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 Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 2:05 pm
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Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:17 pm
Arcturus had been watching over the boy since he drew breath once more. It had been a surprise to him, he had always kept vigil for the boy and often he knew that the mortal was awakening shortly before that breath. This one, this time. He had not even felt the faintest flicker. Thought it was another brief flash when one breath had not followed another. It faltered but it did not die.
The presence of his brother, the reminder of the agreement, it kept him from being as close as he would like, kept him from taking the child like he had done in a few lives before. At the start.
He revised some of his rules after the first couple. No direct interference. No allowing the creatures at his back to do what they will. No revenge.
This one, this surprise one, he watched.
A modest home, well defended. Closer to the woods to allow some occupants to come and go easily.
Easier to disappear into.
Mortal years were quick. Are quick. He grows and grows and grows and all Arcturus wants to do is take and take and take. But this life feels more fragile than the rest.
The first time he catches the boy staring he has to let the claws sink into his back and pull him under before he can lose himself to the primal part of him that is screaming at him to claim what he desires. The second time he has to be pulled away again but for different reasons than the first. He can't leave evidence himself, but finding the human that had been closing in with his throat ripped out by something other than him will have to be satisfying enough.
There are more stares. More eyes following him as he makes a wide circle around the boy, testing. He knows but he doesn't.
Sakura
It's a name he learns and even it fits about as well as all the others.
"Sakura," he tries, standing before the boy and laughing as his hand reaches out only to pass through nothing. Something. Something wrong. An impression of a body.
The arrow that flies just above his shoulder is a delight. The game set.
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Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:18 pm
He had fired with his eyes closed, a deep inhale before, and exhale after, Sakura slowly revealed his golden eyes. He had noticed a presence when he was very young. Had tried to tell his parents, but they didn't sense it at all. Just shadows. An imaginary friend.
But it wasn't a friend. Sakura didn't have those.
Over the course of his life so far, he spent most of his time alone.. Dad was helpful to the community, and mom was always busy rearing their children.. Sakura put together a bow and arrow, like the ones stationed in secret in case of humans, and began trying to hit the shadows. He reasoned that if he hit one, it would be stuck. At fifteen, he was the spitting image of his mother, with the expressions of his father.
Still...he missed.. Whatever it was, he could feel it, and tbiugh it was entertaining, allowing everyone to think he was crazy, or perhaps just training for the day humans invaded, he was coming of age, and just feeling angry and frustrated, "I know you can hear me! I'm tired of this game!" His voice didn't shake with anger, merely dripped with disinterest, his lips formed in a frown.
But not too angry to not string another arrow..
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Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:18 pm
A stationary or a moving target, that was his choice in the moment. He would move like the mortals did for this he decided. One step after the other instead of falling in and out of the world.
A compromise.
He was curious as to what provoked him into drawing his bow the first time. Did he find his presence dangerous? No, that would be too smart. He always learns that lesson later when they are both two far involved to turn away. For now he watched, mismatched eyes keeping track of golden ones. He wasn't sure how much the boy could even hear yet or if he could hear him at all. "Well, go on. Try again."
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Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:19 pm
He drew back, another steadying breath, and he watched the shadows. He could feel it... Taunting. He felt that if this thing were going to kill him, it had ample time to do so. Sakura must have been fun to torment... But what was the point? What if the arrows did nothing? He kept stuck to the idea it was another of their kind, sticking to shadows and toying with him. None of the others had the same power as this.. And it had been around so long it....felt familiar.
Sakura loosened his arrow, and aimed for a target instead, drawing back and releasing it with practiced ease. Why was it easy enough to hit these? "Are you a figment of my imagination? Am I that sick?" Another arrow on his string, and he began walking forward, toward the edge of the trees he had been firing at to begin with.
"Sakura!" Yuura called out after him, "You know better than to go past the trees. Please..don't make me send your father after you again."
A young Skotia laughed manically, though it was honestly from a place of happiness and not the pit of hell it seemed to belong to, the legs on his back curling up, "I could."
"I was just retrieving my arrow.."
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Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:20 pm
Always interruptions.
Arcturus looked up towards the boy's mother. It wasn't the first time that he would look at that mortal and think something was wrong. That it was wrong. Some of the other mortals gave him that feeling as well. They shouldn't be there. He moved past Sakura, coming to stand before Yuura and the younger child.
He could make them leave, they weren't part of the agreement, but even as he raised his arm towards them the claws digging into his shoulders remained. They were normally ravenous. They were ravenous. His hunger echoed their own yet they didn't make a move towards the free meal he was allowing. "You won't let me touch them, will you."
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Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:21 pm
Sakura felt it, stopping near the arrow on the ground, and drawing back his string in an instant, aiming right next to his mother and brother. They both jumped back, legs reacting in fear for Skotia, and Yuura falling backwards inside.
The arrow bedded itself in the doorframe, and Sakura grabbed the second arrow, pulling the string back. It stuck. Straight through.
"Sakura!" Yuura screamed, barely able to breathe, not sure at all what was going on. Sakura could feel him so clearly, he could almost see him, but clearly not the same for his mother. He aimed the second arrow, unsure if the first had done anything at all, "You stay away from my family."
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Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:22 pm
He brought his hand back, fingers pressing against where the arrow had passed through. "Ow," he said flatly. He'd rub his fingers together and slowly move them apart, studying the strands of thick dark blood between them. He could feel himself more solidly within this world. Leaves and grass gave way beneath his feet. The sound of tree branches rustling, of a fire crackling inside a home, a boy's even breath were all so much louder.
He looked back over his shoulder at his beloved, smirking. "Now, that wasn't nice, was it?"
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Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:23 pm
"It was the nicest thing you'll experience if you don't take a step back." He kept the bow drawn, all the while Yuura still shaking. He had no idea what was going on, his son screaming about something. Skotia was acting weird now, too.. His eyes were fixed where his brother was looking, though he couldn't see anything.
Sakura was terrified, but his voice was still even, and cool. Deceptively so, "Tell me what you are. Why have you been stalking this house? Is it my mother?" He was sort of a lure for humans, so the others could feed..
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Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:24 pm
He appeared, wrong. His white hair was held back loosely so that the marking on his forehead and the ones around his gold eye were clearly visible. There were faintly glowing rings around his neck with a line going straight down beneath his shirt and what appeared to be black clawed hands holding on to his shoulders and upper arms that tapered off behind him into nothing at the wrists. He turned back on his heel to fully face the boy. "Do I look like something that could be enticed by such an unskilled charm?" That idea was laughable at best.
"Lower your weapon and reassure them that there is nothing amiss. You are scaring them."
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Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:26 pm
He wondered if that was a threat.. Too bad his father wasn't there. This might have made for a decent enough catch that he might be able to feel him too... Sakura didn't lower his weapon. He was frozen, staring at whatever it was before him, in both terror and awe.
"Sakura!" His mother snapped again, and he finally lowered his bow, "What has gotten into you?! You could have hurt me, or your brother!" He absolutely looked a fright, ripping the arrow out of the doorframe and storming his way down into the grass near his son.
"Mom, it was an accident-"
"Give that damn thing to me!" He snatched the bow, and the second arrow, "I will be telling your father about this. Rest assured."
Sakura just stared, not sure what to say, looking between his mother, and the creature he couldn't see. He really couldn't? "Mom.."
Skotia skittered out to them, sensing his brother was about to faint, and with his gift, he easily caught what his mother could not. Sakura fell directly onto him, passed out cold, leaving Yuura to go out in the forest and find Kin.
When his eyes opened again, he was in bed, in his small room. He remembered the figure so clearly.. How long had he been out? The moon was bathing the grass, now, he saw out the small window. It must have happened again.. Sakura dragged himself out of bed, and made his way to the family room, staring up at his father, and wondering if he had been caught. He held very still, "...dad?
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Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:27 pm
Kin had been resting in one of the salvaged chairs by the door. He had never been a heavy sleeper, even less so after all the changes they had gone through. It would be to their advantage at least with how Yuura was. Easier to dispatch any trespasser while they were still in the woods. It kept the rest of their little town clean of any further blood on their hands.
He opened one eye when called. "Go back to bed, 'Kura."
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Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:29 pm
Michael
He pursed his lips, scratching an arm, "I can't." He hadn't tried, but he knew it would be true, "I'm hungry, and... It happened again, huh?" Duh. Sakura rubbed his eyes, and looked around, "...did anything else happen?" Maybe he had just been seeing things..
Nico
They were both sensitive to creatures around them, but Sakura much more so than himself. He got to his feet and waved for his son to follow him on into the small kitchen. "Come on, I'll fix you something and you can tell me what you saw. You scared your mother half to death."
Michael
He felt bad, but it didn't really show on his face. The one person who understood him was his dad, so he would know Sakura felt badly enough, "I thought there was something in the trees again.. But this time, it ran at mom and Skotia, and I shot at it... But the arrow...was buried in the doorframe. Not anything I thought I saw. I don't remember anything after that." Sakura could still feel it, but after all this time he was beginning to think it was a figment of his imagination.
"I thought it was another one of us. Something hostile, maybe attracted to mom.."
Nico
Yuura called it an imaginary friend. Kin had thought so as well until the first night after Sakura had been old enough to sleep on his own. He had been woken up by the boy tugging at his hand while pointing back towards his room saying that the shadow man had followed him there. He had felt this odd sense of unease when checking his room after. It had never been a feeling that really went away.
"I don't think it's attracted to your mother. You might have inherited some of his abilities after all although I'm not sure what it is you are attracting. Were you feeling ill this morning or do you think the fainting was caused by this thing?"
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Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:36 pm
Michael
If it were his mom inquiring about his illness, he might have rolled his eyes. In this instance, he just glossed over it, knowing the inquiry was simply for matter of fact, "I don't know what the purpose of making me faint would be, since it doesn't seem anything else happened.." Sakura hoped he didn't inherit any of Yuura's particular skills, since that meant his adulthood would be hard, but, "I didn't feel sick this morning, either. Maybe I hyperventilated."
It still didn't seem right, "He looked right at me.. He talked to me..."
Nico
Kin turned away from the counter to look at his son. "Hyperventilated may have been the case. This... It's never spoken to you until now, correct?"
Michael
"No, never." He said quickly, shrugging his shoulders, intensely fascinated about what had happened that day, "He's always kept quite far away... Enough that no one really believed me but you. I was so sure when I hit him everyone would be able to see! But mom just....and Skotia.."
Nico
"Could be its intention. Some kind of camouflage? At will or whatever. If you can track it then maybe we could find someway to reveal it. I'd have to ask some of the others to figure out how." He went back to heating back up a portion of the meal from last night. "Or..." he began, knowing his son at least partially well. "I don't ask. If that's not something you want to share."
Michael
He sighed, rubbing his eyes, and sitting on a large box they used as a chair at the edge of the counter, "I dunno, dad.. I don't wanna freak people out anymore than they are now. Look at mom." Sakura twiddled his fingers, "I kinda... Want to try talking to it."
Nico
He ladled the stew into a bowel and passed it over to him. “Eat. You know where I keep my hunting kit and your bow is by the door. Sunrise is in three hours.”
Michael
Sakura stared at his dad for a minute. He knew that he understood him better, but.. "Thanks, dad." He took a few bites all at once, standing to get himself a canteen of water, and take a long drink, "...Are you sure? If mom finds out, you'll be in trouble."
Nico
“And you will be back in your bed at sunrise.” He gave his kid a look, all four eyes on him. “Understood? I can and will find you.”
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Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:41 pm
Michael
He gulped, then continued eating, nodding like crazy, and taking a last drink, "Yes, dad!" He finished quickly, ran to get his bow, and the kit, but stopped with a turn and ran back to his dad. Hugging him tightly, "Thanks, dad." And then he ran back, grabbed everything he needed, tied up his hair and ran out the door.
He was, of course, very quiet, and slowed the more near to the line of trees he was, "I can feel you." Sakura left the bow strung across his chest, but held his father's dagger tight in his right hand, "Come out."
Nico
Arcturus had been making his rounds through the forest, keeping an eye out for any invaders. That family didn’t know that they were the most protected out of all the rest. He would likely have to wait longer before seeing the boy again. It’s mother was too protective, the father even more so. Bothersome creatures.
He halted in his tracks at the faint rustling of feet passing through the first fallen leaves of the season. Well, this was interesting. He took his time getting back near the edge of the woods until he caught sight of pink hair and his lips curled up in an attempt at a smile. “How about you come further in?”
Michael
"Is this your domain?" Sakura stood firmly planted where he was, calculating everything very carefully, "Is your intent to harm me?"
Nico
“My domain? Hardly.” Truly, that was almost insulting to think that he resided over something as simple as this patch of woodland. “Now why would you think I had any such intentions to cause you harm?”
Michael
"We can start with the aggressive move on my family. The way you hide. The way you sulk at the treeline. Take your pick, I have more."
Nico
“Non-aggression, merely curious. Patrol, not sulk. The hiding I admit to simply because the reason is too lengthy to go over again. Next accusations?”
Michael
"You have been around my family since I was small enough to really remember."
Nico
"A fact. Now, why would that be?"
Michael
"How on earth would I know your intentions?"
Nico
"Because you're a smart boy." He took a few steps closer to where Sakura was at the edge of the woods. "No interest in your family yet I seem to remain in your vicinity. Could it be that it has something to do with you?"
Michael
"You said you wouldn't be done in by lures," he was breathing less evenly now, second hand at his bow, "Even if I am like mom, you'd be after him first, and you already said that wasn't the case. So then what have I done to keep you lurking? Did I pick up a rock of yours? Gather too many branches for burning? Come too close to the trees? Am I cursed?"
Nico
Arcturus crossed his arms behind his back, the claws along his arms shifting to allow such a movement. "A rock? A branch? They have been filling your head with some interesting fairy tales. These woods are the domain of none as was intended the day they were planted. And you." He took another step towards him as if daring him to draw his bow on him again. "If I say you are cursed would that bring you some modicum of solace? Would it suddenly explain things about your life to you?"
Michael
Sakura stepped in closer now as well, daring to stare back intently. He dropped his hand from his bow, but still clenched his dagger, "It would explain more than you can understand. Can my tools even hurt you?
Nico
He chuckled lowly. "It will have to be a mystery for now, if you are cursed or not and you are certainly welcome to try to harm me if it will settle your nerves."
Michael
He scowled back, "Whatever you are, I will find out. I will ask my uncles. And then I will have you banished."
Nico
"Your uncles. Now who would they be?"
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