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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2016 23:37:45 GMT
They were everywhere.
Clawing at his skin, digging their nails into it. They pulled him down, down deep to wherever they had came for. They stared at him with pale faces and hollow black eyes. Jasper tried to scream, tried to flail, tried to do anything, but a hand clamped over his mouth and others restrained his limbs. They surrounded him, blocking out the sun utterly and completely...
Jasper woke up with a gasp, covered with sweat and shaking. The lightorb that hovered at the top corner of his room began to glow bright white in response to his awakening. He winced and muttered, "Red." Immediently, the lightorb turned red. It was eerie, but it better than having his eyes burned.
That was third time he'd had that nightmare, those people dragging him down and restraining him.
Well, there was no point trying to sleep now.
He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and pulled on fairly acceptable clothes for a midnight walk on the street. He pushed open his door and exited the apartment complex, walking briskly down the dim street.
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Loner, Kazetatsu, Kaze
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Post by Loner。 on Dec 16, 2016 1:46:31 GMT
who would even be out at such an hour as this? There was one pale tall robed figure with long straight hair, but a high hairline. He was very pale to the point that his skin seemed white in the dim light, but his clothing was as dark as the night sky without stars. He wore a white collar which was adorned with thin strings of pale blue beads knotted onto thick complexly woven thread. This man looked rather old, but walked straight and not a wrinkle was to be seen on his features. He was walking Towards Jasper as one of the few people out this night.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2016 1:54:23 GMT
Jasper had seen many odd people in Eokia, but something about this man was...unsettling. He walked faster, pulling his jacket tighter around his shoulders. It was a nervous tic, more or less.
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Post by Loner。 on Dec 16, 2016 5:40:50 GMT
Indeed the man's appearance stood at the edge of the uncanny valley, the conceptual place where things that looked human, sometimes to the point of being perfectly accurate in all other ways, had some trait or combination of traits which were just odd enough to creep someone out. "you aren't afraid are you?" he asked when jasper was close enough to hear, but made no move to otherwise intercept, or detain him, and if jasper walked past this strange oldish man would without a word continue on his own way.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2016 18:58:07 GMT
Jasper turned and faced the man, eyes glinting in the small light that they had. "Of course I'm not afraid," he scoffed, scorn and disbelief lacing his tone. It wasn't just a show. Why would he afraid? If this man posed a threat, Jasper knew how to defend himself. The place where he came from...it was far from what one would call 'peaceful' or 'orthodox'. There, it had taken skill to survive. It was major factor of why he had joined this place, but old habits died hard. He still remembered many things from his randomly-selected training.
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Post by Loner。 on Dec 19, 2016 4:20:02 GMT
well anger and scorn were sometimes used to mask such emotions like fear of which there were also different kinds. Ishiki doubted a bit that fear was not involved but didn't press on that part of the issue. The skinny old-but-young man noted. "then you may relax." as if Jasper needed permission for that, or maybe the person who he needed permission from wasn't Ishiki but Jasper himself.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2016 13:02:57 GMT
A smile twisted on Jasper'a face. "It's kind of hard to relax when someone's watching you at the witching hour."
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Post by Loner。 on Dec 20, 2016 2:51:23 GMT
the old man chuckled. "well this is the hour of more than witches, but you can handle yourself against anything shady am I right?" If Jasper walked away at any time, the old man would let him go, nothing more creepy here than a conversation, and perhaps the fact that the night illumination made the man look like something that might be dangerous. That was more of an illusion of association than of truth.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2016 3:03:20 GMT
Jasper tilted his head to the side slightly. Now the man had his curiosity. "I know that there's more that witches," he would reply smoothly. "And I can neutralize anything that might wish to cause me harm." There was a hidden threat in there. If Jasper did leave now, this encounter would bother him for a long time.
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Post by Loner。 on Dec 20, 2016 3:29:19 GMT
"and you are fully confident in your ability." Ishiki also noted. of course there was always something, possibly multiple somethings stronger than oneself. That went for everyone including the 'old' man. He remained rather stoic, his tone observant when he spoke, but with little infliction, for fear or anger, or anything else but incredible patience, and in the next statement, ever so slight amusement. "of course I'm not going to be the one to test it. I'll save that for the young and rash." those kinds of people would be most likely to instigate conflicts rather than just talks wouldn't they, so many eager to try their strength. Luckily not too many of those seemed out tonight as far as Ishiki could sense in the night.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2016 3:46:51 GMT
"Everything dies, eventually. It's fact of existence," Jasper replied promptly. "I am not claiming to be invincible." At the last statement, a frown crossed his face. Not one of anger or sadness, or even disappointment, rather...frustration at not understanding. Curiosity was not the word.
"The young and rash do indeed seem likely test their abilities on something far stronger than they are," he agreed, pink irises glinting. It was apparent that the man was older than he seemed, as was he. Jasper himself was...not sure how old he was. Centuries, perhaps? His aging had stopped at eighteen for a long time, and then one day he'd woken up in his early-to-mid-thirties.
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Post by Loner。 on Dec 21, 2016 15:42:56 GMT
Everything dies. Ishiki didn't quite agree with that statement, but in the previous statememts he had not even been refering to death. He didn't share his thoughts on the nature of death but spoke on the other comment. "They are overconfident in both their own prowess and their opponents weakness." A glint of a potential joke flickered in the pale man's eyes. "You weren't like that when you were young were you?" Actually ishiki suspected that Jasper had possibly been on the rash side.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2016 16:11:25 GMT
Jasper chuckled. "I think most of us were when we were young." He leaned back onto his heels. "I was no exception." He was visibly more relaxed than he was a few moments ago, or at least at ease.
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Post by Loner。 on Dec 22, 2016 15:16:29 GMT
Ishiki couldn't remember when he had been young. It was more like that he'd been old since the beginning of his existence, and that was far enough back that it seemed like eternity. "If I was ever like that, i've long forgotten. " he noted. Indeed even jasper for how old he was seemed far more like such a young buck, a trait ishiki found refreshing.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 22, 2016 19:04:49 GMT
"A pity," Jasper commented dryly. Indeed it was, the folly of youth having been faded into the mind. It was not uncommon, though, for immortal beings. They held many memories, and often the earlier ones dissolved.
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