but still good. He wanted to scare his plunder, but not too much. “Thirst for you(4),” Veni whispered causing Luung's ears and cheeks to fully flush as he bit him.
Ma made a hissing sound as he sucked in air and reflexively dug his nails in. Then he remembered, remembered what he could of the events of the previous night, as Veni's teeth found their spot. He experienced this type of bite last night and it was more intense than usual. He hated to admit that he found it pleasurable like the other ones. I won’t let you die. His mind was flooded with some of the vampire’s intentions, desires, aspirations, thoughts, visions, and feelings. From Luung, most of all, he wanted more time with him and for Luung to… Please don't resent me...
He still didn’t resent him…despite being embarrassed...but even his embarrassment was starting to fade as Veni dominated his senses ...to see what would happen... How could he turn him away? I knew this might happen… What would he have even denied of himself from the goengsi? I knew this could happen… He…hadn’t really wanted to stop him… did he? I knew this would happen… To have the chance to fully show his gratitude…to see what would happen...didn’t he want that too? Ma's hands pushing on the vampire trembled and weakened...soon ceasing their effort to push him away. … but I couldn’t ever reject him even when I realized he would.
Yes, stop struggling. Don’t worry…you’ll be well…no one will hear…no one will come, thought Veni hoping his experiment worked as the person he wanted slowly stopped resisting and relaxed. Veni had seen to that, hypnotizing the whole household to sleep. He started to purr and kneed the area like a kitten suckling on its mother's teat. The human gasped and let out a light moan in both pain and ecstasy once completely under his friend’s spell. The vampire devoured him as slowly as he could stand and yet stopped before he was satisfied.
While Ma was still entranced, breathing heavily, and tired Veni leaned in close smiling over him as they both looked into each other’s eyes. Ma smiled back and felt even more smitten as he looked into those beautiful red eyes. Damn cat… A trickle of red near the vampire’s throat from the wounds Luung caused when he was bit caught his attention and he found it difficult to advert his gaze back to the face as that strange feeling returned. He heard the vampire pleading with him, urging him in his head to take it.
The urge to give in, to follow him, even to climb the knife mountain, swim through the blood pool, or go into the oil cauldron(5), was almost unbearable. Ma reached for him. He wouldn’t turn him away. Gweilochan looked so happy as he pulled the unresistive vampire to him. Now the unmovable tiger moved in the correct direction… Ma’s lip twitched as he bared his teeth.
“Brazen-faced! Gweilochan, you son of a b***h(6).” The words came out slowly, only a few came out between breaths, and a swallow as he stared at the sanguine droplets. Despite saying that, Veni’s smile, which now gained a hint of self-satisfied arrogance, filled his heart with gladness that he was the cause of that look. Luung smiled back with his eyes and sprang to put his mouth over the wound, fingers running through the blonde’s hair who let out a low chuckle. The taste…the taste was more than familiar… this was what he felt strange about…he craved this all day! His grip tightened with each swallow, falling deeper and deeper into his hold, unable to stop himself even if he wanted to….
"I don't want you to be an instant in my life," the vampire eventually said. Ma eagerly held on, becoming more enthusiastic, his tongue playing with and tasting the scratches. Veni trembled and pulled away, holding Ma down while he reached for him…yearning for more…leaving him not satisfied either as his tongue sought the taste in his mouth. Only once his wound healed did he allow Ma to pull him back and clean the spot. Ma continued to kiss it once clean.
“This still isn’t quite enough,” said Veni answering the unspoken question in his next kid's fuzzy mind. “It is enough blood to make it difficult for another vampire to try to dominate and take you from me in the same manner… this way…you’re mine.”
Veni moved them both to a sitting position, kissing his cheek and forehead, and propped him up. Luung looked intoxicated, wincing a little from what the blood was doing to him. Still breathing heavily, but his heart rate had begun to slow. He held onto his his…his…his…unable to think of the words and finding it difficult to speak. "Mn…Your's...yes...why..."
“You get to enjoy another day,” said the vampire as he gently ran his nails down Ma’s back in a soothing manner, humming an old lullaby, and willing him to sleep. Veni enjoyed that position and the feel of the warmth from the living person for a while.
After he was deep in slumber, Veni helped him into his garments he slept in and put up the outer layers. He then helped him into his sleeping position giving him one final good night kiss. He was in a state that the vampire found hard to resist planting kisses upon, touching, and further tasting him until he finished; when he could start to sense himself in the human who had enough of his own blood to begin the change and be claimed as his. He watched as Lung's chest began to rise and fall in a relaxed rhythmic way. The vampire could easily stare at this the rest of the night.
That morning Ma Luung was easily up before the c**k crowed as he often tried to be. Veni was kneeling at the edge of the chuang with his head resting on his hands, staring at him. When Luung turned towards him, eyes focusing, the vampire smiled with a cat grin. "Gweilochan, you are shameless(7)..."
1. 一日三秋。(yī rì sānqiū) – Lit. “One day three autumns” meaning “One day (seems like) three autumns.” It is intensely missing or longing for someone so much that a single day feels as long as three years. https://www.fluentin3months.com/chinese-proverbs/
2. 失时不再来. 人生苦短. (Lost Time No again come. Person born (life) pain short.) First part taken from the Chinese Proverb (谚语 yànyŭ) 机不可失，时不再来 English translation: This proverb reminds us that we need to seize opportunities when they present themselves. Here, 机 (jī) means opportunity (机会, jīhuì), and 不可失 (bùkě shī) refers to something that we can’t miss. 时不再来 means the time (时 shí) won’t come again another time. https://www.ltl-shanghai.com/chinese-proverbs/#chapter-7 https://www.omgchinese.com/dictionary/chinese/机ä¸å¯å¤±ï¼Œå¤±ä¸å†æ¥
Second part taken from sayings about time. 人生苦短. https://chinese4kids.net/12-chinese-proverbs-on-time/
3. 我不能失去你 This is what I think he actually says from a machine translation of the prhase “I cannot lose you”. It’s actually fairly interesting and very appropriate. Here’s it broken down by word. 我 -- 不能 -- 失去 -- 你 (I --am not able—to lose (first character) to be apart from in space or time (second character) –you (friendly familiar form of you)) Chinese Dictionary: Practice Writing & Character Memorization by Inputting English, Pinyin, Or Chinese! (writtenchinese.com)
4. "Thirst for you." Veni’s word choice is very romantic. It involves 渴望 [kě wàng] “to thirst for, long for”
望 [wàng] “to look toward, gaze” 望 [wàng] also has a more metaphorical meaning, “to hope,” and this is used extensively in various word formations. 渴 [kě] “thirsty” thus naturally combines with 望 [wàng] to make 渴望 [kě wàng] “to thirst for, long for,” as in to long deeply and desperately--for someone special, for a purpose, for meaning.
5. “Climb the knife mountain, swim through the blood pool, or go into the oil cauldron” are three levels of the underworld. It’s equivalent is “to go through hell or high water.” In this instance it is equivalent of saying he’d go through hell itself, risk extra years of punishment, to follow him. Knife Mountain=those who have killed for pleasure or without good reason, Blood pool= those who disrespect others, Oil cauldron=rapists, thieves, abusers, and false accusers https://www.chineseclass101.com/blog/2021/06/10/best-chinese-proverbs/
Because of these levels of hell, there is a popular Chinese saying: “上刀山、落油鑊” (soeng5 dou1 san1, lok6 jau4 wok6). It means “to go through hell or high water”—though the literal meaning is to “climb the knife mountain, and go into the oil cauldron,” a clear reference to two levels of the underworld.
6. “Brazen-faced! Gweilochan, you son of a b***h.” Circling back to the previous short story where he says, “Fuh chan you jerk.” What Ma says here is the same thing only Gweilochan instead of Fuh chan. 你个鳖孙 (lit you grandson) only I decided to use a harsher sounding of the possible translations XD
“Brazen-faced!” (I thought this one was appropriate since Veni did pester him into something humiliating to get what he wanted) is 死皮賴臉 (idiom lit rigid skin hang on face (ie thick faced)) which means “hang on without any sense of shame” It refers to hanging on without any sense of shame. It is usually used to describe someone who keeps pestering another person to meet his demands in various humiliating or awkward ways. Derogatory.” https://www.cchatty.com/idiom/118474?hl=en
7. Shameless 死 不 要 臉 [you] shameless corpse, be dead to shame (no shyness), be devoid of shame; extremely shameless; lose all sense of shame https://tw.ichacha.net/死不要臉.html https://educalingo.com/en/dic-zh/si-bu-yao-lian
Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2022 1:33 pm
Night 3: Youthful Conviction and not getting paralyzed into inaction by fear of consequences
Starting immediately after the end of the last one. Ma had waken before sunrise, looked at Veni who was resting his head against his arms on the bed and staring at him, and called Veni shameless.
(Combined perspective until Veni leaves...hope it's obvious whose perspective it is when it shifts)
"And yet you still stain your fingers red(1)." (It's like the Greek proverb “a man is known by the company he keeps”) Veni started to make a low rumbling noise as he reached towards Luung and kneaded the air.
Luung lightly chuckled. Friend choice aside, he knew he would have been considered at least a little eccentric because of his condition. He smacked his lips a little and swallowed. He now knew what that strange desire was, and it was worse than yesterday. His pulse increased and he felt a frisson of excitement by merely thinking about it. He craved to get closer to the vampire. He deeply inhaled as he turned and looked towards his ceiling. He saw details on it again that he recently had difficulty seeing. (blindness is a potential complication)
"I'm glad you're not a vegetable."
"...!!!" Luung looked back at him, but the vampire's back was already turned as he poured some water.
Veni himself had almost ended up in a comatose-like state at this phase partially from the vampire blood, the old mind, and partially by his fear of her. He had both wanted to shrink away from and be held by that woman. Maybe Luung was stronger willed than he was. But Veni didn’t desire to break him either; quite the opposite. He was testing his resilience because she would probably attempt to break him…and… he wanted to spook him to run away, not curl into a ball.
The vampire watched him all night. Checking his vitals. Watching his blood flow. Watching his internal damage heal as his chest rose and fell… Just amazed at what he could do to a human with his vampire blood. If only it didn't have so many other effects. He had watched and felt those too. Luung was even stronger today than yesterday. He’d be fine now for a while if he were to unwelcome him with only a slight chance of coming back. That's what Veni thought anyway.
Luung sat up, putting his hand on his temple as he shook his head slightly trying to clear the pleasant drunk like haze he felt. Other than that, his energy was rising and the aches that ailed him were gone. Was this how people his age normally felt? Or was he losing feeling? He pinched himself hard, making sure he wasn’t losing his sense of touch like in the goengsi stories. “Aiya!” He rubbed the spot, it hurt. He was actually feeling “well” which was a wonderful sensation…but still…his eyes downcast as he trembled and thought he must be such a burden.
The vampire wanted to try to comfort him but knew one of them might try to continue if he hugged him. Luung felt pressure on his shoulder but saw nothing when he looked. Veni had seen him more hopeful when he was younger, but as the years went on, he started to lose it, becoming more restless as he realized that he wasn't going to grow out of this and no medicine could cure his worsening condition, just slow it and relieve the symptoms at best.
The weight of his perceived responsibilities had gotten harder when he neared adulthood; when he deteriorated faster than the vampire could safely help without fully giving him those other effects. Yet he usually tried to look cheerful for Veni and have the vampire feel welcomed no matter how bad he felt. The vampire observed that his health had been hard on the rest of his family too. His father seemed distant, while his mother fussed over him and decided that he should enrich his mind since his body was limited.
Veni knelt to be at eye level with him and lifted the cup to his eyebrows before he moved it towards Luung who lightly brushed his fingers against Veni’s as he took the cup the vampire offered and drank (2). Veni watched the simple motion of the air being held, adam's apple moving while the pulse still beat, and the continuation of breathing after a sip of water. Simple, common, human things he wanted to remember seeing him do.
Once he was done drinking, he silently stared expectantly at the vampire, eyes transfixed upon him, gripping the small cup in both hands. "The other night…when I arrived…you were slowly dying, and I panicked. Unfortunately in order to keep you alive I had to give you a large dose of my blood." Luung knew that it meant he'd find the vampire more alluring, but the next part was new. "It affects me as well. I get obsessive, I can hardly think of anything else until I get your blood, and I am more possessive of you. It'll only get worse for us the more we receive. Even if you fight this, you'd do anything I commanded. If you put up a barrier against me, I could tell you take it down and you would... however if you did that... I would try to leave you…”
If he leaves, I’ll die soon, Luung thought and inhaled deeply, closing his eyes. If he stays, I still have to leave (his family). He slightly changed the subject. "Mn... How old is Gweilochan?" He realized that he was older than he thought from his earlier words of “I don’t want you to be an instant in my life.”
The human asked him before, but back then the vampire gave a vague answer. Now he gave him a more precise number. He would be telling him even more details about himself soon if the human didn’t attempt to chase him off. "Over 1300..."
"Is it lonely? (Are you lonely?)" This was one of the things he had picked up on when Veni was draining him and his thoughts had been more tangible…there's so much he knew now that he didn't know before, so much he still didn't know about him and wanted to know. So many questions he wanted to ask that was once avoided. So many questions he didn't know how to word. Even immortals’ lifespan varied by story. Some stories said goengsi’s could be calmed back to the grave while others were unclear, so he had never been sure. But he hadn't thought him to be closer to or even over 1000. I guess even ageless immortals could still act young, he thought.
"Sometimes," his voice cracked a little and he cleared his throat.
Luung felt grateful to have been able to live long enough to get out of that stage. The vampire was lonely and was afraid of being lonely again. Though Luung didn't quite understand why the vampire had tried to give him such a fright that tested his temperament and tempted him to do something as undignified as punch him.
The c**k crowed. Luung pinched the area between his brows as if his head hurt. Veni stared at the window seemingly unbothered by the soon rising sun. He had little trouble getting past the hurdle of staying up past sunrise, however it still drained him. He rose to leave and the human looked at him. His presence would only make it harder for Luung to think freely…
"Enjoy your day. Take care of yourself. Even if it repulses you, you must eat. You might feel strong today, but don't hit a stone with an egg (2.1) (ie you're not as strong as you might feel). As night approaches you'll find it hard to focus and either feel enhanced dread or want of my company...whichever you feel is up to you...either way..."
Though Luung had his eye on the vampire, he was simply gone. Either way...I'll be unable to deny him...he finished the thought. He looked down at his legs, pulled up his trouser leg, and examined the spot the goengsi bit him, apparently twice. It was hard to tell as he only saw one fang mark set and rubbed it a little. It was sore, but it wouldn’t have bothered him enough to notice.
He flopped backwards, trembling, taking in a shuddering breath, running his fingers as much as he could through his tied-up hair. This was it for him. He took in several deep circular breaths for his shaken nerves, trying to calm down; focused on the breathing, how the air moved, standing up and starting a Dragon & Tiger qigong round. One of the few things he learned from his dad was breathing exercises and medicinal qigong (to simulate acupuncture). He had to calm down. He was too worked up. It might trigger an infliction.
He was supposed to be dead now, possibly picked up by Heibai Wuchang (chinese grim reaper like deities), putting his family through a grieving hell. On his journey in the Yellow Springs eventually ending with his walk down the Naihe Bridge to taste of Meng Po soup with no one to mourn him like he would his parents(3)…and he was afraid that no one who knew him would try to talk to him while he made that journey.
When he met them, why would his ancestors talk to a disappointment such as him? They'd probably shame him for living too long and wasting his family's effort on him. It would be best for him to silently hurry through it for he’d be lonely too in the afterlife. He wasn’t there because Gweilochan was now keeping him alive with side effects when the vampire had tried to avoid them as much as possible previously. He was grateful. He rubbed the spot. He was grateful.
1) Stained his fingers red is referring to a proverb 近朱者赤，近墨者黑 (near/stay with/close to cinnabar person red, close to ink person black). Red and black ink were prepared by grinding ink sticks and they stained the fingers. The saying basically means that the company one keeps will influence them. It's like the Greek proverb “a man is known by the company he keeps”
2) “lifted the cup to his eyebrows before he moved it towards Luung who took the cup the vampire offered and drank” This is respectful way to offer something to elders, but Ma Luung wasn’t going to argue about it being too polite
2.1) Didn't want to redo these. Hit a stone with an egg 以卵击石 Overrate one's power and get defeated because of it.
3) Basically older people don’t offer prayers to juniors…if they aren’t married or have kids when they die, they are buried without these. “There is an established Chinese custom that an elder should not have to show respect to someone who is younger... These are jobs reserved for the offspring of the deceased.” Chinese Funeral Customs (funeralwise.com) ------------------------------------------------------
Veni moved to put distance between them. He wanted to comfort Luung or be close enough to be a reassuring presence if he didn’t chase the vampire away, but it would be even more dangerous for him to rise near Luung. He would definitely go for him as soon as he rose if he was there. He might even still go for him, but at least this put some distance for him to have a chance to regain his senses. He eventually stopped and took shelter as a shadow under tree roots.
As he dozed into oblivion he thought, Go on, send me away. Put up an imperfect barrier and I will pretend it worked. You probably have a few more years now before that body of yours kills you again. Maybe your belief in a reincarnation cycle is true. It would be nice if it is… but even if fate decided you should know me again, you would have forgotten me and perhaps I don’t recognize you... or maybe you’ll allow me to tie our fates together even more strongly in this life to where you’ll live as long as I live until you’re strong enough to live on your own.
-------------------------------------------------------- (Mostly Ma's perspective except for the part his mom is present for)
Luung heard stirrings and got ready for the day, fearful that if he lingered someone would come check on him and see him out of sorts. Once he was ready, he swallowed, inhaled, worked on his composure, and headed out.
Ma Wanyao blinked as the light bothered his eyes a little. He put on a hat and saw that many of his brothers (not by blood) were already doing repetitions. Others were preparing the wood or bamboo. Some worked the fields in the distance.
“Baabaa (dad),” Ma Wanyao greeted before he sat and observed, taking out a book to write notes and another he was supposed to be reading from to appear busy. He planned to record what he observed which his father disapproved of, having it written down. Someone might steal trade secrets.
Ma Wanyao had his own reasons for writing things down over the years; he still hoped to be able to learn these things even though he reached a point in his life to think it was useless. They could burn his writings when he was gone if he couldn’t. But maybe, maybe he could. Even if he couldn't be taught directly. He had watched them so carefully.
His father was with a young boy Ma Wanyao didn't recognize. He was showing him the initial basic movement they’d repeat. Whenever he accepted someone as an apprentice to learn the trade, he also taught them practically everything he knew including how to defend himself. In the early morning they'd practice and then they'd join the rest in whatever task was needed.
Ma Wanyao envied these brothers intensely as he took out a pot of readily prepared ink and started to draw quick generic people with the line motions for each flowing movement and little notes on what he saw them do as he observed them. His envy wasn't helped when he heard someone whisper, “Master has found another determined student grateful to learn from him because big brother(4) lotus-eater (宴安酖毒 “banquet poison wine” is probably the words they say) takes advantage of his father's hard work and success.” (basically called him lazy and indulgent)
He sighed wanting to smack the ground or counter right then with his own words, but it would further work him up. When his anger rose, he had to think of the consequences. A truly intelligent person wouldn't be bothered by such words (4.1). At least it was only people who didn't matter to Ma Wanyao who spoke nonsense. And today he felt like he could take these first steps in serious repetition. Or maybe even use his strength to fit the pieces of wood together and make something more useful. At the same time, he knew that just because he felt better, didn’t mean he could do it. Instead, he got to watch others do it still; he got to watch others, like this child, learn from his baabaa firsthand until the very end.
Everyone had their uses. He knew that. He helped paint the finished pieces and put on the lacquer but was often reminded that anyone could do that. Everyone could even do lower quality versions of the designs that he did, and he was constantly reminded of it because his time on a piece was slower with his careful delicate strokes, more attention to detail, and shuddering pauses. They weren’t the only ones frustrated by his pace, he was.
However one satisfaction he got out of it was that his painted pieces were sold or traded a little faster and valued more than the others. His artistic fine details and penmanship was considered superior in this community even when done with his right hand. If he wasn't going to be able to do the other parts and put out fewer pieces of what he could do, he had better be the best at it. And yet…being proud of it was the wrong attitude too; it was egotistical. Besides his painting everything he could opened those number braggarts to being able to do more building.
He put his writing tools away, stood up, and passed the chatterboxes with a neutral smile as he rubbed his wrist behind his back and went to the area he normally worked when he wasn’t studying. He’d try to be more productive today. He transformed scraps into items such as hairpins or fans. He had left several fans not fully constructed the day he almost died because he had to stop more frequently.
Yesterday his mother had him occupied with other things. Tomorrow was likely a full reading day, if he had another day. Today both round and folding fans of various sizes sat ready to be painted. He smiled. No doubt his sisters finished constructing these for him even with all the other things they had to do.
He took the lid off an incense bowl, mixed, and packed the ash. He then placed a frame with a complex winding pattern on the ash. He spread some powder over that, packed it in slightly, and carefully removed the frame leaving a trail of incense in that design. He lit and placed the lid on.
He then got his paints ready and started to paint designs on the fans. As he focused on his task he started to do strokes without thinking about it. His mind was cleared of most thoughts as he painted. Painting what felt right with no direction (Something like the wuxin mental state). Almost all of his paintings contained landscapes or flowers, and many had five bats fit in or symbols of wufu invoking blessings in hope of health... He kept painting Rebus of Wu Fu Peng Shou (longevity).
Soon one of his sisters gathered him for breakfast. He blinked when he saw her, thinking she looked like she did something a little different that made her look prettier, but he couldn't place what it was. He thought of his ceiling and looked at other things around him, seeing them more clearly again. Maybe that was it.
After he got her to admit that they had indeed finished constructing the fans, he said he admired the carefully crafted fans he got to paint today as they walked and thought that they were so well done. "This one thinks he will finish them. Tell gogo which fan a-mui liked and he will paint it to compliment her beauty today."
She had to turn away a little flustered from all the praise her big brother gave her.
"Gogo will paint one for muimui and jeje too." He looked away with a sad smile unable to speak much more believing these to be parting gifts, but had to seem natural about, along with the gifts he’d been taking his time to carve for them in his free time. (gogo=big/elder brother, a-mui is a form of younger sister, the "ah" adds affection, but he probably does this to differentiate. Not sure if he's using it for the middle sister or youngest one muimui=younger sister, jeje=big sister)
Once eating, Ma Wanyao indeed found the food a little less appealing, but he thought he ate as if he had more of an appetite like he had yesterday. He didn't fool anyone that something bothering him was on his mind. That he had seemed more listless didn’t go unnoticed; that he drank his tea without enjoyment or enthusiasm didn't go unnoticed. No one addressed it. After he left to continue painting, they did.
Yesterday he had been distracted, but he was in a good mood and seemed much livelier than the days before to his mom. Luung’s mom looked sternly at her husband. “Wanyao saw you with another new apprentice, didn’t he?!” She didn't realize that this wasn't quite what was bothering him today.
After breakfast he got back to his work and continued the next painting. He began to hum the tune the vampire hummed as he started adding in a hidden tiger in the design of the fan he was working on before a voice broke his concentration.
"Keep painting that, maybe your life will be as steadfast as the mountains."
Ma Wanyao looked at what he was painting and the other ones set to the side. The designs with blessings were popular. However he wasn’t sure why he added a tiger to this one.
“Others will look down on you if they saw you paint that way.”
“Yes baabaa.” He switched the brush to his right hand. He thought it a silly thing for others to be judgmental about. It wasn’t considered the correct way even if it looked the same to him. Others claimed there was a different slant to the stroke when it came to writing even when he did all strokes in the correct order.
His dad got his work ready while Ma Wanyao continued his. When he was done painting the main design on his current fan, he started to take notes in his book, drawing the pieces in the kang table his dad worked on. He then switched back and forth from his notes and painting.
While he still painted well, he couldn’t achieve the same mental tranquility. Using this hand didn’t feel natural and required more effort and concentration. His mind came back to the heavy topics chiseling at him that day as he painted and hummed the tune he had earlier. He tried to think of the poems he’d write on the other side of the fans, but his thoughts drifted into stories.
Stories of monsters betraying humans in the end and humans being foolish for trusting them. Stories of humans betraying the monsters who were kind to them! Which one was this?! Was this a monster waiting for the human to betray him or the monster who’d betray the human if they didn’t cast them away after warning them! He wouldn’t want his friend to betray him, so he wouldn’t do it first.
Even the vampire’s simple desire of more time with him was heavy on his mind. In the past he thought he’d be accepting of it. He wanted to give Gweilochan his company but when facing it, he was afraid. Was it worse on his next life to not repay him as he should or to become like him and risk having potential misdeeds stack up until he’d come back something worse than a sickly human (ie animal)? What is right, what is wrong? No matter what he decided, he’d be forced to leave soon. Why was he given the illusion of a choice? He thought that the vampire would just do it! Was that not their nature? Why was everything made more difficult?
Gweilochan was different from the goengsi he knew from stories so he wasn't sure what would happen to himself. His biggest issue was what Gweilochan ate. The vampire hadn’t harmed anyone else within the household that wasn’t trying to harm it themselves and there hadn’t been much gossip of people going missing or unusual deaths. They had been doing quite well the last several years. Only he was anemic as he always was. Which meant that the goengsi either didn’t hunt in the area, didn’t kill them often, or he possibly really did usually go after the people who other people would be glad to be gone… those who preyed on other people like the ones who had held him captive as a child…and…
He abruptly stopped humming and moved his brush away from the paper so he wouldn’t ruin the painting. He rubbed his lips together and swallowed. His dad watched him. He set the brush down and got up with his back towards his dad as he went to get some tea. He was livid and unable to hide it anymore in his facial expression.
Gweilochan was dangerous, but he never felt like he was in any real danger while around him. The vampire tried sometimes, but his effort never worked or had a lasting effect. The vampire seemed to expect him to say, “GET OUT!” in those instances.
His eyes went wide with the realization that his body didn’t freeze up when Gweilochan got him to panic! He wanted to bite, punch, left-handed slap (5), or be just as shameless to that damn cat when he saw him. Was getting him worked up and showing him that he’d be fine part of it? No…he hadn’t picked that up from him when the vampire’s current emotions were at their most transparent. He had wanted to scare him a little.
He expected a monster like Veni to act unusual, a little deceptive, and even like one sometimes. People on the other hand… He removed the cup from his lips and sat it down. His dad watched him carefully now… People are dangerous. People can be worse monsters than a real monster. His lips curled back as he sneered. Humans who use immoral and evil methods for profit; like those humans who had karmic retribution come back to them. Those monsters in human skin made him feel more vulnerable, exposed, panicked, desperate…alone… helpless…hopeless than a person in a real monster’s body ever did! Those monsters, it was already hard to breathe while going through the worst pains he ever had at that point, but they made it more difficult with a gag in his mouth! Even if he himself was a monster like Veni, there’d be worse human monsters than him!
“Luung!” He had said his son’s name several times.
Ma Wanyao released the breath he was holding, relaxed his jaw, and stopped stimulating the spirit gate(6). He finished his drink and turned with a smile on his lips and brow. “Mn?” He lifted his cup to his brow to offer his dad a drink.
His dad waved his hand to decline. “Come, finish this.”
“Sure.” He rolled up his sleeves and tied them back with a string before he got out the black lacquer to paint the kang table.
His dad continued to watch him as he worked. His son didn’t appear to be experiencing consequences from his fit. “You are more energetic today.”
“Mn…Luung is energetic…”
“You look more well than usual…”
“Luung hasn’t felt this well in years.”
His father began to prod him. Luung tried to avoid his prod after the first touch, but his father merely touched with light pressure and Lung stumbled, tripped, and fell backwards but his dad caught his wrist before he got far and pulled him back up. His dad appeared to consider him as Luung said, “aiya,” as he was straightened.
“Luung is still lacking…still not well enough…still imbalanced...though something is different…maybe well enough that we can work on more calming movements today…”
Luung’s eyes went a little big and he looked at his dad who let go of his wrist. “Would baabaa show this one how?”
Though he looked outwardly happy, and he was, he was also a little bitter and frustrated on the inside because he thought he was going to leave soon by death one way or the other. However that initial thought turned into an annoying buzz as he focused on the interaction. He became extremely happy once he was fully immersed as his dad showed him how to go through the motions, explained them, and even corrected him. More meditative like techniques wasn’t what he wanted to learn, but his dad taking time to teach him something new was what he always hoped for. Despite the weight on his mind, overall, it was a good day.
…………………………… (Mostly Ma's perspective, but this sister interaction is in mostly her's)
As night approached Luung massaged the space between his brows and shook his head feeling like sand, a web, a haze, or maybe a shadow was clouding his mind making it harder to concentrate on his work. Goengsi blood would be stronger at night….
He had finished all the fans and almost finished carving the hairpins he wanted to gift his sisters and the design on a comb. He'd been slowly working on these for several days. Maybe the younger two would wear them sometimes after they married if he had another day to finish them; at least he got the fans done. Or maybe the hairpins would be considered too inauspicious and unlucky coming from their deceased brother. Aiya, he wouldn’t think about that and finish them anyways.
“Tired?”
Luung nodded with his eyes still closed and fingers still between his brow. The vampire was starting to stir, and he somehow knew it. He could almost see it. If he focused, he thought he might. If he was going to put up garlic, now would be his last chance to but he decided not to. Much of his anxieties that day faded, and he welcomed it. He only wanted to resist seeming odd long enough until he reached the privacy of his room.
“You were like a fish in the water today…(7)” (ie in your element)
Luung opened his eyes and smiled. A compliment. Today was a really good day. “Not good, not good. I’ve caused you too much trouble.(8 ) I have learned so much thanks to you.” (Translation: I am so, so. Thank you for your time. Thank you for teaching me. Note: first two sentences are ways of saying thanks without saying thanks, but the first one is deflecting praise to not seem egotistical. The second and third sentences are crying)
“Mn, it was nothing. (Translation: You’re welcome) Early rest. (Go retire/good night).”
Luung started to put away his tools, but like two days ago, except he wasn’t in agony, he had to put extra effort on concentrating on the simple task. This was indeed far worse than last night. He couldn’t imagine what worse would be like. Would he be in some pining daze like he was in love? Please let me seem normal… He secured his carving tools and hair pins in a little mat he rolled and took with him, along with three of the fans, as he excused himself as quickly as possible.
His despair and anguish about his near death and being at the end of his rope was gone. And he didn’t have to drink wine to calm his nerves. He found this most pleasing. It was so pleasant. He started to but stopped laughing as he realized he could take advantage of this. If he didn’t resist, it would be less stressful to give the vampire his plum. It would be less stressful overall… he wouldn’t have to be afraid of it anymore, like he had been.
His unusual expressions didn’t go unnoticed to his younger sister when she asked him if he was going to bed. He appeared to snap out of some distant thoughts and blinked as if he just noticed her. She’d been waiting for him to finish and he almost walked right by her! He smiled at her, held up, and twirled front to back a round fan which he gave her.
“Pretty,” she said and her eyes lit up. She eagerly took it and fanned herself with it.
"Perfect," he said, eyes smiling even more as she tested it for him. He then looked around for muimui.
“Were you able to tell muimui…” He suddenly shook his head, shivered, blinked, and pinched the space between his brow and started to but stopped himself from wetting his lips. He held out one of the other two fans for her. "Please give this one to muimui. I will prepare jeje's for when you see her."
"Mnn..." His abrupt change in movement was odd. It didn't quite look like one of his pained expressions, but his sister thought he looked like he could be. "Is gogo hurting? Did gogo work too hard?"
Wanyao shook his head and smiled at her. "Mn, today was a good day. Gogo thanks you for worrying about him, but gogo is very tired...early rest (good night)." He continued walking.
She watched him until she couldn't see him anymore. He wasn't walking slowly with care, wincing, or hiding his gasping for breath like his condition was acting up. He didn't even look like he was trying to act like nothing was wrong as he did when his head hurt the other day. There was more liveliness in his pace than she remembered seeing him with.
Footnotes: ((懷安喪志) Living a life of idleness and contentment can lead to idleness and laziness. https://www.chinasage.info/proverbs/lazy.htm)
Baabaa (dad) 爸爸 I really felt weird typing up “dad” instead of “father” for Ma, but he would have used the baabaa form for his dad… and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to keep typing up Baabaa like a sheep
4) “Brother” I think they’re either calling him 大师兄 (daai si hing) or plain 师兄 (si hing). Daaai si hing means the eldest senior brother / the first to become the disciple. si hing by itself can mean son (older than oneself) of one's teacher. They also could be calling him daaigo (大哥) : (one form of) big brother, eldest brother, but this term usually on friendship level, but can still be used for family. It can also be used for someone you respect, not for romantic relationship.
4.1) These sentences are based on Confucius' teachings. "When his anger rose, he had to think of the consequences. A truly intelligent person wouldn't be bothered by such words."
5) Slapping Veni with his left hand is a very insulting way to hit a Roman, but Ma’s attitude is the playful I’ll get you back you jerk towards a friend.
6) Spirit Gate acupuncture point - Insomnia (神門) Where: Palm up, in the depression on the pinky side of the wrist. Helps: Insomnia caused by nerves, overactive thoughts, and overexcitement. Relaxes the heart and spirit. (It’s actually a few finger widths away from the neiguan (inner pass) acupuncture point he was stimulating for nausea in DDM)
7) Idiom 如鱼得水 “Like fish in the water” his dad is saying Luung seems very satisfied and in his element or that he is a natural talent and enjoyed doing it. He was complimenting his painting/carving skills for the day mostly. Luung was wondering if he rushed his work since he got more done than usual and this sort of validated what he was doing.
8 ) “Not good, not good. I’ve caused you too much trouble.” 一般，一般. 太辛苦了.
--------------------------------------------------------------- (Mostly done in Veni's perspective)
The vampire was later than the previous night. He had found someone else to help satisfy his craving so he could control it on Luung. He even waited till closer to the resident’s natural sleeping time before he saw to putting everyone into a deep sleep so that he wouldn’t be disturbed. A-mui was a little more worried about her big brother tonight than usual and frequently checked on him outside his room, quietly approaching it, and listened for his noises. She was still secretly lulled to sleep with ease by the vampire though. He moved around the rooms half expecting to be unwelcomed... if anything he was still welcomed everywhere except the areas with food and this time even being silently called.
What if Luung ended up like Rosemary? Overwhelmed, despising him so much. The experience was different for everyone, but his personality could still change too much. What if I can’t see your light anymore? Luung knew what the vampire was doing to him and yet Veni hadn't sensed resentment from him over the past several hours; just confusion and a natural fear of it that lessened as the night came. Would he feel the same once he really starts to go through the changes? Veni was afraid, but he didn’t want to potentially regret letting him go and his nature made it difficult for him to stop.
When Veni did enter the room, he was surprised there weren't any changes to it save for the normal shifting of a few items, some tools and pieces he worked on, and how his clothes hung on the folding screen (屏風 lit. wind blocker/stopper/wall). He wasn't sure what he expected besides normal minor things... disarray from a fit perhaps? His future kid further astonished the vampire when he pounced and hugged him; genuinely happy to see him, not just due to being captivated. In Luung's perspective, Veni had appeared from nothing.
Veni wanted to lean into the warm pleasant hug and allow himself to be held. He wanted to rub his cheek against him like a cat to get some of the very appealing scent of the human's on him. He was a moment away from breaking the embrace when he was surprised further when his cheek was rubbed by the other's cheek and kissed as if he had read his mind.
The vampire held Luung away to look at him before he got to the other cheek, seeing the slight triumph and self-satisfaction on his face. He thought it quite fun to throw him off balance even a little by finally returning an outlandish (foreign or alien) osculum (the Roman/Italian cheek kiss) on his own. Veni realized he was completely going with it! Luung chuckled a little before his expression slowly shifted to slightly vacant. He had even already removed his outer layers and was in his top and trousers as if he was ready for bed.
"Luung you're not even making an attempt to resist."
"Mmnn…I enjoyed my day and now want of your company,” he languidly repeated Veni’s earlier words and rubbed his cheek against and kissed the wrist of an arm that was holding him back. The vampire had a slight pulse and Luung mused that he shocked it into existence as he smacked his lips.
“Luung wake up!” Veni looked at the human incredulously as he attempted to resist that first order as he remained occupied with the vampire’s wrist. Now putting his teeth on it causing Veni to shudder and remove his hand, looking at him with astonishment. Luung smiled at his achievement now realizing this wasn’t fully one sided; he could affect the vampire to some extent as well. “Why are you doing this?”
“Luung has been thinking all day and he chooses to trust Gweilochan with his life still." …as long as Gweilochan didn’t betray him…as long as everyone else he knew was kept out of this…after all Ma Wanyao would have caused them distress soon either way… He was now running his fingers up the remaining arm holding him back attempting to find a way to get it to allow him to move closer.
"What if you're wrong to?"
He appeared to focus and sober a little as he ceased his occupation with the arm. "I don't know. Then Gweilochan is a real monster, all Outsiders are truly suspicious barbarians and cannot be intimate friends, and I am a doomed fool for thinking otherwise and should have listened to all those warning words of wisdom, been more superstitious, and returned my life (i.e. died) long ago…"
“You’re not a fool…and…you’re not a bad person either. I think you're quite the gentleman, but most vampires I know are fiends and I would make you one!”
Luung laughed and blinked, he was still so lacking in being a gentleman. He felt like he envied others too much who were able to do more of the things that he could not do; who often got to spend the type of time with his dad that he desired. He let others get to him and sometimes risked a day in bed from his frustrations. What the superior man seeks is in himself; what the small man seeks is in others(4.1) He was right about the vampire’s attempt to scare him away. If his memory hadn’t been affected, he probably would have been ready last night. “This goengsi is brazen-faced and aberrant, but not a fiend. Are you saying I would be a fiend as one? Your heart is kind, you are not evil… Ma Wanyao has not witnessed an evil person from Gweilochan.”
Veni was a little discomposed at being called kind. (9) He hadn't done everything out of kindness. He let his curiosity get the better of him and tested some things on the sickly man to see if it would help him. His whims ended up benefitting him...but... Luung looked confused at his distress. “There’s no going back after tonight. You will have had too much. This was your chance to get out of this!” Veni heard Luung, but he hardly believed what he was hearing. He wasn't kind! Luung wanted this or was at least not opposed?!
The vampire succeeded in getting Luung to shock out of his haze, his emotions from the day crashing on him. He looked like a child who took a sudden blow; stunned at first before the meltdown that could be seen in the changing expression. He didn't understand. Luung quickly grabbed Veni's upper arms and staring him in the face leaning towards him when he spoke, eyes wide open. “What out?! What are you afraid of?! This one is doing his best to not be afraid! Gweilochan!!! It's too late! I failed! I died! Without you, I die!"
His eyes were glassy. "My effort is never enough. It takes effort, strong effort to…do what’s natural for a lot of others. I can't find alternatives for everything others take for granted (4.1). I am unable to live a good long life...just a good short one. I can't even allow myself to feel too stimulated," his lip twitched and tightened as his voice cracked from the emotions, "or a small fraction this frustrated because I often suffer more! I can't repay my parents for raising me. I can't properly show them my gratitude. I still make my family worry about me at this age! Who am I fooling?" Luung's whole person drooped, and he put more weight on the vampire. He looked the most wretched Veni had seen him since he was young as he continued with his voice going lower. "They wasted their effort on this one. They have to adopt someone who can... There's plenty of people eager to take my place."
Veni knew it had become more difficult for him the older he became but maybe it was hard for the vampire to fully understand since he never had a similar expectancy to his family when he was human and now was ageless. He fidgeted, having a hard time facing him, wanting to turn around in shame, starting to look away. Ma Wanyao put all his feeble effort into holding him to face him and Veni stopped, complying. "I could barely wait for you... I am glad to have managed that. I can repay you." His eyes pleaded with him. "I can properly show my gratitude to you. I want to at least accomplish that. I don't know what it's like to love someone who can only be an instant in a long life if nothing is done. If you want me to stay because you care for this lowly one and you will miss him too much, then I don't hate you for doing what you can." Veni looked shocked. Luung was working so hard to empathize with him; to emphasize with a creature everyone feared and hated for good reason. "Are you worried I might become something I hate? Is that what happens?"
"Sometimes..." Veni said so quietly that Luung could barely hear him.
"Do you hate what you are?"
"No..." His eyes drifted to the side a little. But he hated how he got there. He hated much of what happened to him.
"If you stop now nothing will change. I will decline again soon, won't I?"
Veni remained silent. Luung had no escape route in this life that the vampire knew of besides death. He didn't want to give him a false hope for something he wasn't sure would work. Something he hoped would allow Luung to get rid of that lingering regret. Could a sick man with something the vampire couldn't cure without risking to change his living condition produce a healthy child?
"I am not getting better; I am not maintaining; little helps. Gweilochan has been the best help." He swallowed, his lips tightened as the corners went down, and one of his hands went to his chest, taking in a couple of deep breaths, clenching his fist, and continued talking while trembling. "Because I don't know whether I can meet you in the next life, I want to give you the best in this life. I want you to choose how I die... I owe you at least that. If you decide for me to remain as I am until then or kill me yourself with one small wound instead," he touched his current bite wound, ears a little red, "take a small lock (of hair) too. I would still want to listen if you talked to me once I am gone(10). At least...someone will remember me for a few generations. Maybe even improperly burn some joss." He smiled and made a quiet laugh as if he was telling a small joke, but his eyes were red from unshed tears as he gazed downwards. He looked back up into the vampire's eyes when he continued. "Today was a really good day... I only want one more... I received many peaches from you these years, not always sweet, still good but a little sour and hard to swallow. But what isn't for this one? Why make giving the plum so difficult in return?(11)”
Some tears had formed in the vampire’s eyes and fell which Luung caught. “Aiya…you were having another fit. Your indecisiveness(12) is causing me trouble (you are wishy washy). You don't normally show that face (that's not like you).”
"...you're still going to suffer when your body changes, but... I don't know if it'll feel worse than what you already go through... I don't remember that part well..." Veni remembered being terrified more than the pain, but he'd seen it affect others. "...and...you will be better afterwards."
Luung exhaled, mnned, and firmly patted Veni's right cheek with his left hand a couple times before it rested there. His hand was still unsteady. Luung smiled a little with his eyes. “Whatever you decide. I got to experience a normal day (without worrying about his condition acting up)." Veni's eyes went wide with his cheek in the other's hand. Luung was both comforting him and admonishing him. He simulated slapping without slapping him! Luung was bold; his smile widened. "And be more thick faced." The vampire grinned with his less human smile that was meant to be creepy and gave a laugh.
The thumb on his cheek started to move in a circular motion when Luung’s eyes unfocused while staring at the vampire. He'll be alright, the vampire told himself; he’s not going to lose the best parts. The vampire pulled Luung closer; whatever he wanted. He felt that Luung had calmed down significantly but his body was still reacting to the stress. The vampire moved his nails in a soothing manner along his back until he stopped trembling and had fixated his gaze upon Veni.
Once he calmed down, he started to behave similar to the unusually bold manner of earlier. He hugged onto the vampire as he had and moved cautiously to get the other cheek and finish. Veni was touched that he had finished and rubbed cheek to cheek in return to get more of the scent on him. Realizing the vampire wasn't going to object this time, his tension went away, and he smiled contentedly.
“Today was a good day,” he said with a satisfied sigh. The vampire rubbed his cheek against his neck and lightly titillated the area with his teeth to arouse the pulse. Veni desired him to feel something pleasant rather than unpleasant. Luung rubbed his lips together and swallowed. “…please…”
....
There was an unusual fierceness in his eyes as he looked back at the vampire. Veni wasn't quite sure what to think of it. Enthusiasm? Unrestrained? Crazed?
After losing blood over the past 3 nights, the man should feel anemic and weakened but he still appeared energetic. It was a little unsettling and a first for the vampire to be looked at like he was dinner by a human who licked his lips and fixated on the vampire’s throat. The vampire felt his need, and he appeared ravenous; he looked like never wanted even water more. Veni was in awe.
He grabbed for the goengsi and put all his strength into flipping their position, quite surprising Veni for he never had someone this enthusiastic before. Both looked surprised at each other for a moment, but Veni's initial look of surprise quickly changed to a smile of satisfaction. This had turned into something very interesting. He could have stopped him...but... Luung's expression started to look pained. “Please…Gweilochan.” He didn’t want to stop him and let Luung do what he wanted as he wounded himself for Luung to latch onto still feeling some teeth against his skin.
The vampire found this unusual turn exciting and fun, though a little disturbing since he felt there was something strange about him that he couldn't place, but most of all...more, Luung figured out how to influence him more even as he himself was influenced by this gift, causing the vampire's pulse to jump and was rewarded with a little extra as he caressed the fidgety vampire who let out a low euphoric chuckle…most of all, he felt he was wanted...
...................
Veni paused before he passed the room of the sleeping couple on his way out after being satisfied he didn't accidentally let him take too much and thus die that day. He had gotten a little careless in his happiness from having a human love him for him, still trust him while knowing what he is, and from having someone who just wanted to know him better if given the means to be able to. He had to stop doubting that.
Luung was very close. Veni could feel it. This might be it or maybe a little more. He had to be careful now and observe. Luung's body was trying to decide which way to go, and it might succumb. Medicine and poison were often closely related, he had heard from them. And he hoped that he gave him just enough poison to act as medicine for now and work slowly as poison. Before he soothed him to sleep and left, he talked to Luung about things he would possibly experience today. Encouraging him to still eat and drink and go out into the sun even though he might be repelled by it. Veni thought that maybe it would help him counter the poison and recover towards human to reap some of the benefits. The vampire usually wasn’t willing to be this patient, so he had never tested stopping after a certain point and just did it.
"Father. Mother. Your son bestowed me with the gift to decide how he ends this life. For many reasons he thought I should choose; choosing to allow me to cruelly turn him into a creature lower than a human if I desired and trusting I wouldn't disrespect him if I ended him now. Even knowing I would likely do the former anyways, he still wanted to give it, possibly to ease my guilt and he thinks the latter would be a good death.
"That’s the most wonderful gift he could give me. He's not afraid of me and I am good to him. He’s so exemplary, but his body and spirit are a poor match. For my selfishness I would drag him into a hell to give him one; unable to tell him about it until it's too late.... but he's clever. He just doesn’t say it either.
“I wonder how ashamed of him you'd be if you knew or if you'd be proud of him for returning a hard to pay debt. Even so...I don't plan to collect him yet. Rather, I plan to attempt to give you one more blessing. I am greedy you see (referring to how he's choosing 2 out of 3 choices). He might seem a little sinister to you today and for a short time. Please pardon him.
"If I manage this miracle for you too, you better marry him off soon or whatever people of the orient do if he survives this. He should be well long enough for that. Assuming your belief on the matter is correct, I wonder whose karma he's paying... yours'? His ancestors'? A past life of his perhaps? Or...maybe it's future karma...funny... if he was not him, he possibly wouldn't need to...."
4.1) These sentences are based on Confucius' teachings. "What the superior man seeks is in himself; what the small man seeks is in others"
“I can't find alternatives for everything others take for granted” is related to the teaching "When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals; adjust the action steps." He’s saying he’s unable to adjust the action steps anymore to achieve the common goals most people can achieve.
9) "Veni appeared a little discomposed at being called kind." Line taken from Veni's reaction to Cian calling him kind on page 6 of Nightwalker War.
10) "If you decide to kill me yourself with one small wound, take a small lock (of hair) too. I would still want to listen if you talked to me once I am gone." Okay this is a very significant offer. 身體髮膚 受之父母(body and hair received from parents) The body is a gift from one's parents so the best way to honor them was to take care of all of it down to the hairs and nails to the best of ones ability (since necessary work doesn't always allow nails to be grown long). This is a deeply rooted Confusian practice of honoring one's parents that had been practiced until they were forced to shave part of their hair into the Manchurian queue style in the Qing dynasty (1644-1912). (Buddist Monk (fully shaved) and Taoist priests (spared the cutting rule in Qing) are exceptions) Having one's hair and/or beard cut was considered a form of mutilation to them. However there are some instances where some of the hair can be cut such as giving a lock of it to your wife or the passing of one's parents.
Before a certain age the parents can cut the hair and such if they want since the child is theirs'. I think they allowed Luung to start taking care of himself at a younger age than normal possibly because they didn't think he'd get to do even that for them (note I can't find the age a male would start growing out his hair. I know an adult was 20 for them, but I think Ma's hair is too long for it to have only been 4 years.) I think it's safe to say Jianshen took care of his outer appearance to the best of his ability while alive even if his insides were bad. Thus the most ideal and dignified way to die is without any damage. He is basically saying if Veni chooses to leave as little damage as possible if he kills him, then he can have some hair and not be ashamed to talk with him once in a while. With the inverse being implied if Veni decides to disrespect him.
TL: DR The hair is an extension of the body given to you by your parents, so it’s something to protect and not flippantly discard or harm. Same with the rest of the body. He basically said, "I love you enough to allow you to mutilate me a little and give my permission to take some of me with you when I die."
11) “You throw a peach to me, and I give you a plum in return.” From “The Book of Songs”, It means to always repay kindness with greater kindness.
12) “Your indecisiveness is causing (me) trouble.” He would use idiom for fickle/indecisive here 朝三暮四 morning 3 evening 4 , The idiom describes situations in which a sudden change occurs in a decision that has apparently already been made. IE he's calling Veni wishy washy.
Placeholder 2.... Though admittedly the Rosemary Short Story is meant to be read before the next Jianshen part.
Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2022 1:49 pm
1245 to ?
(Veni is approx. 960 here which means Nef is about 4000 something)
"Why is her telepathy towards older vampires superb?!" Nefretiri and Veni were speaking in private while Rosemary looked a bit mad (insane) after Nefretiri had gone to collect the two of them. The new woman was a bit chaotic. The old vampire wasn't sure if causing a delay in seeing this one by summoning was a good idea. She could tell Rosemary was picking up the thoughts of most of the vampires around her. Nefretiri herself hadn't had to put such effort into not allowing her thoughts to be known by anyone significantly younger than her since Marcus.
"....she.... was one as a human...." Veni reluctantly admitted.
"!!!"
She looked at the tear-streaked woman who had her hand on her head muttering "you're all evil" as she was now hearing not only the evil thoughts of humans close enough, but the vampires as well.
"She is unable to listen to your thoughts."Nefretiri stated this as a fact that she was certain of. The old vampire had difficulty knowing his thoughts and he didn't seem to have to put much effort into concealing them. Veni was a master of escaping and hiding himself. It was starting to become an issue for her because he could almost hide once he got enough distance only appearing in blips once in a while.
She wondered if Eydis noticed him...was he good enough to actually hide from all vampires if he desired to or was he not quite close enough to Eydis' territory? If he didn't know he was decent at hiding from his mom, she wasn't about to divulge that he was almost perfect at hiding his presence and his children were what made it easier for her to find him when he vanished. His hidden true thoughts aside, there was one thing he was unable to hide in her presence; his fears and she would make sure it remained that way. In fact she was about to invoke one.
Nefretiri shifted her weight. It really was worth allowing him to wander occasionally. He often came back with such interesting people. This one was potentially his best; if she didn't go utterly insane and become a babbling idiot. Fortunately... a smile came across Nefretiri's face that Veni didn't like... she knew how to manipulate one of this woman's abilities. "No one else can know this...for now..."
Then the old vampire started to project her voice in a manner that allowed all to hear her no matter their location; deliberately choosing the upsetting words. "Don't try your little tricks on this one! She’s mine to play with!"
If Veni could go paler, he would have from that second sentence. Nefretiri was actually directing this warning at one of Veni's brothers who had an addiction to causing people nightmares. They had moved onto liking to do it to younger vampires. He received a kick from bringing them out of the dreamless darkness into a terror while they slept. His brother was never able to do it to Veni so she wasn't sure how mindful he was about it. This new one was already barely holding it together; she couldn't imagine what that type of stimuli would do to her.
However, she wasn't one to divulge when she did something in part for mercy reasons. "...otherwise..."she tilted her head with a deranged look in her eyes that everyone could see. "You will get to be the first to taste what two of us are like!" She started to smile sinisterly because she meant this next part. "And I am looking forward to that."
It was exactly as Veni feared; she took a more personal interest in one of his kids; the one he married nonetheless! He took a step closer to Rosemary.
"As for you my dear," she was looking at Veni with a smile and shoved the knife in deeper with her next words. "She obviously doesn't want you." He was now trembling in anger and unable to fully hold his poker face. Rosemary's reaction to him a moment ago had not helped. She had pushed him away when he got closer telling him to "get away from me!"
Nefretiri moved towards Rosemary. Veni moved to block her but shook his head and started to back up. He kept telling himself that it wasn't real.
He'll only get in the way, Nefretiri thought. She grabbed his chin and forced him to look her in the eyes. "You can rest now." He swiped at her with his claws that she dodged as she dug her own claws into his skin and pulled him down with relative ease. (Remember Veni is approx. 8" taller than Nefretiri in unaltered forms) "Go. To. Sleep."
Veni resisted and refused, turning into a bunch of ladybirds in her grasp. Nefretiri flexed her empty hand like a paw as they vanished into a shadow. Smelly little things when injured. He came back out of another shadow in full form less than a second later. "You're stubborn tonight! Where did this new confidence come from? Have you been away too long?"
"What do you plan to do with my wife?!" He demanded.
Nefretiri laughed. "Manipulate her," she said the words he feared to hear with a serious face. Got him! Veni felt the full weight of her malice and crashed as he leaped backwards from an image of her no one else saw. The real Nefretiri was right behind that fear induced illusion and pounced on him and pinned him down. One arm pushed down on his neck, forcing him to look at her, her legs splayed on both sides, other hand holding his wrist.
It felt like he was held down by more than her two limbs and full weight on his groin and hips. He couldn't move his free hand easily either. He looked horrified back at her, trembling and breathing heavily. Even Veni knew his effort surmounted to no more than a tantrum, but he wasn't willing to show off everything he could do unless he knew he could kill this abhorrent woman. It meant he wouldn't adequately defend himself either which practically put him at her mercy. And the more panicked he became, the less he was able to. He tried to think of what to do, but, could not. He yowled at her.
"Get off, get off, GET OFF! Not yours!" He repeated over and over as he lost rational thought and tensed up to thrash at her if she loosened her grip even a little. Forgetting he could turn into something else since Nefretiri wasn't really going to snap his neck if he transformed.
This got Rosemary's attention. She became completely quiet and was now staring intently at him shifting to a crawling position. Nefretiri loosened her grip on his neck. "Ohho now she wants you."
Veni looked towards Rosemary. His heart leaped into his throat. Frustrated tears formed in his eyes as she got closer. Why did Rosemary have to wake up with that?
Nefretiri got off of him as Rosemary touched his cheek, quite interested in his reaction. Veni allowed her to get close, allowed her to kiss him while he was still shaken. He even caressed her cheek as he kissed back. It was his fault she was like that.
He pushed himself up and stared resentful in Nefretiri's direction when Rosemary was done kissing his lips. His eyes went out of focus and his pupils dilated and he sucked in air, but he didn't move away. Some red tinted sweat formed on his forehead, but he kept his voice silent. The only sounds to escape his mouth were the occasional swallowing and his breathing. Don't reject her. Don't reject her. Rosemary hung off him quite lovingly until she suddenly pushed against him and leapt away.
"Vennil. Go. To. Sleep!" Nefretiri demanded more forcefully. Veni swayed forward and then back from Rosemary's push off looking dejected. Rosemary hated him...he blinked and shook his head from a new onslaught, curling into a ball. Much of his energy from earlier was gone and his vision blurred. Nefretiri repeated herself and put more power into it. Veni finally collapsed just like anyone else in her line would.
Now that the obstruction was gone, she turned towards Rosemary who was staring murderous daggers at her collapsed husband. "Vile deceitful evil creature." She moved towards him again and Nefretiri now put herself between the two, inches away from Rosemary.
"You will not commit patricide again." Rosemary's tear-filled furious eyes looked at Nefretiri and she swung at her.
Too slow...too clumsy. Nefretiri grabbed her wrist but was surprised by the force behind it. Given enough time her strength, like Veni’s speed, could be a problem. “Oh ho? You’re physically strong too!" She pulled Rosemary towards her and kneed her. "Almost a challenge even!” She slammed Rosemary’s head into the ground causing her vision to blur for a moment. “Just like your husband,” Rosemary sneered at the word husband, “is almost too fast!”
.................................
The next night when Veni woke, he found himself in a small, sealed space. Completely void of light. So dark it would be hard for a vampire to see in, especially without little lives (insects with primitive hearts). Nothing was too dark for him, and he could see the walls and the little cracks where one side could move... but some seal blocked his ability to slide through the cracks. He couldn't even sink into the shadows to exit that way. He pounded on the lid and screamed his frustration.
...............................
Only a night had gone by since Veni had been locked away in a small box and already he had gone silent. It is too soon for him to have tired himself out, Nefretiri thought.
He was conserving his energy and sleeping despite it being night. It was the best move really since he wasn’t getting out of there any time soon. Even the great escape artist that he was, couldn't find an escape from the silver plating that Nefretiri had somehow got from a blessed object just to trap an escape artist like him in.
...............................
When she came out of the darkness, there was a wonderful taste in her mouth but once again a broken body at her feet.
Nefretiri sighed as Rosemary sobbed. She wasn't rising well, only coming to her senses when she fed because it was one less thing to overwhelm her. The old one wondered if she fed the other thing first if maybe she wouldn't come to after a small bloodbath...
...............................
Nefretiri turned her attention to Rosemary stuck in a large cage with silver plating. Many vampires could escape with just a crack, but not when certain things were used to trap them.“So much strength in the body rendered useless against a metal considered so precious.”
Rosemary curled as far as she could get from the living person with her hands over her ears as if it would keep the thoughts out. Many thoughts encouraging her to do it like some devil on her shoulder, others wanting to be in her position, and still others gave her visions as they fantasized what they would do to the creature in her position. The being frantically tried to figure a way out of its situation. The creature was scared, and her monstrous body enjoyed it. It continued to perpetuate the terror out of him, and she didn’t know how to stop it.
“Just go with it dear,” came the old one's actual voice. "It's worse for you when you don't."
"There are other ways! Let me out!" Came Rosemary's barely audible hoarse voice.
"Like blacking out and waking up to death every time?" Rosemary bared her teeth like a dog. "It's worse for them too. You have more accidents."
She gripped her knees and curled into a ball. Despite her vulnerable seeming position, the terrified being dared not to get close to her still.
Several minutes or several hours passed, it was all the same to Rosemary, they both seemed long, before Nefretiri said, "here. Let me help you."
The old vampire's voice felt like a caress that was difficult for Rosemary not to lean into. Some things finally got quiet as her aura more focused on the one in the cage with her. Heart thumping louder. That sounded nice. She approached and looked her cell mate in the eyes, moving in close, nuzzling the neck, Nefretiri's voice distantly telling her to loosen her grip, and sank her teeth in. Nefretiri grinned as she watched with excitement. "A little too eager."
After the life faded, Rosemary heard the laughter of the silent onlookers. She pounded on the floor, leaving a dent, and screamed her frustration.
....................................
“If you do it like this, you get more out of them,” Nefretiri said stoking Rosemary’s aura with her own into doing what she wanted it to do upon someone who had displeased her and thus was using them to teach Rosemary how to do it too.
Rosemary felt a pleasurable frisson in her chest and shuddering down her spine. She tried to increase the intensity, but Nefretiri stopper her. “You must savor it sometimes,” she said in a sultry voice with her hands resting on Rosemary's upper arms. How about we introduce some fear of pain?
Frisson (an almost pleasurable sensation of fright...like that shiver you get when looking at a rollercoaster or experience G force)
....................................
She moved at a fast walking pace as if in a hurry and soon sped up to get away from a perceived pursuer, but any onlooker saw no one else but the woman. Out of the corner of her eye a monstrous form popped out of the shadows. But when she focused upon the spot it was gone. A creature lurked in the shadows, chasing her down the street but every time she looked at it, it was gone, and she was left with an awful feeling of dread.
Moving down one street and another until she didn't know where she was anymore. She continued to jump at every little sound. Heart pounding so fast and loudly it sounded like it would burst.
Looking behind her every few seconds, she felt cold breath on her neck. She froze and quickly turned around. She looked frantically about shouting "who's there?"
No answer, but the silhouette of a woman with hair moving as if by a breeze was now at the end of the street and moving towards her. She turned away and hurriedly walked the other direction hearing the unhurried steps behind her. Turning around the corner, a cold hand caressed her chin and firmly held it for her to see red eyes and smiling red lips.
She screamed, but the hand covered it and muffled the sound. She struggled out of her hand and ran trying to scream and beg for help, but she felt as if that cold hand blocked her mouth each time. A cold chill run down her spine as she felt fingers run down it but couldn't see the source.
As she tired, getting close to collapsing from the stress, she felt something grab her in more places than a single person could possibly have with two hands. She trembled in Rosemary's painful grip as she now satisfied her blood craving as well.
....................................
Veni was dragged out of his space by his hair. He was weak from so many years trapped, but not as weak as Nefretiri thought he should be. He didn't quite look as aged and shriveled as he should. Huh, he must have figured out how to sustain himself on his... that explains some...
He looked younger than Rosemary remembered.... just another veil of his lifted.
His head suddenly snapped up with a wild look, his hair rose, he hissed without a sound, and bolted. Nefertiti maintained a neutral face as he left. He also shouldn’t be so mobile. He should either need her help or anything he could summon to him.
....Later that evening Veni had regained some of his sanity and appeared more normal. Though he hadn’t fully cleaned himself.
"As the two of you are married, it's only fit for you to share a bed. You wanted to sleep with her didn't you?" Nefretiri said with her head resting on her fist, taking in a deep satisfied breath as Rosemary looked furiously at Veni who looked horror-struck at Nefretiri.
Rosemary looked furiously embarrassed. She didn't want to share a bed with him but he was her husband. "And don't you dare think about sleeping with another woman."
"Tch!" He started to snicker, his shoulders shaking, his laughter increased to full boisterous until he quite suddenly ended in a toothy grin. He put his hands on Rosemary's waist and pulled her against him. Before she could react, his lips were on her's.
"I do not want another woman," he said. He quickly moved away and out of there leaving Rosemary blushing and confused and feeling exasperated at her mixed feelings.
Is that what she thought of him? Well, who can blame her? Why would a devil not sleep around even when married? Many non-devils did it all the time, surely a devil would definitely do so the first chance they got.
She thought he damned her afterall by just being a vampire. He had wronged her. She was still very angry about it. She probably would be from now on unless she stop being blind and see he still had some tender feelings. Who knows what Nefretiri told her or did to her all these years...he knew... she taught her ways to be more cruel. He hardly recognized her.
Many people thought he was a demon or devil or some boogie man...they weren't entirely wrong he supposed. His mischievous nature often got the better of him even when he tried to be benevolent. And humans were fearful superstitious creatures that didn’t recognize it when he was benevolent.
After there was some distance between them and he was about to enter his/their room, he laughed again. He didn't desire to sleep around with females like some tom cat. Why would he ever want to even entertain the thought about being so intimately close or even having sex with another woman? At this point why would he ever…. And now he had a perfectly acceptable reason not to.
Daphne’s Day of Depression Found in Random Roleplay starting Aug 05, 2005 Could be an event that happens during the time frame of Festival of Souls/End of the World epilogue
Prologue Happens a little over 6 months after the events in April 2005 that led to Nefretiri’s disappearance, Rosemary’s Wind Angel status, Veni’s Head Vampire status, and the start of Jianshen’s respite from living in Gaia. At the time Daphne was a cleaning maid BlackMN hired. BlackMN, being sweet to most everyone, is friendly towards her.
Rosemary at the time tolerates Daphne and keeps her distance in part because (TLDR trauma) Daphne is a vampire and she’s also afraid of caring for more people after starting to gain friends through BlackMN for the first time in many centuries. Soon after opening to having friends, her loved ones had been used against her since evil beings wanted to break and dominate her to use her in their cause. Recently she had started to become more affectionate to her husband as well since he has been putting himself in danger for her. Though they are still strained to a point. Rosemary, like Jianshen, experienced the shock of thinking that Veni was about to die though Rosemary got to witness it firsthand while Jianshen felt it from a distance. BlackMN was still experiencing her own sorrows from the incident.
Daphne slipped out of bed and listlessly pulled on her clothes. A small sliver was just visible from where her sleeve stopped on her wrist. She looked down at her faded scar. The ropes she had been bound to on the day of her execution had cut into her skin. Yet no other visible marks from her injuries remained despite the poorly made fagot pile and the burns she thought she should have on her legs.
She sighed. Sometimes she just wished she were dead. She wasn't suicidal or anything, life just gets old when you've been 'living' for 326 years or so. But to die meant eternal torment elsewhere. If she couldn’t have bliss, she craved non-existence. As a consequence of being afraid of herself, she didn’t know herself very well, so she didn’t know she could find a spot and sleep away the years, growing weak and thirsty if she were to ever rise again.
Daphne finished applying her make-up with a shaky hand and fled her room of unwanted thoughts. She walked slowly down the stairs into the parlor. She took a deep breath, willing herself not to cry, and sat down on a couch. Daphne's will wasn't strong enough. Her waist was bent and her head went to her knees.
BlackMN came down the stairs from her room. She sat next to her, hesitated in putting a hand on her to comfort her, and attempted a comforting smile. Though part of it was lost as she avoided looking her in the eyes and aimed at the chin or lips. “I can smell your tears all the way up there Daphne...what's wrong?”
This girl was technically her boss. She had given Daphne a job, a home, and done her best to keep Daphne fed. She and her ‘mom,’ Rosemary, introduced her to something better than blood bank bags. Despite Daphne’s frequent disappearing for months without a word, they kept allowing her to come back and continue her job as if she hadn’t left. They even kept her room as she left it, though this last time it was different due to an event that recently decimated parts the house. BlackMN and Rosemary were able to come back home not long ago and had been working hard on the fine homely details.
Daphne looked up through watery eyes. She rubbed the crimson tinted tears that were there and running down her cheeks so that she could properly see Black. She gestured to herself, "I don't want this..." She whispered.
BlackMN cocked her head to the side with a confused look on her face. She took it as Daphne feeling overworked. “Yeah…you’ve been working hard…Do you need a break or something? ...or are you…”
“Are you talking about vhat you are?” Rosemary interrupted BlackMN. She had exited her ground floor room with her arms crossed, standing near the side of the chair, forcing Daphne to look at one or the other. She found Daphne’s depressive thoughts annoying in part because they were familiar and in part because she was going through a period of it being difficult to tune those out. Every wall she had built to tune out others had been smashed by some powerful people and she hadn’t built them up fully again.
Daphne blinked hard to try to stop the tears, "yes," she mumbled, and Rosemary gave a silent inward sigh. "I've been here...on this Earth, for...326 years.... I wish he'd just left me there on the stake to burn."
“Where you accused of being a witch?” BlackMN recollected witch burnings in history at about that time.
"Yes...I was thought to be a witch...stupid people...they knew I was engaged to the Pastor's son. They had to realize how 'holy' I was. No, they didn't though... " she said bitterly, sobbing, unintentionally giving Rosemary fractions of her story.
Out of her line of sight, Rosemary closed her eyes only to succeed at making the images more vivid. Very jumbled, very chaotic, and hard to piece together. Panicking, on a burning pile too long, choaking, yet still receiving enough air to keep her alive. Zey vanted her to suffer, she thought. Zat fagot pile vaz too poorly made. A blurred scene that Daphne attributes to him. Going for the stupid people from her home sometime afterwards. Obvious guilt still. Rosemary scrunched her nose and forehead, now frowning and rubbing her temple.
BlackMN opened but closed her mouth. She didn’t think it was from a lack of them thinking she was ‘holy’ or not. At least not the main people involved. Most of the people accused were false accusations and possibly for a power grab. Wouldn’t the Pastor’s fiancé be a prime target? Either that or Daphne had odd habits that they got her for. “Daphne…”
Rosemary maintained a neutral face by the time Daphne looked back at her when she recovered from her visions; of course she was ‘thought to be a witch.’ It was all local politics and pissing someone off somehow by merely being someone’s fiancé. And from, what Rosemary could tell, she was trying to please everyone somehow at the time. As a result, one of her biggest fears was fire; another was being called a witch and accused of being Satan’s whore or something along the lines. Why else would she be so angry to being a damned creature if not for her religion? All too familiar things to Rosemary who had been a believer when she was alive. “Vhy did he saef you?”
She thought for a second. "I'm not sure why he saved me. I'm not even sure who 'he' is.... That is his face is fuzzy and I only recall him saying my name. He put a curse on me. If I were to kill him or he died, then I would also die. It works in both directions... if I were to die then he would die too.”
Both Rosemary and BlackMN found this confusing…Both wondered why didn’t he summon her back if he still lived and how did she know she was cursed? Rosemary wondered why had she been drifting alone all these years. Was he unable to control his children? Was he actually too weak to and had to use other means? Did he not have a master either?
“I think he knew I would want revenge for not letting me die and condemning me to Hell." She took a shaky breath.
He must be weak und ill-suited to haf chihldren, Rosemary concluded. Eef he waz powerful, he vouldn’t haf to verry about revenge from un fledgling. She inwardly sighed. That concept of automatic damnation for being a vampire was something she had struggled to unlearn when she found out recently it wasn’t fully true.
“Despite vhat our religions teach us, I haf found zat ve are not necessarily condemned tu Hell. I haf talked to ze soul guider or 'grim reaper,' az you probably know him az, und found out ve still haf a chance to get ento hefen. Zat depends un how ve lif our long lifs. Eef ve don't kill for ze pleazure of killing, eef ve don't torture ze innocent in un crippling manner for our enjoyment, eef ve strife at gaining enough control to not kill effery one of our mealz; basically, eef ve strife to be un 'guut person' ve still haf a chance. Still…it iz rather tempting to do wicked things from time to time,” she spoke in part of herself in this last sentence.
Daphne looked up at Rosemary. "Are you--Are you really sure we can get to Heaven," Daphne chokingly asked, trying to not sound so hopeful. Her make-up was now running down her cheeks with her tears. BlackMN dabbed at them with her hankey.
Rosemary gave her a firm nod. “Regrettably suicide iz still frowned upon eef ve vant to end it,” she continued.
"That would be...that would be great...If it were true..." Daphne still wasn't able to accept this. She knew it was somehow true in her deepest of heart, but her mind still couldn't accept it and thus further frustrated her elder who could read thoughts but not hearts so well.
She frowned. "Yet...If it were true, I would need some sort of Slayer to kill me? That was what I have been hoping for... But it seems that Slayers are rare these days."
BlackMN rubbed her back and tried to be comforting because she knew it was coming. Daphne said the wrong thing. Rosemary’s hair had started to move as if there was a breeze yet there was none, and she was starting to appear more menacing though she outwardly did nothing as her aura seethed out more with her rising temper. Daphne still didn’t value her life and Rosemary had wasted her breath on her. BlackMN wondered if seeking someone to kill you still be a form of suicide.
“Un Slayher?! Slayhers aren't ze only thingz out zere zat can kill us! Zere are actual demons out zere zat can kill us. Vhere vere you?! You missed un guut opportunity to die eef you’re zo despherate! Bring attention to yorself like Dracula did in zat book by Bram Stoker, zen maybe un 'slayher' vill come und get you, or efen one of us vill!” Rosemary was unaware that one of them would have possibly been sent after Daphne a few years back if incidents kept happening after a fraternity slaughter.
She suddenly deflated and calmed down a little as Daphne and BlackMN recoiled, her tone going back to normal, fake breeze gone. “Of course, you shouldn't just let yourself be killed. You could look into how to join Limbo's military,” she said giving her options on other ways to die. She wasn't using her kind, caring, and nice voice when she had said it. “Ve just haf to wait for little boy blue to come here zo you could ask about it und he can find ze information for you. Or you could ask him about his cousin ze Soul Guider Xylanthos (Grim Reaper) und maybe ask to zee him to help remove zose little doubts I know you still haf.”
Daphne's tears dried up at the thought of being a part of something. She had always wandered alone but here was a chance to do something with other people--people that treated her like...like a friend. Even a concerned friend to get so angry at her. Perhaps, Daphne thought, this is what I'm missing...maybe this is why I've felt so alone and so willing to die. A slight smile spread across her red lips, as she thought about this revelation. She turned her sparkling eyes, that were still a red from crying to Rosemary and to Black.
BlackMN smiled at her and Rosemary uncrossed her arms wondering why that snapped her out of her sulking. Daphne’s cheeks looked flushed from the bloody tears, and her mascara pooled underneath her eyes, streams of it dried upon parts of her cheeks. But despite her horrid appearance, Daphne's pleasure showed through.
"You know," she said quietly and thoughtfully, "today is the day when I turned into a vampire.... it's always this day that I feel the "burn" of my 300 years upon this world... But now…now I don't feel it. Thank you.”
She paused, "for years I've thought I was alone. Every time I grew close to someone I would...lose control. Wake up surrounded by the recent dead. It was...God, it was awful." Again she paused, yet this time she smiled. Her smile was infectious which pleased BlackMN; Rosemary was annoyed she liked it a little.
“You lost control because you starved yorself. You’re ashamed und afraid of your food needz. Here you don’t haf to be ashamed. Eef you don’t eat, you don’t stay.” Rosemary finally smiled a little. She would have kicked her out already if she thought her problem was rooted in something else, like their tendency to want to devour those they get close to.
"Heh, you guys accept me. Thank you." Daphne winced at her own sappiness, but then shrugged it off. She knew these people wouldn't care. She had let Rosemary and Black into her own secret place. She let them into her heart, where so many before had entered but shortly left. Suddenly a laugh bubbled up from inside Daphne's chest. She felt like she must share it.
Daphne turned her position on the couch and hugged Black. "Thanks," she whispered to Black who returned the hug, patting her back a little.
She pulled apart and stood up. She walked over to Rosemary and hugged her. "Thank you," she said. She laughed.
Rosemary raised an eyebrow and frowned as Daphne hugged. She was stiff at first but saw BlackMN do a motion at her. She patted Daphne’s back like the girl did though it was strained and slower as if she was unsure. The pressure was uneven with the first pat being harder than the rest as if she misjudged how hard she did it at first. Daphne thought she heard ‘sorry’ after the first pat, though Rosemary’s lips hadn’t moved. “You’re velcome,” she said in a polite tone.
She felt very conflicted. She was slightly glad Daphne was feeling better, but it clashed with Rosemary’s detachment towards other vampires. She was also avoiding new friends for fear of harming them, yet Daphne was now hopeful and she didn’t know what to do. She normally had a deep-seated aversion to other vampires as well, including her less offensive relatives, yet she found this one’s presence to be tolerable.
Daphne’s hopeful gaze met blank eyes when she pulled away. I see… Daphne sensed the politeness rather than friendliness in Rosemary’s demeanor. She smiled at the floor to avoid looking up into the... almost... guarded eyes of Rosemary. Daphne wondered why she had thought that Rosemary's eyes were closed off. Yet when she looked up again into her eyes, she still felt like Rosemary was keeping her out for some reason.
She had always had an intuition about the personalities of the people around her. And while she thought of Rosemary as a friend... She felt that Rosemary just thought of her as an acquaintance. "Thanks for the suggestion," she replied, almost having to bite her tongue to ask her what was wrong. I think, Daphne said to herself, I think I'm making a big deal out of this. I'm reading the signs all wrong. She looked up and smiled at both Black and Rosemary.
Rosemary smiled back, but she was still guarded. “Of course. Excuse me.” She left, got an apron from her room and different shoes, her hair now held up with bobby pins, and went outside to do some gardening.
BlackMN watched Rosemary leave before she said anything. “Don't worry too much about it. It's not like she doesn't want to get to know you, she just feels like she shouldn't get to know anyone else for the time being. There are some bad people after her… that want to brainwash her and stuff. She's afraid that she'd come after her friends and torture them if that happened, so she doesn't want to make any new friends. Besides even if she was willing to make friends, it would still take a while until she became comfortable and opened up a little.”
Daphne half-smiled. "I know how that is. I used to be like that. Timid, I mean." She sighed. "I just don't like the reason why she's so aloof. It's almost...I don't know... too safe." Daphne chuckled a little.
BlackMN scratched her head, Rosemary was also old. “Aren’t you still timid like that? Rosemary…never showed interest in interpersonal relationships when I was younger. She took me to events, but minimally interacted with other people. They rarely approached her anyways. She even often pretended to leave and pretended to come back to pick me up. Recently, it has been like she is coming out of a dark place… she’s been warmer. It has been nice but…soon after she did and started to enjoy interactions, it was used against her. The look she had when it was happening, and she couldn’t do anything, was awful…” BlackMN’s ears and tail drooped with her sad expression. She hadn’t seen Rosemary look so anguished and defeated before. She had known Rosemary to be confident in her abilities, albeit worried about being too rough, but back then she was so broken.
The younger vampire thought and tucked a piece of her blonde-ish hair behind her ear. "Yet... I still wish somehow, I can get her to be my friend... She's--for lack of a better word-- different, and that's refreshing for me because where I came from everyone seemed the same." Again, Daphne thought about what she said. "Oh! I didn't mean you were not unique. Let me tell you, everyone at this house is unique and different...I just...Oh I don't even know anymore." She started to twist around a lock of hair with her fingers in thought.
BlackMN tilted her head. “Daphne…why aren’t you afraid of her? She’s more than twice your age.”
Daphne bit her lip and winced in pain. She remembered she had fangs. After thinking a bit, she said, "I feel that I want to connect with her somehow. I've never met another vampire in my life, well not life but you should know what I mean. I think in the way she's refreshing to me... I'm almost refreshing to her. Or something...Maybe I'm just imagining things."
From outside Rosemary wondered how she was the first vampire Daphne had met besides the fuzzy images of her maker.
“She hasn’t chased you off, she allowed you to get close, and she even allowed you to hug her. She could have easily either held you away or avoided you. She allows you to be near me without unleashing a threatening presence. Your chances are good.” BlackMN touched her fingers as if she was counting as she listed off the unusual things Rosemary was doing.
Daphne looked towards the exit. She wondered why Rosemary avoided people before and not just now. The elder vampire appeared to get along with a few of the others here. She was just slow to open up. “You’re right. She needs time…and persuasion!” Daphne winked.
“Yup! Come on, I’ll clean you up.” The fox demon grabbed Daphne’s hand and led her to her room which was in an area she was normally forbidden to go.
The décor of the girl’s room mostly was cute with the occasional macabre or grim item; such as the doll on her bed which had a wide grin and sharp teeth. She led Daphne to sit at her small vanity. “You don’t want this.” She gestured at Daphne with a laugh. Daphne laughed a little nervously as she looked around.
The girl started to rub Daphne’s mess away, but when she was done with the face, she even worked to remove the nail polish. She then took out a nail buffer and worked at giving Daphne’s claws a shine.
“More and more women are doing their nails in more and more styles. They’ve gotten outrageous. You can get away with only buffering them and no one would think they’re your actual nails.” BlackMN put her claws against Daphne’s and made clicking noises with them as they tapped together.
“Ooooh.” Daphne’s eyes widened at what the simple trick did and the realization that her small claws were less conspicuous to people now. Maybe even pretty. She was then turned away from the mirror and instructed to close her eyes. The girl was still avoiding looking into them.
She felt a sponge and fingers rub against her face. As she felt it on her ears, BlackMN said, “you can now airbrush this on for an even lighter coating. It might look good to do the back of your hands too so the lighter palm is less noticeable.” She dabbed something on the cheeks with her fingers, brushed on something on spots on the face, added the same item scent she used on the cheeks on the lips, and commented about the lashes being nice without mascara. “Why do you even use that?” She asked.
“I got a makeover...” Daphne looked a little sheepish when she realized this was a few decades ago when she was learning how to use some of the newer products that were coming out. BlackMN waited for her to relax her face again.
Once done, she sprayed something (a fixative) all over her work, and turned Daphne back towards her non-silver mirror. “Look at this pale beauty I see.” She had added a lighter base than Daphne originally wore. It was much closer to her pale skin with a slight fleshy tint and a little bronzer to give it more variety. There was liquid stain blush added to the cheeks and lips. Daphne thought this looked much better than all the makeup she caked on earlier to completely hide her appearance. BlackMN put some cotton against her eyes to prevent her from ruining the job she just did.
….
Sometime after they were done and downstairs in the middle of a movie, Rosemary came back in. “Look! I play dress up! Isn’t she pretty?”
Daphne looked at BlackMN surprised and giggled nervously as she started to twist her hair in her finger as Rosemary stopped at her door, changed her gaze, and glided in front of Daphne and looked at her with her judging eyes. She had dirt marks in various places and her hands were haphazardly rinsed off outside.
She slowly moved her hand to Daphne’s face and moved some hair to cover the pointed tips of her ears. She used some bobby pins from her own hair to hold it in place, carefully hiding the pins from being seen easily, completing the more natural looking disguise.
Rosemary pulled away considering her. There was the slightest change in her expression. Daphne would have missed the change and not have noticed it soften a little if she wasn’t staring at her face. “She iz lofely,” Rosemary said and immediately continued what she was doing and entered her room to finish cleaning up.
Daphne would later realize how quickly she had turned from extremely depressed, to giggly, in an hour or so time. Later, she would think again about this day and notice that the rapid change of emotion was because she finally had someone to sort of empathize with her; she finally had companions to share her long, sad story with and they didn’t judge her for it. They only cared how she was presently. She felt like this day no longer marked the beginning of her long-lasting years with its dark consequence, but instead it marked the beginning of what Daphne considered--and hoped--a long friendship with these two people.
————-
One year later.
Daphne came into the main rooms after getting dressed and ready for the evening. She had improved upon what BlackMN did and while she felt a little down, it was nowhere near as low as last year. She heard the sound of a crank going in the kitchen. When she entered, she saw BlackMN going at the crank of an ice cream maker. It was difficult for her to ignore the slightly elevated pulse of the girl from her efforts on the machine. However, something on the counter caught her eye. On the counter was a cake that had “Happy Birthday Daphne” written with frosting.
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