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Post by zer0gravitea on Aug 22, 2020 12:59:22 GMT -8
For all the ruthless efficiency that many martial artists demonstrated in their training regimes, Amara was continually surprised to find how utterly ineffectual their resolutions to practical matters were. The Crane monks from her own time were no different than the variety of warrior-monk types of the past, with their strange adherence to some ephemeral moral high ground. There was, apparently, something critically wrong with just… killing a dangerous opponent. Instead, incarceration was their go-to response to nearly everything-- even if the offender in question had slain many, their punishment seemed to often be little more than a slap on the wrist, comparatively speaking anyways. The sealing of demons was no exception to this strange mentality, and it was the greatest offender in Amara’s mind; to her, if someone was strong enough to best an actual, literal, demon, then it only made sense to dispatch the foe with finality. Demons tended to live exceptionally long times, meaning that sealing them away did little more than give them an excuse to stew in their own evil for a few hundred years. If they were capable of reform, they wouldn’t be demons… would they? All that waxing philosophical had been brought on by a simple revelation: an ancient member of Amara’s school had done precisely that and sealed a demon away in the deep desert. The deep desert where they did not even have a school of their own- instead, it was buried in the territory of some Wolf Fang hooligans. So it was that Amara stood at the door to the Wolf Fang’s primary school(or at the very least, one of their larger ones), and idly fidgeted with her own Crane gi. This was not a task given to her by her handler, meaning that she was free to address it how she wished- and, unfortunately, she wasn’t entirely sure how to conduct herself around a rival school’s students. Was it proper to kick the door down and demand a fight? Movies of the era seemed to suggest so, but movies also suggested that street brawls were far, far more common than they actually were. Before she could make up her mind entirely, the School’s doors swung open to reveal a rather unkempt looking man- one of the school’s teachers, by the looks of him. “ We were takin’ bets on how long it’d take ya to sack up and knock, but the lads got tired of waitin’. C’mon in little bird, we’ll get’cha sorted,” he walked away from the door after saying as much and simply left it open- a strange way to invite someone in, but Amara was grateful that the impetus had been seized by someone else. She stepped in and quietly shut the door behind her before hurrying along to follow the large, fittingly wolf-like man. The whole interior of their school was surprisingly tidy, with weapons seeming to be properly stored and cared for as well as a remarkably pristine tile flooring. The few students that they passed along the way also seemed to follow the teacher’s example for cleanliness, however, and contrasted their environment quite starkly. It made sense to respect their school by keeping it clean, but not extending the same discipline to their personal hygiene was quite curious indeed. “ We don’t get too many Crane sorts ‘round these parts, so I’m gunna guess you’re here ‘bout the little mishap your ancestors’ seal had,” the teacher spoke again at last, still rudely refusing to introduce himself or even turn to face Amara as he addressed her. “ You got me. I was hoping to just talk to one of your students about it and get it taken care of before it became a bigger deal than it needs to be…” Amara replied softly, deciding that it was better to play the role of the sheepish foreigner here; she figured that feeling superior would make the Wolf Fang teacher reveal more than he probably intended to. “ Sucks for you, bird. It’s already bigger than it ought to have ever been. Demon’s out of the bag and has been tormentin’ travelers around these parts. We’d have taken care of it already, but the damn thing’s evaded us at every turn,” he sounded sincere in his frustration about the matter, “ Worse still, we ain’t half as mystical ‘n crap as you Crane sorts are, so huntin’ the beastie down is especially troublesome. We got plans to kill the right bastard when we do pin it down, but… Anyways, we’ve been recruitin’ a few sagely sorts to get it tracked down, so you showed up at a good time.” As if impeccably timed, the teacher threw open a door to a large office with several seats arranged around a semi-circular table. The seats were currently empty, however. “ So you’re recruiting people to… hunt the demon down but not take care of it for you?” Amara asked, head canting to the side curiously. “ Aye. It’s our region so it’s our duty to take care o’ it. Besides, you Cranes would probably just try an’ seal it up again without sharin’ how to properly maintain the damn seal. So, we’re plannin’ on killing it,” he gestured toward an empty seat as he spoke, apparently wanting Amara to sit down. She obliged. “ We’re happy t’ have your help, but we’re still gunna wait on a few others we scoped to come in an’ join the search.” “ That’s fine by me. I’m honestly pretty green at this whole ‘hunting demons’ thing, so I’m happy to have the help tracking it down. Glad you’ve decided to just merc the thing, too. Flies should be swatted, no?” she answered with a smile. The teacher nodded and took his seat at the far-end of the table- the head seat, as his pride naturally demanded. It was time, then, to wait. 1000/14,000 Nal
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Post by Nal on Aug 23, 2020 21:17:26 GMT -8
There it was again. That overwhelming, strangely familiar power. As if one she had seen and felt somewhere before - not exactly, though, since she remembered any power from any strong enough person she had met to recognise them - and this one was far too strong to be of the weaker people that had crossed her part and wouldn't be worth remembering. Unless someone woke up like she did, locked up in a magic cocoon that flooded whoever it was with the same strength, but this one was not the soothing, green mystic power. It was more insidious and devastating, something that resounded in the back of Nal's head with a sense of instinctual dread. And frustratingly, it was also way too difficult to locate, because it had been everywhere. An echo there, a leftover here, fresher remnant in that city yonder, but the intensity was absurdly random, as if the creature or person wielding it darted around the land randomly, discharging that power and then choosing another place to be and do the same thing all over again.
Maybe she could find out something at the source of this all and that was easy to pinpoint - there was that one strange spot far away, where the power stagnated for a long time. Then spiked and from there, it went over to do whatever it was the creature or person was doing all across the Southlands. Maybe it was trapped there, like Nal was in the beginning? Or perhaps it lived there and something caused it to go and do other stuff. Maybe it was a hero like her... or a villain, for a hero like her to topple! For some reason, that thought made Nal grin. Partly because it was a great step on the road to heroism: felling an evil creature that threatened people's lives and homes. And partly, because she was a Majin still - and urges for violence have always been there, deep inside her, no matter how much they were diluted by the gray one's curious, wandering mind. Fortunately for just about everyone, there was far too much else going on for these urges to take over, at least for the time being.
Majin Nal opened her eyes, having decided - she will go to the source and find out what is going on there. Something has to be learned where it all began, right? She cast a look over her shoulder - at a small house she had made in her months of absence from the world, made out of sandstone bricks, oblong in shape and with a rounded roof, wider and taller at the back end, where she planned to keep all of her good stuff from the voyages and adventures, like a trophy room. Amused, Nal concluded that her house looks like a half-buried eggplant made out of sandy bricks.
That was a concern for later, though. Now, it was time to visit the source of the power and determine what in the world is going on.
And so, the gray majin took off, leaving a shockwave of dust and sand to coat the front wall of her house, flying high - and focusing, seeking the by now familiar pattern of spent power. Just a moment of focus and... there it was. She thought it was deeper south, but Nal was never good at directions, so it could as well have been east as far as she was concerned. What she was good at, though, was sensing. And that would be her guide.
With a thunderous boom, the majin darted off into the sky, headed towards, as she would soon learn, the Wolf Fang territory and specifically, one of their fighting schools. Flight there didn't took much, as Nal was damn well nearing supersonic speeds with her flight - the problem was, she was yet learning how to slow down properly and so, as she reached the place, her speed was still way too fast. But, to avoid creating another crater in the ground like back where she met Kiryu all the time ago to hunt down that doctor lady, she flew past it in the air, lowering slightly, but rather than crashing into the school's courtyard, the Majin circled around the place a couple times. On the plus side, it meant she didn't cause a scene or a hole in the school's yard, so with a wide grin, she lowered gracefully from the sky, landing casually in the middle of the place.
Now, the downside of all that is that right about everyone have seen a figure circling the school and have been prepared to fight. Swarming the courtyard with all manner of people - wolfmen, regular men and many more that Nal was still too dizzy from the impromptu circling to tell apart, holding her head to stop it from spinning. She's heard them talk stuff, though only have caught little bits of it in her confusion. "...the demon is back..." "...looks different..." "...change shapes, no? They're demons..." "...what're ye on 'bout? Send for the..." "...busy, got a guest! Some Crane..." And so on. Positively none of it made sense for the majin. Wolves hosting cranes and talking about demons sounded like some strange children's tale, or a feverish man's delusions and dreams. Though as soon as the world stopped spinning, the lithe, gray girl cast a glance around, looking at the crowd. Many people with similar outfits and the same mark on them, this must mean they're some sort of school, or gang, or another force. It was hard to tell, harder than just meeting and punching bandits in the desert. Oh well, time to handle it in a more civilised manner.
"Hello! I'm Nal. I sensed some weird power in here and decided to come in and find out what it is, because it's bothering me and I want to defeat it. If it's a bad power. Please tell me it's a bad power?" - the gray demon asked, with a hopeful glint to her eyes.
[2000/14000]
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Post by zer0gravitea on Aug 26, 2020 10:55:51 GMT -8
While waiting on the other prospective hunters to arrive, Amara and the Wolf teacher- who eventually introduced himself as a ‘Master Canun’- continued to exchange pleasantries and the occasional platitude. The whole exchange was one purely to pass the time, as they both knew that they wouldn’t be interacting with each other again after this was all said and done; it was rare for school Masters to socialize with students of other schools who were not themselves Masters of some kind. While Amara’s combat prowess probably rivaled many of the lesser schools’ masters, she didn’t technically belong to any school yet. Funny how time worked out like that.
Their exchange was cut abruptly short by the rattle of weapons being gathered en mass outside. Master Canun and Amara both were quick to rush out of their seats and into the courtyard beyond to investigate. The sight of the Wolf students armed and brandishing their stances toward a grey-skinned Majin was one equally puzzling to both Amara and Canun alike. Canun’s experience with those of Nal’s sort was limited, but not negative enough for him to immediately also adopt a combative stance- instead, he stepped past the line of Wolf students encircling the Majin and casually slipped his hands into his pockets, clearly making a show of not considering the ‘demon’ worth fussing over.
Amara, on the other hand, had only seen a Majin in pictures, and even then, they were a rarity in her timeline. Her curiosity flared to new levels, driving her to push past student and master alike. Everything she had learned about the Majin subspecies of ‘demon’(if they could even properly be called that) was fascinating, and each rumored ability made it more and more clear as to why they were so rare on her earth. Indeed, it was rumored that they possessed a unique ability to integrate the entirety of a person into their own body, taking on many of their attributes in the process. There was no immediate evidence that such a power was anything more true than a whisper on the wind, but there was proof that they were exceptionally difficult to kill. Amara had seen videos of Majin warriors literally piecing themselves back together from bits and pieces. Between their rumored absorption abilities and their incredible resistance to, well, dying… their very existence was a strong case for elimination when the forces before her earth’s new Android ruler took over. If Amara were in control, she certainly wouldn’t want to risk the possibility of every strong fighter on the planet literally combining into a single being to come along and depose her. Fortunately, ruling the world wasn’t something she wanted to do even in the slightest. Instead, she wanted to know more about their newcomer!
“If you were a recently freed demon out for vengeance, I don’t think this is the place you’d go to to find the guys who sealed you away, or their kids even… so I don’t think you’re the baddie we’re looking for,” Amara said aloud, hoping that her brief assessment would let the Wolf students relax at least a little bit. Besides, she didn’t sense anything immediately threatening about Nal- besides her latent power, which was more than enough to dispatch most of the students present anyways.
“So… I’m Amara! Did you come to help this school find their missing demon, or did something else catch your attention here?”
587 | 2587/14000
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Post by Nal on Aug 27, 2020 0:09:54 GMT -8
Nobody was answering - a few people balked outright at the question, several more were tense, just about everyone was confused. Nal began to think they're mistaking her for whatever came out of here! It made the Majin grin, she definitely was amused at it - soon enough, she started laughing, much to more confusion from the crowd. Though sensing no danger, they began relaxing, especially when the teacher and his guest came through, the former behaving extremely nonchalantly and calm - it definitely disarmed the powder keg that Nal had involuntarily created.
The gray girl herself stopped laughing soon after, as she spotted two people - two strong people, one extraordinarily so. Nal squinted, aiming the antenna on her head towards the woman coming forward before her, taking the measure of her power. And boy- was that a lot of it! At least... no, more than two Nals combined. Wow, that sure felt strange... she really needed to work on that. These last few months really left her with very little growth!
"Hello! I'm not a demon, I think... though I may be, but I wasn't locked up in here, but I did take a loooong nap once, under a mountain a little north of here, or at least I think it was north." - the onslaught of words began and only a miracle would stop it now. It was, however, enough for some of the students to recognise the prattling Majin from her exploits all across the region, whispering to eachother a bit while the two guests talked. - "I sensed some really big energy around here doing some stuff or another, I really don't know, but it started here so I came to find out what's going on, and now you say it's a baddie to defeat, yes?" - the stars twinkling in the Majin's eyes were almost perceptible at the mere mention of that. - "Which means I can help beat the baddie and be a real hero like I always wanted! Right? ...well not always, but for a while at least, even since I met Kiryu off in the desert when he was riding that bike of his and had this songbox thing. I have my own now, but it's small and only sings for me." - saying that, the not-at-all-a-demon pulled up a pair of earphones from a pocket in her top, dangling them before Amara to show the item off, like it was a very important part of a hero's image.
With a bit of a shrug, the Majin looked around, grinning at the students and the nonchalant teacher. "So how about you tell me all about this thing you need done and I help get it done? I feel you are stronger than me, but I can help out in other ways than just beating whatever escaped up. Though I can help with that too, I'm tougher than I look."
[479] [3066|14000]
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Post by zer0gravitea on Sept 1, 2020 8:13:21 GMT -8
The grey Majin failed to introduce herself in turn, but the curious nature of her speech quickly clued Amara in to her more eccentric nature. Perhaps eccentric was the wrong word- innocent seemed to be just as plausible a descriptor for her, particularly when considering her aspiration of being some kind of ‘hero’ type. Of course, Amara couldn’t much criticize that aspiration herself, given the simple fact that her entire reason for being sent back to this place was to do precisely that: save the world. Or so she was led to believe, anyways. At the moment, the matter of the Wolf school’s mysterious demon was more pressing! Though, there was that bit in Nal’s introduction of herself about napping under a mountain; perhaps she had also been sealed away for some purely coincidental reason. Fortunately, as she herself admitted, Nal didn’t seem to be individually powerful enough to pose a threat that Amara couldn’t easily flee from if things went sideways. There was always the possibility that she was suppressing, but… The hybrid’s brows briefly furrowed. There were too many possibilities to consider regarding Nal’s status as a maybe-demon who had maybe broken free of her seal. Amara would just assume she was as innocuous as she suggested and then deal with the ramifications for it later.
“All we need you two to do is to find the demon,” the Wolf Master chimed in before Amara could reply, “We will handle the beast itself once it’s located.”
“Buuut, we’ll defend ourselves if we’re attacked,” she managed to squeak out a moment later. Following that, Amara moved forward to loop her arm into the Majin’s own and attempted to guide her away from the group of Wolf students who still appeared to be quite wary of her presence.
“Better we get to searchin’ then! Demon isn’t going to find itself--” she feigned a laugh and continued to tug Nal toward the building’s exit. If the Majin were a threat herself, Amara didn’t want to risk seeing all those Wolf students ended before their time… and if she wasn’t, she also had little desire to spend any more time around the crotchety Wolf Master. Once they were outside, she could breathe a sigh of relief.
“For a bunch of fighters who pride themselves on how wild they are, those Wolves sure are a bunch of stiff guys, huh?”
416 | 3482 / 14,000
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Post by Nal on Sept 2, 2020 6:09:52 GMT -8
"Very" - the majin replied, nodding her head vigorously. Looking over her shoulder to have a look at the people, the very unkempt teacher, not much better off students - was it a style for them, or did they just not have showers? She decided she'll find out and maybe build them a working pipe system if they did not. Digging holes was easy when one could just ki blast chunks of dirt to form a tunnel, after all.
She did, however, listen, to every word that was said, even if during the talk, Nal was glancing around and waving at some of the students she might have recognised from the town. There was an imprisoned demon and it was imprisoned here, but the wolf guys wanted to defeat it themselves - it just needed to be found. Maybe she could talk to the demon, too, find out it's story, maybe help it not be evil anymore? She tried that with Professor Poblano, that weird lady who really wanted to taste her candy so much she almost stole it from Nal's mouth, but that didn't really go well. Mostly because the professor ran away rather than explain herself. If there was ever a next time, she would make sure Poblano is soundly beaten up first and explain herself later. It's never too late for a chat, after all!
"So we have to find that thing, yes? I sensed the power all over the place, in the cities and around them, mostly around though. Big concentrations, so the demon thing blew it's power up a lot, like when I do when I make beacons for my friends, so we'll probably see a lot of it real fast, but..." the gray head cocked on the neck, like a curious bird's, eyeing the... actually who was this person? Kind of felt like those spiky haired people, but she also felt really different, that power was... odd. Incomplete, but yet, more than the sum of it's parts. "...you're odd. But, yes, I wonder, could we try to learn a little about that demon thing we are going to fight? I like knowing things that can help me later in my life and this may be a thing like that, and maybe, who knows, that demon thing can be convinced to not be a bad guy and help us instead? Or not and we'll have to watch the wolf guys beat it up, but then it kinda had it coming and I won't feel bad for it." The majin punctuated that theory with a sagely nod.
[428|3910/14000]
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Post by zer0gravitea on Sept 4, 2020 12:14:05 GMT -8
Her lips pursed. Nal had a surprisingly good point- one that she wouldn’t have considered otherwise. Perhaps the ‘demon’ wasn’t much a demon at all and had simply been wrongly imprisoned. There was certainly precedent for people being wrongly convicted of things in this time… Amara was just used to thinking about things in a much simpler scope. Her mind then began to wonder just how long the demon had been sealed away. Perhaps it was not evil to begin with- but if it had spent the last few hundred years locked in some dingy seal, its mind might have twisted toward becoming the very thing that it had been accused of. Was it even conscious during the time it was sealed away? None of the sealing techniques that the Crane Monastery had taught Amara included details of that sort, as they were usually considered ‘set it and forget it’ by the monks. Self-righteousness was a hell of a drug.
“If I had to guess, it’s probably trying to attract the attention of the guys that sealed it away. Even if it wasn’t a bad guy to begin with, I wouldn’t blame it or wanting revenge on the ones that trapped it there. Heck, it might not even realize that it’s been however many years since it’s been sealed-- the guys that did it might be dead by now,” she replied and crossed her arms to continue contemplating the points Nal brought up.
“Either way, you’re right about needing more info. If it is bad after all, we’ll need to know what we’re getting into before we fight it-- which I plan on doing if things go sour. The Wolves aren’t pushovers, but those students aren’t strong enough to fight anything like a demon. A bunch of them would probably die before getting anything done… and it was my school that sealed the thing away to begin with, so I kinda figure it’s my responsibility to take care of however it turns out, y’know?” in fact, the more she thought about it, the greater guilt Amara felt about the whole matter. Even if the demon were evil to begin with, why would the monks seal it instead of killing it outright? That was such a cruel fate to receive- and an ineffective one. Maybe they weren’t strong enough to kill it and were just biding time until they were… and then forgot about it?
However she spun the story in her mind, Amara’s thoughts all reached the same conclusion: the Crane masters of the past were serious freakin’ idiots.
440 | 4350 / 14,000
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Post by Nal on Sept 5, 2020 1:33:17 GMT -8
Nal would probably agree, if she knew that train of thought - because it made no sense to the majin either. Fortunately for everyone around, she didn't know that train of thought - and she wasn't about to learn just yet either, probably.
"Mhm! I mean, it's kinda like that nap I took in that green shell thing. I slept, but I don't really know for how long, maybe it was a few days, maybe a little longer! Felt like at least a week." - the majin understated, nodding to herself sagely in the process. "But it broke and I woke up and then I went and when some guy got in my way, I kinda put him into the sand like a nail. It was funny, because his feet wiggled in confusion. Kinda adorable, really. But then, I came back to that place because I was there on a mission! I was looking for some lost miners and some demon took my nap sphere and tried to make it his throne, but I beat him up too and blew the cave up. After getting the miners out. And then I met another demon, but he was a little nicer, so I took some fragments of metal ore that my nap sphere gave power to and made a sword out of it" - the majin tapped the hilt of the sword in a simple sheathe. "It doesn't like fighting, though, but gives me power to do magic better. Did I mention I know magic? I do. Like that guy who sent me to sleep."
Finally taking a break from all of the rambling, Nal began sensing. The tendril on her head was moving already as she was speaking, sensing the direction that demon-creature took after breaking free. Breaking free was easy to detect, because there was a lot of power used, and through logical deduction, this had to be the oldest power use in the area. Following that logic, Nal decided to find which way the power went, sensing echoes that were a little less old. Not that one, too recent... that one had a massive knot of power signatures, so the demon thing was returning there, or crossing by a lot, but that's not where it went immediately... but this was. The tendril pointed westwards.
"Anyway, it went that way after becoming free, so we should probably follow it, yeah?" - she said, grinning.
[400|4750/14000]
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