|
|
Post by kihaku on Jan 20, 2008 6:48:07 GMT
The flight: long as hell.
The passengers: bored as hell.
The pilot: angry as hell.
The food: gross as hell.
The final destination: Heaven incarnate, a mecca of all things ecclectic and unique, an endless cournicopia of sights, smells, sounds, that tingle the senses and urge the spirit to new heights of unimagined wander-lust; a place where the average vagabond can make a life and be happy, a place where the rich can relax and yet do business, where a man is a man, a woman is a woman, and an alien race is just another person on the street.
Unless you happen to live there. Then it just sucked like hell.
Kihaku's broad frame and tall stature drew many looks from the crowd of passersby, but he paid them no mind. Legs stiff from sitting so long on arrival, head throbbing from being put into cryogenic stasis and the necessary cryo-stim supplements that laced every bite of food, and a naturally short temper put anyone within one hundred yards at risk of any number of swift, grisly deaths. His blood-red eyes, disconcerting to most, glowed like burning coals of rage, coiled within the gloom of his hood like poisonous vipers waiting to strike. With his arms across his chest, he was the very image of foreboding and ill-will, a bad omen to any superstitious sap who looked at him.
On the other hand, his two companions weren't nearly as imposing, but just as curious to look upon as he was. One was an impossibly tall female, pretty with a serious face, the other was a woman of average height and build, but differed in the respect that she actually seemed to enjoy being back on the planet. Her face was bright with excitement, her cheeks flushed with exuberance, and her breasts jiggling from bouncing on the balls of her feet for three-minutes straight already.
Fortunately, Kihaku and the other woman were so attention-grabbing, hardly anyone noticed.
"Kyaaaaaa, we're home!" She leaned over, grabbing Kihaku's elbow and bouncing even harder, attempting to shake him into showing some sort of emotion. "Kikikikikiki! We're home!"
He didn't budge, except to look down at her, hissing, "Home is the OtherRealm, Elena. We don't belong on Dragonia any more than Shota."
"Or Chamcam?" She looked at him slyly, wiggling her index fingers in Kihaku's face as if she had brought up a point that would automatically win her the arguement. In response he grunted and righted himself, continuing to stare into nothing in particular. Giving up on him as a lost cause, she turned to Shota, looking up... again... into her face. "Ssssssshoooootah? What'cha thinkin'?"
|
|
|
|
Post by chameleon on Jan 20, 2008 6:59:33 GMT
Shota had her color back, no longer looking dead from the curse of the Forsaken. She was happy to have control over her Channeled Energy again, and happy to be on the same planet as her brother, though none of that seemed to cross her lips. She stared on ahead, emotionless and cold looking, giving the citizens who stared at her too long hard looks until their eyes looked elsewhere.
She had on her normal long black dress, and from a distance, she was a site to behold. Very beautiful in her own right, though up close, she became a little disconcerting. Men were usually turned off by a woman who was THAT much taller then them. In fact, the only person whom she ever met who was taller than she was Kihaku, and he didnt seem interested in anything.
Besides, he was an ass.
She looked down at Elena, her expression unchanging. "Thought are in the head for a reason child, and are meant to stay there," she said, though the word child, was no used as demeaning in any way, it was what was expected of a woman who was addressing someone younger (or just looked younger in this case) on Elicoori. Old habits would have a hard time in dying. Her unnaturally bright green eyes examined Elena, as if she were picking her apart.
"We need to find my brother, and figure out why he acted that way towards you before he was taken again. You say he acted as if he didnt know who you were?"
|
|
|
|
Post by kihaku on Jan 20, 2008 7:11:50 GMT
Elena made a face, she didn't think it was right that Shota refer to her as someone young (she was, after all, old enough to be her grandmother's grandmother), but she didn't raise a stink about it, know that she, like Kihaku, would not rise to the bait and be brought into an arguement for which she was so famous. Instead, she accepted Shota's unwillingness to speak as stage-fright; new planet, new faces, and the prospect of violence to someone who's lived a life of the purest form of peace might be a little bit daunting.
You say he acted as if he didn't know who you were?
"... In a manner of speaking." She didn't want to delve into the prospect that the Demon had done something to Chameleon to make him forget who she was, or not recognize her, or something like that, so soon after he had finally learned her feelings for him. She didn't resent Kihaku for telling him (saved her the trouble of weeks beating it into him), but she regretted that the both of them hadn't done more to protect him from their long-gone assailant.
"He just looked at me like he was dazed, like he didn't recognize me, not that he didn't remember. The Demon took a good number of hits from all of us, so I wouldn't doubt if Cham himself got a little rattled."
She prayed she was right. Jerking her thumb over her shoulder, she stated matter-of-factly, "He's in that direction."
"She's right."
"About?"
Silence.
|
|
|
|
Post by chameleon on Jan 20, 2008 7:24:58 GMT
Shota stared ahead the way Elena pointed expecting him to come walking leisurly out of one of the shops.
Then, it happend so quickly, Chameleon blasted from out of the sky coming to a halt quicker than a blink of an eye, a stupid goofy looking grin on his face. His body glowed with purple and green aura, as if he had just been in a battle.
"Chameleon," Shota said surprised.
Cham looked from Kihaku to Shota. "It's so great to see you both, I didnt know exactly what was going to happen but I figured I'd find you guys here soon enough. Kihaku, you'd never guess who I found, Shizuka!"
Cham, still smiling, brought his attention to Elena. "I remember seeing you on Elicoori, so you decided to travel with Kihaku and my sister?" Cham said walking up to her. "I'm sorry we never really got a chance to meet, my name is Chameleon Roughnight, nice to meet you," he said holding out a hand.
Shota looked at Elena, worried about what was going to happen, though, like most of everything else, she remained emotionless.
|
|
|
|
Post by kihaku on Jan 20, 2008 7:35:45 GMT
Kihaku was still as a statue, nodding only to acknowledge that Cham had at all arrived and spoken. Elena, on the other hand, was just about to jump-tackle him when he said words that gave her pause.
It's so great to see you both
Oh no... He went on about something she couldn't quite make out from the blood pounding in her ears, her stomach wriggling about inside her as if made up of a dozen snakes. He turned his bright, smiling face to her, and she almost forgot how to breathe. She prayed to the powers that be that he remembered her, that what he said was just because he was happy to see his teacher and sister, nothing more.
"I remember seeing you on Elicoori, so you decided to travel with Kihaku and my sister?" Cham said walking up to her. "I'm sorry we never really got a chance to meet, my name is Chameleon Roughnight, nice to meet you."
Her heart plummeted, her veins turned to ice, and her entire body was rigid with overwhelming shock and hurt. Her eyes started to mist, and her lower lip gave only the slightest tremble as she fought back the surging panic in her breast. Taking a step forward, she looked very seriously into his face, taking his outstretched hand in both of hers.
"Cham... think very hard now, are you sure you don't remember more?" Her liquid brown sugar eyes pleaded with his shining emerald ones, deep darkness threatening to swallow her the instant he admitted to having forgotten the woman who loved him. "We've met before, please, think hard."
|
|
|
|
Post by chameleon on Jan 20, 2008 7:41:33 GMT
Cham stared at her for a moment, looking breifly to Kihaku and Shota for help, when none arrived he looked back into her very pretty eyes. He seemed to hover there for a long time, looking in, thinking back in his mind to everyone he met in the past, trying to place her, but he couldnt.
"I'm really sorry, miss, but I dont remember you." he did look sad that he couldnt, because he knew how important it was to her. "What is your name, maybe if I hear your name I can place you..." he said, though knowing it wouldnt work, he just didnt want to see her cry.
Shota moved in next to Kihaku, leaning over close so Cham and Elena couldnt here. "This is sad, I feel so bad for Cham, is there something we can do, maybe sit him down and explain?"
|
|
|
|
Post by kihaku on Jan 20, 2008 7:51:38 GMT
"Your loyalty is admirable, but Cham's inevitable awkward feelings are nothing compared to the panic and heartbreak Elena is feeling right now." He didn't expect her to be super-hyper-sensitive about other's feelings, but as a healer and one woman to another, she should have at least felt the slightest inkling of sympathy for her. Perhaps Shota had not experienced love for another herself, he couldn't be sure, but what he DID know was that whatever the Demon had done to Cham...
"This sort of thing is beyond my scope of experience."
Elena's face grew pale, then her cheeks flushed with melancholy and embarassment for making such a scene. She released his hand, knowing it would do nothing to touch his skin, and clasped them in front of herself, a single tear rolling down her ruddy cheek. "It's Elena, Chamcha-... Chameleon, we fought against Dramanius, and afterwords at the bar I..." She looked to the ground, her hair falling down, obscuring her face from view. "I... I'm sorry!"
Covering her face, she turned and dashed away to the inn she and Kihaku had picked out shortly after arrival. Headed for her room that she shared with Kihaku, the male Chaos Spirit sighed in mixed annoyance and resignation. "Yet it seems it might be for the best."
|
|
|
|
Post by chameleon on Jan 20, 2008 8:01:11 GMT
Chameleon looked at Shota and Kihaku dumbfounded. "Is what she says true?" Cham said looking very confused.
Shota looked at Kihaku and then back and Cham. He didnt know why she had to look at Kihaku first, as if to see if he approved, she didnt care what he thought. She was the big sister and she knew best.
She nodded once to Cham and tilted her head towards the inn. She explained about what had happend. Chameleon remembered the re-cap just fine, he just didnt remember Elena being there at all. He gave a long sigh, knowing that his sister wouldnt lie, but it wouldnt change a thing.
Shota, however, did not say that Elena and him were in love. That was not something for her to say. "Her heart is broken Chameleon Roughnight, and you're the best healer on Elicoori and probably this planet. You need to go to her." She said tilting her head towards the inn.
Chameleon nodded and ran in after Elena. If she was his friend, then he needed to be by her side, regardless if he remembered her or not. Shota wouldnt have lied to him about something like this. His mind was racing as he neared the door, hearing sobbing from inside. Nothing was ever easy around here.
He gently knocked on the door. "Elena? It's Cham, can I come in?"
Outside, Shota turned towards Kihaku. "For the best!?" she said, making sure Chameleon was out of ear shot first. Her hands when to her hips and she looked dangerous in her own rite.
"What do you mean it was for the best!? They love each other, you know that, and they should, love is something that doesnt happen often enough in this world, and in the Other world I'm sure," she said. Looking angry and flustered really seemed to bring out her beauty.
|
|
|
|
Post by kihaku on Jan 20, 2008 8:34:35 GMT
Kihaku ignored Shota's railings about his comment on the loss of their love. What was love anyway? To Kihaku, it was a completely unique set of chemical imbalances that create a mutual urge to mate and propogate the species when one observes traits that one finds enjoyable or impressive. Hell, if penguins can mate for life, then surely humans couldn't be all that different.
"People fall in and out of love every day. I have seen more people start wars, commit murder, rage, scream, cry, and even fall so far into despair that they take their own lives in my many years upon Dragonia, and I can tell you for a certainty," he looked at her with his apathetic stare, his irksome red eyes boring into that stoney, prickly exterior, "Love is just as common as greed."
He turned away and started to walk into the crowded street, knowing that it would be a good few hours until either Chameleon or Elena were fit for company of any kind other than one another. "On the subject, you're quite stunning when you're angry. Far more flattering than that marble facade you force yourself to wear." Such words from that deep baritone, that gaunt face, that gargantuan form, seemed almost too rediculous to believe.
After requesting entrance, Chameleon would hear a gasp and sudden rustling, as well as several small sniffles before, "Yes, s'fine." She was sitting cross-legged on her twin-size bed, pillow nestled against her front, her back against the headboard. Her eyes were pink and starting to look puffy from her crying, but with her mouth buried against the white linen and the occaisional wipe of a stray tear, she looked to be almost the perfect portrait of the misery a love forgotten may bring.
"Did you need something?"
|
|
|
|
Post by chameleon on Jan 20, 2008 8:42:49 GMT
"Yes, I need something," he said, a kind smile on his face as he entered the room and closed the door behind him. He walked across the room and grabbed a chair, sitting down next to her bed, facing her, he put his hands on his chin and gave her another smile.
"So, they explained what happend, about the demon." he said with a shrug. "That I dont remember you, though I'm not sure why the Demon would choose you over anyone else for me to forget. I wish I could change what happend, but I can't." he said with a sigh, his eyes going to the cieling in thought, then, with a short sigh, his green and purple eyes settled back down to her.
"Now, whipe those tears, Elena, we are friends, regardless if I remember or not, we are who we are, and that's not going to change. Now, I need to remember everything about you, so we are going to have to sit here and figure this out, right?" he said, a big smile on his face.
===========
Shota followed him, dumbfounded at being called prettier because she was angry, which only seemed to anger her more. "Listen here KiKi," she said tauntingly, as if Elena was still there. "No man has ever spoken to me in such a tone, you apologise right now, this instant!" She said catching up to him and moving in front, turning around, her hands on her hips again, tapping a foot, waiting for the apology.
|
|
|
|
Post by kihaku on Jan 20, 2008 9:01:09 GMT
Elena watched him with baited breath, her thumbs worrying the edges of the pillowcase. His kind words, that handsome smile, the mis-matched eyes that she found so adorable, he was exactly the same person... except that he didn't remember her. Once again, it seemed that Kihaku and Shota... mostly Shota, had ruffled about in her business again, once again doing something helpful. Right now, Elena felt like making them thank-you muffins, but she was too sad and Chameleon wanted to talk.
When he suggested that they were still friends, no matter what, her heart gave a small flutter of resignation. She was glad he wasn't avoiding her, but then again, it was a far cry from where their relationship had fallen from.
Still, she was willing to give it a shot. Setting aside the pillow, she wiped her eyes on the palm of her hand and smiled. It wasn't as cheery as Cham's, but it was a smile nonetheless. "Okay, yeah. Umm... well, I'm a Chaos Spirit like Kihaku, I became one before he did actually, so I'm like his older sister or something." She giggled nervously at the thought, hoping that he would find it humorous, or something to that degree.
===========
Kihaku had gotten a rise out of her, something that the ever-presistent Elena couldn't do, which intrigued the Chaos Spirit rather than deter him. Still, his complete lack of any sort of interest in egging on the poor woman (she had just left her homeworld, afterall) lead him to disregard her using Elena's affectionate nickname. Still, he couldn't ignore her when she was standing right in front of him, practically on eye level. It was a view of someone that Kihaku rarely ever had, being seven foot even, so when she spoke he was literally forced to pay attention.
"No man has ever spoken to me in such a tone, you apologise right now, this instant!"
"Then this should be good lesson for you, princess," leaning down a little, his face was close enough for her to notice that, despite their close proximity, she would feel no warm breath or any exhale of any sort, "Women are on equal footing with men on this planet, so if you demand something, you better damn-well be able to get it."
With that, he straightened and walked towards her, and then right through her, his whole body, minus the last four inches he had on her, parted as if he were made of nothing more substantial than smoke, quickly reappearing as if his spirit were some sort of magnet, pulling it all back in once he was behind her.
=============
"So although we all have these Marks on us, yours scared me the most because that meant you were forever linked to us. I was... well, I was afraid for your safety. Y'know, 'cuz I care about you." She was blushing again, the third time since she started rambling about things she liked and done, almost letting slip that she had fallen in love with him. She felt as if, with his memory gone, it would only make their tenuous grasp on friendship too strained to withstand.
|
|
|
|
Post by chameleon on Jan 20, 2008 9:12:08 GMT
Chameleon smiled widely listening to her talk, laughing in a few parts like when she said that technically, she was older than Kihaku, and more stories along the way, of her and him, of how worried she got of him.
"It's almost as if we were Promised," he said smiling at that. "On Elicoori, the only people who are to worry after you as such are immediate family and a Promised." he sighed leaning back to listen to more of her stories. He was starting to figure out quickly why he was friends with her. Her smile made him happy inside, as if his body's natural reaction to her was to smile. It all seemed perfect.
"Why did the Dream Demon choose you to erase from my memories? Why not Kihaku or Shota?" Cham asked, though it was a question half to himself, half to Elena.
=========
Shota turned and started after him. "If that is true, then why treat me as if I'm inferior?" she said coming up beside him, matching his stride. Him walking through her left her a little disoriented, but her fire was still lit. "Walking away from someone with your back towards them while they are trying to speak to you is rude. You might as well as do me the courtesy and at least turn towards me when we are talking."
|
|
|
|
Post by kihaku on Jan 20, 2008 9:45:44 GMT
Dammit, how to explain this to a mortal without making her hate me... He slowed down, allowing the pair of them to walk at a leisurely pace so that not only would she stop badgering him about ignoring her and being rude, but also t allow him to build his reasoning in a cohesive manner.
"First off, I don't treat you as inferior, I treat you like everyone else. Elena is like a sister to me, and I don't treat her any different as I would you, Chameleon, some random damsel in distress or a drunkard spoiling for a brawl. That's just who I am to others, just like your rock-hard mask you wear, or your little quip to Elena about thoughts, which was rude by the way, so don't start with me."
=================
Though Elena had only recently learned what a Promised was, the term still struck her a powerful blow to the chest. She fully believed that she was letting too much of her caring for him slip, and that he was going to come to the awkward conclusion by himself, and then the whole thing would become a mess. Thinking quickly she grabbed for any sort of explanation that would sound half-reasonable. In the end, with a sigh of resignation, she relented.
"It's... kind of simple, really. Kihaku's your teacher, Shota's your sister... but, um..." she was finding it harder to say than she believed it could be. The Demon's words before disappearing were ringing in her ears as if he had spoken them only seconds ago, yet she could not bring herself to speak the words. "We- that is to say, you and I... well, we're friends, not Promised or anything like that but... you and me, we cared about one another, a lot, you know? So much so that he thought... losing each other would be the biggest hurt he could ever make. Did I sort of make sense?"
===========
"Secondly, I've lived so long that the companions I've had in the past have become so obscured by time that, prior to the Esperanza tournament, Chameleon is the only one I can truly remember, not just because we're still together, but for other reasons as well." He wasn't sure if he was making his point or not, but he was trying to express that, at a certain point in his long life, he simply stopped caring what people think about his actions or words, that in the long run he would out-live them, and their beliefs wouldn't benefit them in the least. Of course, Chameleon was now an exception, since becoming attatched in some strange way to the boy's well-being. Trying to convey this without sounding like he's saying "I'll live long after you're dead, so you don't matter," was a delicate thing, something he wouldn't spare anyone else.
"I'll make a deal with you: I'll watch myself and be more courteous, if you lighten up, fair?"
|
|
|
|
Post by chameleon on Jan 21, 2008 4:44:00 GMT
Shota swung an amazingly quick hand, slapping him across the face. "Dont ever say that someone isnt important Kihaku!" she said, her eyes brightening up just like Chameleon's. Her face turned cold and emotionless again. "After all your years, you should have figured that out. I see it in your eyes, you do care, especially about my brother. And you know you do, and you know he cares about you. We never had a very prominent father in our lives, and Cham was abandoned by him, when he became a Forsaken. Whether or not you care to see it, Chameleon looks at you like a son does a father. That won't change you know. You saying that it doesnt matter is a lie"
=======
"We were in love," he said looking towards the window deep in thought. He somehow knew the answer to that. Just looking at her, her reaction outside, her hesitation in describing their relationship, she was worried about him. He thought of Shizuka, and how much she changed. He had feelings for her, but they werent of love.
He thought of those feelings for Shizuka long. He could remember her, so that's the only lovey emotions he felt for a girl, but if he loved Elena, then it changed everything. For some reason, he began seeing Shizuka's face less and less, being replaced as affection to friendship. Though, he didnt love Elena, he had once, and that meant that there is something in this girl that he cared deeply for. He didnt know what it was though... yet.
He looked back at her, his smile lessening, but still there, it was a sad smile. "I want to remember that love, Elena, but I can't, and it breaks my heart. But..." he looked away and up towards the sky outside the window. "But I wont stop until I find out what it is that made me love you."
(( ooc: Kihaku, I realize that there was a little bit of god-mode at the start of this post, if you wish me to delete it, just say the word ))
|
|
|
|
Post by kihaku on Jan 21, 2008 6:22:04 GMT
Kihaku, after attempting to explain why he acted the way he did, scanned the crowd for anyone who seemed like they had been paying the pair of them unwanted attention. He heard the sound of something moving rapidly, so he turned his face just in time to catch the palm across the cheek. The force of it caugth him off guard, not enough to dizzy him, but enough to cause a stinging sensation on his skin. For once in his life, there was actual color on his face, a slight glow forming where her hand had caught him.
He was suddenly angry, but not for the reasons he thought he would be. Rather than the object of his ire being Shota for striking him, it was himself instead, twinges of embarassment for being caught unaware jolting through his chest. It had been a long time since anyone's words, let alone a woman's words, had charged him with any emotion at all, let alone lay a hand in anger on him. Stung, yet still prideful, "Yes, I'm sure two hundred years from now, when both you, Chameleon, and your children's children are dead, it'll change the world what some back-water farm boy felt for the Guardian of Consequence."
==================
"We were in love."
"Y-yeah..." She shifted uncomfortably, not looking at him at first, waiting to see what else he would say or think, hoping against hope that perhaps such information might be enough to break whatever hold the Demon's spell had on him. Risking a glance, her eyes darted to catch a glimpse of him, and she forgot how to breathe. His handsome features were highlighted in mid-afternoon sun, drenching his skin with a smooth warmth she didn't believe could exist in a human being. His eyes glistened with thought, and his mis-matched eyes so cute she could hardly stand it.
"I wont stop until I find out what it is that made me love you."
Her heart trembled in place; though it hurt he still didn't remember, he wasn't put off by the one-sidedness of the love between them, instead it made him more determined to re-establish his lost memories, to re-learn everything that was between them... and perhaps even love her one day.
Ever the smartass, "My word Chameleon, does this mean you might have a crush on me?"
===============
Thrusting a finger in her face, his hood, askew from the assault, fell back to reveal his gaunt features and burning, blood-red eyes. His appearance made all the more menacing with the spite and anger twisting his features, yet restraining his power like a caged tornado.
"When you finally realize that not everything in this existence isn't as perfect as you think it is, I just hope I'm there to see the spirit in you finally crushed, that light in those perfect emeralds of yours wink out."
The Oblivion was shaking violently against his back, begging to be released from its restraints and spill the blood of this woman who would dare suggest that the Wandering Persecutor, once the Eye of Chaos, could possibly know nothing about the realm of the living.
"Be content in the knowledge that the boy is my desciple, for were he not, your life's blood would already paint these walls."
With that, his form suddenly blew away as if made of smoke, his Shadow Transmission taking him more than a half-mile away so that he might cool his burning temper, or satisfy his blood-lust with some poor theif attempting to do harm. It wasn't that he particularly wanted to do good, he just wanted to be justified in breaking someone's neck.
|
|
