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Humans are the greatest beings on this planet. Second only to those that have not been discovered. Humans are the strongest, capable of banding together to move entire nations. And yet, humans are also the loneliest. They have all these methods of coming into contact with others, so many ways to talk, but they chose to spread their days, looking down at electronic screens. Like this, they alienate themselves, even from those that they have known all their lives. Flesh and blood has been replaced by a brightly lit screen. So should someone be suffering right in front of you, you don’t even notice.

After all, why bother when the world inside your screen is all you need?
Erik Ioder (pronounced ye-oh-dur) was different, though. He wasn’t trapped within the virtual world, he ruled its streets. A true wolf in sheep’s clothing, an information ninja, he weaseled info out of people without them realizing how harmful it could possibly be…until he sold it to the highest bidder that hit his hotline. His life was perfect…until he got into an ‘accident’. While using his phone to shift through data on the waves, he didn’t notice the streetlight change as he was crossing the road. All he heard next was the sound of the truck’s horn before it collided with him. He was killed instantly. However, his life didn’t end there. No, he was given a second chance at living a full life.
When the young man opened his eyes, he found himself in the middle of a forest, his body completely unharmed, but he was now wearing strange clothes. If he recalled correctly, they were the sort that women wore. So…why was he wearing them now? Standing, he saw that he was in a clearing within a forest with a shallow river nearby. After tripping a few times, he finally lifted the hem of the dress so he could properly walk over to the river. Looking down at his reflection, he saw that his overall appearance hadn’t changed at all. He was just in a dress. “How strange… I thought I got hit by a bus. Huh?”

While moving the dress about, something fell out of a secret pocket: his cellphone. “Ah, my cell!” Snatching it up, he started pressing buttons, only to find it wasn’t working. “Hm, it’s probably dead. I’ll charge at the nearest station. But first, I have to get out of here.” Erik nodded his head, ready to go through with his plan when he heard the crunch of footsteps behind him. Turning, he saw-

Setting: Ioder has been sent to another world that resembles Ancient China. (No advanced tech!) There is an on-going war between the Demon King and the human Emperor. The Emperor wants to rid his country of all demons and make more room for humans, while the Demon King wants to coexist with the humans in hopes of saving demons from their dwindling birth rate. The war is caught in a stalemate due to the varying levels of power both sides possess.
Things changed when an old witch appeared before them all and foretold that a being from another world would soon appear. Whoever got this mysterious being onto their side, a grand power would be theirs: a single anything-goes wish. Who will get Ioder to their side and what will they wish for?

Rules

Rules
- follow Gaia TOS
- follow Guild Rules
- pm profile with RP's title

Characters

Erik Ioder
18 y.o.
Likes: his phone, his job, and watching his victims go about their life blindly.
Dislikes: being disconnected from the Wired, where he currently is, “these stupid clothes”, and fights.
Backstory: Mother was a hacker, showed him the joys of making those online suffer for their stupid mistakes. She taught him everything she knew. But then the government came knocking on their door and took his mother away from him. She gave him a parting gift before she was imprisoned: the very cell phone he used for his trade. Since then, he’s been making sure to stay under the government’s radar by targeting your everyday civilians and avoiding anything to do with politics.
But now that he’s in this new world, he has to learn how to survive using old-fashioned information. It’s a good thing he grew up doing parkour and morning runs…
Guilty Pleasure: Erik has a passion for good, authentic food cooked home-style. He doesn’t really enjoy eating in restaurants as much as he does eating in a person’s home.

Lian Meng
{Also takes the form of a black-coated Asian Golden Cat, which is 3-times the size of a normal domestic cat or larger, depending on whether or not he wants to rip you to shreads}
Age: 75 years (looks 20; is a young-adult cat demon)
Likes: Warm spring sunlight, deliciously prepared lotus flower roots, playing tricks, wandering
Dislikes: His aged father, cold winters, water and wet activities, most humans
Backstory: Lian (or 'Li' as he lets friends address him as) was born as heir to the Demon King. However, the responsibility of the position has never much appealed to him. Lain has avoided the front lines of the ongoing war and his father in favor of instead roaming small villages and the wilds. He's since then done everything from maul unwary bandits to prank townsfolk, having to flee or fight any human soldiers along the way.
Guilty Pleasure: Eating blue lotus flower petals, or drinking tea made from the same petals. It calms him and makes him feel good if also a bit 'loopy', though it also leaves him lethargic and sluggish afterwards with a scattered mind. This pleasure/addiction is a weakness he can little afford in such times.

The man was about average height as he walked right passed Erik, both hands pressing against his head as he grumbled loudly to himself. He had ruffled-looking black hair, and was wearing an outfit just as odd as Erik's, only clearly in a less feminine style. Less elegant design was involved, instead looking more like a simplistic black robe with a crimson sash. Appearing to ignore the 'woman' completely the man knelt down by the stream to cup his hands and scoop up some of the water ... only for his now-freed ears to perk up a moment before turning towards Erik, betraying that the stranger had in fact noticed and was keeping note of the other. His black tail was twitching his discomfort at the current headache he had thanks to how much he'd enjoyed himself the night before. Too much stealing sake, not enough mischief. But hey, a cat had to relax sometime, and last night had been a perfect night for finding a nice place to party with the local smallfry demons.

But now it looked like a bad morning had turned into a lucky one, considering he'd found quite a good-looking virgin. Out in these small villages beautiful humans were few and far between, but this one was something Li had never seen the like of before. Light colored hair like autumn grass, and eyes glittering like gold. Was she also a demon? No human could be this good looking.

"Good morning," he purred the greeting, finishing his drink and standing, grinning at the virgin. Because this human sure as hell smelled like a virgin ... and of other things that were hard to name. The demon expected the other to react by screaming, fleeing, or some mixture of both. Human women knew what demons did to fragile flowers that were found all alone, after all. And out here this far from any village, there would be no one to hear her screaming for help, not that Li considered many humans even remotely a threat to him. He was a high class demon; it would take quite a skilled weapon-wielding human to even scratch him. What could a lowly woman do? Nothing, as far as Lian thought, knowing most woman were trained in the art of pleasing men or hard housework and labor. This dainty little flower didn't even look like she could wield an iron skillet, let alone anything that could be considered a real weapon.

"What's a beauty like you doing so far from home?" His slit, jade-green eyes gleamed, headache fading fast as he glanced up and down this impressive find. "Don't you know it's dangerous around these parts? Bandits ... rude soldiers ... demons," he chuckled, itching for the chase to begin like any feline would. Why wasn't she running yet? Was she scared stiff?

Li tilted his head, a frown slowly forming on his face as the 'maiden' open her mouth and ... talked back to him? Huh. Humans never talked back to him, especially not females--and then ... Lian realized through the other's vocal tones that this human was sounding more and more 'male' by the syllable. Damn humans, smelling confusing all of them looking the same and for not wearing the proper clothes for his gender! But wait ... a male virgin in a dress alone in the middle of the woods; now what was that about? And what nonsense was pouring out of this virgin's mouth?

"Wired? No such thing?" Li questioned aloud, before sighing heavily. Great; was this some sort of human with their head not-quite-right? He'd seen enough of that sort the first time demons started bringing those from 'another world' to his father, thanks to that stupid witch and her prophecy. Humans who spoke in tongues no one could understand or humans that were just plain mad ... all a huge waste of time. But did his father stop? No; the old fool still even now keeps hope 'a being from another world' will finally appear and be won over to their side. The demon watched the odd male look at the river, as if trying to get his bearings. Was this human lost? Well, male or female why waste a perfectly good lost virgin? This human was pretty enough to make up for a bit of craziness.

Li smiled, leaning closer to the male and reached out, lightly tugging at the sleeve of the other's kimono. "No such thing as demons, huh ... Well, up until today I didn't think there was any idiot prideless enough to wear woman's clothing, despite being a man. But I suppose humans are rather cowardly as a rule, aren't they ..." Lain grinned, wondering how loudly he could make this silly fool scream. And if this beauty could scream as well as a woman.

Letting go, Li raised his hand, palm-up. His nails grew sharper, and curled slightly into claws. With a smile, the demon stared at the human, wondering if this foolish human could recognize a veiled threat when it saw one. "Take off your clothes--"

The feline froze, eyes head and ears turning at the distant sound of a branch snapping. In the silence noise of men speaking could be heard, along with a very clear neighing of a horse. Li processed many things at once; commoners nor villagers owned horses. Only nobles or the leader of a band of soldiers tended to even think of owning one, and even then you had to be either or rich stock or of good reputation. Then, of course, there were bandits who might be lucky enough to steal a horse. But the demon didn't really want to deal with any group of armed-to-the-teeth humans, especially not when he'd found such a prize.

"I've got a new idea," Li said simply, claws reverting back into nails before he grabbed Erik without warning, aiming to toss the pretty male over his shoulder as he ran through the woods and to a more secluded spot.

The other's punching was wimpy and weak, almost like the human hadn't ever had to do a good hard-days work in his life. But Li wasn't complaining, he actually quite liked how 'soft' this human was. Skin smooth instead of roughened by a lifetime or working on the earth, shaping metal, or carving wood as humans usually did. But, then again, 'wimpy and weak' by demon standards was actually quite alright by human ones. And Demons had their own weaknesses to make up for it.

"Cut that out," Li hissed warningly, tail currently straight out behind him as he bolted through the woods with surprising ease, clothing not even catching on twigs or branches as he passed by foliage with a fast run. But the human's hits were getting close to the base of his spine where his tail connected to his body, and that was a sensitive area.

"If you hit my tail, I'll eat you," Lian said in complete seriousness, slowing his stride a little as he flicked his ears around, before taking off in a slightly different direction. The woods was alive with life, Li startling a deer as he ran along and birds singing all round them as the feline got into the groove of running before slowing his pace as the intended destination became closer.

"Stop squirming," Lian said, tail twitching in irritation and ears tilted back as he frowned. In the distance, a mossy abandoned shrine that was once used to offer gifts to demons and deities alike stood. It was hardly a few feet high, but it was a safe and secret place no human was likely to find. Once close enough, the demon tossed the unique human to the ground, looking down on Erik with narrowed eyes.

"Are you really that mental, or just suicidal?"

Lian leaned back a bit, eyes wide as the human seemed twice as infuriated as he was, and even had the gall to raise its voice. The demon was shocked, truly and completely shocked. Very few demons had dare take such a tone with him, let alone such a soft human! And yelling at his face ... damn. This virgin really was crazy.

"I'm starting to think you'd be better off as nothing more than a snack, even if that would be less fun. Though virgins are delicious," Lian said, slowly overcoming his shock and accepting he'd definitely had the worst luck ever this morning. Truly, one of the gods must be laughing at him.

"Māo wángzǐ ... māo wángzǐ!" A small voice called from the rectangular, box-like stone shrine called in the traditional language of old. Lian leaned to the side, looking around the angry human and smiling at the small eye looking out from a hole in the old shrine. Ah, so a demon still did live here, even without human company or offerings.

"Virgin, wait right here," Li said in a tone that suggested he was used to people listening to what he said, before walking around the blond and kneeling down to be closer to eye-level with the resident demon. "Hello. Pardon our intrusion; I just needed a place to eat in peace."

The little demon was quite quick to say it was an honor to be visited by the cat prince, and the most-honored feline was welcome to linger as long as he wished.

Li grinned, having expected no less, before turning to face the human once more, eyes narrowed and licking his lips. Eating such a prize would be easy ... but perhaps he could try one last time to be 'civil'.

"Oi, virgin. You going to take off your clothes so we can get down to business or what? I'm a very busy cat and need to be in the next town before sundown!" A total lie of course, he was simply going wherever he pleased whenever he pleased. But the prince had heard good things about the next town's quality of sake, and was eager to try the alcohol out.

Lian had just about had it trying to be nice to this 'retarded human'. Loud, disrespectful, and just downright annoying. Yup, he was going to eat it-- ... as soon as he figured out what that alien noise (that sounded kinda like a bird cheep but not really) was. The curious cat tilted his head at the flat slab-like object the human pulled out. As it a little demon? Or a spirit bound to a slate stone? Li was about to grab at the item to investigate further when he heard noise from outside ... and promptly slid further to the side before a red arm came bursting in, causing the tiny resident demon to begin crying out in the old tongue from his little home-box in the middle of said shrine.

Lian hissed under his breath, the sound going louder and more like a yowl as he hurried out of the shrine. His black clothes seemed to shift and take on a more definite shape, cloth becoming fur as Lain shifted in shape to that of a stocky black feline. A feline large enough to take on the club-wielding monster who'd so rudely attacked the shrine the prince was currently a guest of. With another yowl Li didn't hesitate to take a clawed swipe at the oni's chest and the large eye there, not about to take such an insult.

"Māo wángzǐ!" the little resident demon cheered, coming out of it's box and fluttering over to Erik's shoulder to better watch the battle going on outside. It was like a tiny, oddly-shaped purple-colored swallow. That had emerald-green scales on it's stomach instead of feathers.

The little demon chirped in alarm as Erik pulled up some sort of odd thing, but fluttered right off of the human's shoulder once the odd not-screaming mortal hurried off into the woods. The shrine-dweller instead watched the fight from the safety of a tree before the oni eventually seemed to keel over at random, leaving a very pissed and frustrated cat prince standing there. After a digging his claws into the dirt, Lian eventually huffed and slowly shrunk himself down to a more normal size for himself ... though he was still three times larger than a normal domestic feline. Li groomed himself a few moments to collect his cool, many things not adding up.

The attacking oni had not had a scent, nor had it reacted to the wounds he'd given it. Not to mention its body had just up and disappeared. Something fishy was going on ... and not a delicious curiosity-tingling kind of fishy either. Tail lashing, Li turned to address his captive audience ... when he finally noticed Erik had left the shrine.

Bristling, the feline's head whipped around as he search for sign of the virgin, only for the little swallow-demon to helpfully chirp and point out the way. The large feline took off, soon coming upon Erik and hissing at the human. "That's it. I'm eating you. I've got a headache again now thanks to you and all this nonsense! So prepare yourself to be-- ..." The piercing jade eyes shifted to the black blade, ears perking with curiosity. "Where did you find that?"

Li rolled his slit eyes, shifting and standing back in human form as he crossed his arms. The sword had 'come out of his arm' huh? Sounded like magic; pretty powerful magic at that ... if what Erik was saying was true at all. Really, most of what the other said still sounded nonsensical to the demon, though Lian couldn't help but personally agree that yes: he was quite a prime male specimen.

"Well duh, of course demons exist. And there is a war going on! You know, Demon King against the Emperor, humans trying to exterminate demons while the King just wants everyone to live in harmony and all that. What rock have you been living under? And why would anyone want to brand stuff with my face on it?" Lian asked. Really, sure branding lifestock with family symbols was common enough, but branding a face? What would be the point? And what companies of soldiers was this crazy loon talking about?

"And what the hell is a 'gloved-er-mint' anyway?"