Post by Rennia Trayvold on Aug 3, 2013 22:27:56 GMT -5
Japan. It was one of the last places that Rennia Trayvold ever wanted to find herself. It wasn't that she hated the land, or the amazing style, the strange culture. Well perhaps it was part of the last one. Rennia on the contrary thought there were some amazing sights to see in Japan. There were also some very amazing aspects about their culture that fascinated Rennia to an extent. Granted over the past centuries she had seen a lot of it, but it still had it's refreshing moments.
But their strange culture also proved to be something of a problem. Person per person, the Japan had more superstitious individuals than most other places in the world. To the Japanese, Daemons were beyond taboo. Anywhere you looked in their culture you saw humans fighting back and defeating the Daemons or evil spirits as they called them. They even had certain teas to 'ward off the spirits.'
This of course meant that Rennia needed to keep an extreme low while she was here, lest it slip that she was a daemon. That would be an adventure that she rather had no interest in having.
This particular venture took her to Ikebukuro which was part of the growing city of Tokyo. Well. Technically it was a city, but the Japanese viewed it as a prefecture, Essentially a county or small State to those in the United States. A state wide city. The upper eastern seaboard was working on it certainly....
The next thing wrong with this trip was that she couldn't bring her car. The thought of leaving her baby at home was enough to put the Daemoness in a bad mood. Not to mention it meant she had to carry everything by hand. Granted she was certainly strong enough to do it, but it got mentally tiring after a while of having to lug her rifle, bow, and other assorted goodies around by foot.
The one saving grace had probably been the private jet that had been booked by her employer. At least she'd be going there in luxury and peace. No annoying passengers to disturb her, and better routes. The trip had been remarkably shorter and less bothersome than flying on an airliner.
Now came the fun part. The daemoness looked around and grumbled. Where was she, and which way did she need to go to get to where she was going. The woman gazed at a map and gazed around. Joy... This would definitely be fun. Heaving a sigh the woman spied a rather tall residential building nearby. It appeared to be upper-class living with penthouses and the like. That'd work. Rennia wandered up to the building which was thankfully still open. There it was an easy process to slip past the desk and into the stairwell. Yes the stairwell. There was definitely not going to be any risking of the elevator.
Despite her dislike of having to carry all that equipment on foot, she seemed to have no difficulty climbing the dozens of flights of stairs. She climbed and climbed and climbed at a brisk pace until she reached a doorway. She carefully pushed that doorway open to reveal the roof of the building. With her success in hand she wandered onto the roof of that building and took a long gaze in every direction. At first she took a cursory sweep, then she started gazing at the streets with a close eye. Every so often she'd gaze from the streets down to the map she had. Slowly she would begin building an idea of where she was, and where she needed to go, based on remembering where it was she landed, which she thankfully could see from here, or at least the general area.
Post by Creed Ackerman on Aug 3, 2013 22:48:29 GMT -5
Creed sighed as she exited out of her penthouse, securing her white trench coat tighter onto her body. Slowly, she walked towards the stairs that lead up to the roof, which was her favourite place in this building. As she slowly walked up the stairs, high heels clicking as they came in contact with the staircase, she sighed once again and brushed a few strands of hair out of her face. Hungry, Creed pulled out a strawberry from her bag and bit into it, savouring the sweet flavour of the small fruit.
She soon reached the roof door and slowly opened it, still munching on her strawberry as she stepping onto the roof and walked near the edge, loving the feeling of wind blowing through her hair. Creed turned her head and saw a woman next to her.
Creed yelped in surprise, dropping her strawberry off of the roof. “Ah! No! My strawberry!” Creed cried, forgetting about the woman next to her.
Post by Rennia Trayvold on Aug 3, 2013 23:14:37 GMT -5
The faint sound of someone coming up from the stairwell caused her to look up from her map though not back towards the door. The moment passed and she looked back down towards her map, ignoring the door opening and the woman wandering out onto the roof until she was standing next to her.
The gasp drew her attention once more, however; and she looked up from her map yet again. Like before she didn't look over towards the other woman. At least, she didn't until the woman comment on the loss of her strawberry. Yes. clearly the strawberry was the most pressing issue at the moment, was the only thought the daemoness had at first. As her gaze lingered on the other woman she looked up and down the woman's length before looking back at her map with one of telling looks that she wasn't quite sure what to make of the other woman.
"I do hope that wasn't the last of your strawberries. I'd hate to deprive you of them," Rennia said to the other woman as she looked over her map, clearly still trying to make sure she was on the right track. She already figured she was, but she wanted to double and triple check, to make sure she didn't get lost once again. "I gather that not many people come up here anymore? Too busy playing with their various electronic devices I gather. Either that or going to clubs. The latter is at least an activity I suppose." The tone came out in that casual conversational way, as if she wasn't a complete stranger, carrying a pair of long cases and baggage of gear, standing on top of a building she didn't live in, reading a map.... and speaking English for that matter. Lets not forget she was also quite oddly dressed, regardless of the temperature.
Post by Creed Ackerman on Aug 3, 2013 23:53:57 GMT -5
Creed sighed, looking down at the street, unable to see her precious strawberry anymore, before facing the strangely dressed woman. “Nah, that one was just really sweet but I have more, though!” She smiled, showing the woman her bag full of strawberries. “Would you like one?” She offered, holding open her bag. “Yeah, I never see anyone else up here.” She said, replying in English while brushing her blond hair away from her face.
Her bright blue eyes searched the woman while she reached into her bag and pulled out on of the man strawberries in her bag, slowly biting into it and her eyes still on the woman. Creed glanced at the map that the woman was looking at. “Need any help? I know this place like the back of my hand!” She bragged, smiling at her. “My name is Creed Ackerman, by the way!”
‘The way this woman looks . . . is odd.’ Creed thought, tilting her head slightly to the side. “Maybe she’s a demon . . . Oh crap, crap, crap, crap!” She cried, embarrassed that she just said that aloud. ‘Great, now she’s going to think that I’m a nut!’
Post by Rennia Trayvold on Aug 4, 2013 0:12:35 GMT -5
Rennia considered making a comment to the woman in regards to the strawberries, but she simply shut her mouth and reached into the bag, pulling one out and chomping down on it. Of course she didn't smack her lips or anything like that. She displayed above average manners when it came to chewing her food, even if the taking of the food didn't quite match entirely up to par. As the woman spoke of the fact no one was ever up here, Rennia would just vacantly nod, still gazing over the map at the time.
Then Creed asked if Rennia needed any assistance. That caused the Daemoness to look up and forward. "You're rather forward aren't you Miss Ackerman? Most people I meet aren't too eager to give their names out. As for the help, thanks, but I think I got where I'm going. Haven't been to Japan in quite some time. It's changed a lot since then."
With that she began to fold up her map, working it down to it's original size before she packed it away in one of her various pockets under her cloak. Afterward she began digging in one of the bags she had brought with her, looking for something inside. That's when she overheard Creed's next comment. It caused her to slow her search down for a fraction of a second before she resumed looking through it. She slowly shook her head side to side faintly and offered a reply. "A demon Miss Ackerman? That's quite an unusual thing to call a stranger. Definitely far from the worst I've been called... but possibly one of the strangest. So what about me reminds you of a demon huh?"
Rennia felt like smirking at the line of thought but restrained herself. She kept her eyes trained within the bag as she kept digging through it, at this point merely stalling in her search for whatever object she was after. She had to admit, few people outright simply accused her of being a demon, even fewer did so when addressing themselves... Or perhaps there was another here whom she couldn't see. Despite the implications, the woman actually hoped more for the former than the latter. People loitering out of sight tended to bother her, but then, that was her job to do.
Post by Creed Ackerman on Aug 4, 2013 1:00:30 GMT -5
Creed nodded. “Well, there is no harm done in giving out your name to people you just met . . . Unless they were some sought of assassin and ended up targeting me . . .” She laughed nervously, picking up another strawberry and eating it, smiling as she did so.
As she blushed in embarrassment, her keen eyes saw the woman, whom she hasn’t learnt the name of; slow down for a fraction of a second. “Um . . . W-well – I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to insult you!” She apologised. “I sometimes just speak my mind without realising it!”
Her wings twitched from under her trench coat, a thing Creed did whenever she was nervous, embarrassed or angry, and in this case, it was nervously. ‘I think I may have blown my cover is she has somehow worked it out!’ Creed though, heart beat speeding up. ‘Maybe she’s not a demon, but a demon hunter or something!’
Creed ignored the woman’s last question, anger boiling up inside of her. ‘Frickin’ demon hunters! I’m not going to die in the hands of you!” Creeds eyes went cold and quickly turned red, which happens whenever she gets angry.
“Leave.” She growled, balling her hands into fists. “LEAVE!”
Post by Rennia Trayvold on Aug 4, 2013 1:53:10 GMT -5
Rennia blinked as the woman blurted the next phrase out. The Daemoness stopped digging into her bag and slowly looked over her shoulder at the woman's comment about being an assassin. Okay, the fact she'd called her a demon out of the blue was already....different. Now the fact that she was calling her an assassin. For a moment Rennia considered the woman knew who she was... but that thought was quickly dispelled. Rennia brushed it away as the rantings of the random passerby.
She went back to digging into her bag and replied to the woman's comment without looking back at her. "I can't say that I'm insulted, though I am a bit curious as to what made you think I am a demon of all things. It's not exactly something most people call others. I could see robber, mugger, shady person, thug... delinquent even. Demon has to be considerably low on that list. Though I would suggest maybe learning to pause to process that thought some time. I'm not overly bothered personally, but you might find others are not so passive about comments made to their person."
Once more that daemoness found herself pausing in her search within the bag as she something pricked at the back of her neck. In the next moment she could hear the agitated breathing of the woman behind her, then there was the malicious intent that began to ooze off of her.
Rennia stood up very slowly, looking over her shoulder at the woman as she told her to leave. Those deep red irises glowed dimly as she gave the girl another look over. The first thing she noted was the change in eye color... Then the dark clad woman chuckled softly. "Now it all makes sense Miss Ackerman. Self-projection. You asked if I was a demon because you... yourself just happen to be a Daemon. It's a curious mechanism but not one I'm unfamiliar with. Sometimes it occurs when an individual wishes to belong somewhere. It's a sign of loneliness. However... regardless of your predisposition, I'm going to have to ask that you calm down. I would very much dislike for this situation to lead to violence. It would get very bloody very fast."
Post by Creed Ackerman on Aug 4, 2013 2:59:04 GMT -5
Creed’s vision started to pulse as her anger rose. ‘Damn! Still don’t know if she’s a hunter! Damn it!’
Her anger was at the point where it made Creed’s fists shake and wings twitch. Whenever Creed’s eyes turn red because of anger, it is always extremely difficult to calm her down because it’s almost like she’s a different person, consumed by anger.
But it was what the woman said next that pushed Creed over the edge. Loneliness. That one word made Creed think about Oliver. She remembered how they first met, how he was the only one who could calm her down whenever she was in this state . . . and . . . the reason why she has been lonely . . . so lonely for all these years . . .
Just the memories of Oliver, all the good ones, were enough to calm Creed down. Creed’s eyes returned to their normal state, a clear blue much different from the red. Creed fell to her knees, unable to stand anymore because of all the pictures of Oliver, all the way to the very end of his life, played through her head.
Tears poured from her eyes as she cried out softly. “Oliver . . . Oliver . . .” Creed continued like this for a few moments before looking up at the woman with a tear stained face. “Please, just go . . .”
Post by Rennia Trayvold on Aug 4, 2013 3:21:58 GMT -5
The woman watched as Creed fell to her knees and stood there watching her for a few moments before she turned around, gazing off the edge of the roof. Finally she pulled her hood down, revealing a mane of blood red and skin a few shades off to be human. It wasn't an unpleasant tone that made her look like she hadn't had sunlight in years, or might have been a vampyre or a corpse. It was a different sort of blue-grey.
The fiendish woman stepped over to the ledge and grasped onto the railing. A part of her remained on edge in case the other woman lapsed back into anger but other than that she stood her ground keeping her gaze away from Creed.
Then came the name and Rennia closed her eyes and tilted her head down. For a long moment she was silent. Then she spoke up, speaking softly, but clearly to Creed.
"I know what it's like Miss Ackerman...." The daemoness turned her head back towards the woman and opened her eyes to gaze into Creed's for a moment before gazing back forward. "I'm sure he was a good man, and I am truly sorry for your loss." The thought rang out in her mind. To tell the truth she wasn't sure if she truly was sorry or not. The apathetic part of her didn't honestly care about the woman or her plight. The other part of Rennia, however; understood what it felt like.
"... However, you cannot keep clinging to the past. If you keep dragging that weight with you, you will remain alone for eternity. And far be it from me to tell you you're business Miss Ackerman, but I can tell from looking at you that being alone isn't what you truly want. I'm sure that one day you'll be able to see that...."
With that the Daemoness turned about and walked over to the bag she'd placed on the ground and picked it up. She then proceeded to walk past Creed, stopping just beside her for a moment to look down upon her before she continued on towards the door, pulling her hood up with her free hand in the process.
Post by Creed Ackerman on Aug 4, 2013 3:49:02 GMT -5
‘Oh . . . I knew it . . . she isn’t a normal person . . .’ Creed thought, sitting there in a daze.
When the woman spoke, Creed gave a broken laugh. “How do you know what it’s like . . . to do what I did . . .” Creed stood up, shaking slightly as she picked up her bag. “You know NOTHING about how I feel or felt . . .” Creed spat, happily letting the wind blow the stands of hair out of her face but the noise of the traffic from the streets below ruined that short lived peace.
Creed walked over to the railing, letting the wind blow her hair back and out of her eyes. “How can someone ever get past something that haunts them every day?” Creed inhaled and exhaled slowly before continuing. “How do you know what killing your own husband feels like?” Creed turned to face the woman.
Post by Rennia Trayvold on Aug 4, 2013 4:15:41 GMT -5
The fiendling stopped near the door. She stood there staring at it as Creed spoke. She didn't turn around, she didn't open the door. She didn't move at all. The only thing she did was stare at the door as she waited for Creed to finish speaking, and then stood there some time afterwards still staring it it.
Finally she turned her head to gaze over her shoulder, looking the other woman dead in the eyes. The look was a deep, penetrating gaze, as if she was actually looking through Creed and off into the distance. At the same time it seemed to be a look of understanding, if she could ever manage such a look.
"Because I did it too."
She let those words hang on the air for a good minute before she lightly tossed her bag down to the side and turned about. Slowly she advanced on Creed's position. As she did so she continued her explanation, whether or not she needed to.
"You believe you're the only one with problems in this world? You believe you're the only one who's done something so horrible that the rest of the world likely couldn't comprehend? Imagine falling in love with someone. Someone who enraptured you so much that you couldn't imagine being with anyone else. Then imagine someone else tried to take that all away. That the person you cared for so deeply gets taken from you and forced to live another life." A soft chuckle escaped from her, but it wasn't one of amusement, but more of bitter irony. A slow shake of her head accompanied that chuckle. "Back then it was called slavery, and it was legal. There wasn't anything I could do. But I stayed with them. I kept visiting them every chance I got, made sure that when they weren't being forced to do things for their obsessive owner that they knew I was there and that I cared for them. In the end it didn't matter..."
Rennia looked down for a moment and then back up, an equally empty smile donning on her face. "They felt so miserable in their life that they tried to take it. Thrice I had to stop them from ending it all. Thrice I had to look into eyes and see pain and sadness mixed with the empty love that they couldn't figure out how to express."
"On the day of the last attempt, some friends and I took them into their place nearby. They tried so very hard to talk the pour soul through it. Finally they asked to speak to me out in the hall and I obliged. It was there that it donned on me that no matter what we did. No matter how many times we tried... The only thing we were doing, was prolonging the inevitable. They were already dead. their body just hadn't accepted it. "
Rennia paused for a moment, gazing off to the distant horizon. "So I did the only thing I could do. I killed them. I killed someone I cared for greatly. I held them in my arms in their dying moments and listened as the last thing they said to me was that they loved me."
Again the demoness paused, letting the silence fill the gap before she spoke again, possibly cutting Creed off before she spoke, if she tried. "I'll save you the details of what came after, which I assure you do get worse... but I think you can imagine that I am somewhat familiar with that situation. I will also say that they weren't my first love, nor my last. I've had many throughout my life and many of them have ended badly. And for a long time... The sight of an arrow sticking out of the chest and head of someone you loved... knowing that it was YOUR arrows...."
Rennia just shook her head again and trailed off, letting the woman finish the sentence on her own.
Post by Creed Ackerman on Aug 31, 2013 5:25:33 GMT -5
Creed listened quietly to the woman talk and spoke only when she was finished. “Why would you continue to let yourself fall in love when you know it is going to end badly?” Creed paused for a moment to look at the woman. “It is pretty selfish, don’t you think?” Creed looked up staring the woman dead in the eye. “How could you let others suffer for your own pleasure?”
Creed grabbed her bag and stood up off the ground, eyes cold as she looked at the woman. “Do you not appreciate another’s life? Do you take love for granted?” Creed’s wings were shaking so badly that long white feathers fell from under her large trench coat and scattered onto the floor.
She looked down and then moments later looked back up, eyes closed. Creed’s blood started to boil slightly. Creed opened up her eyes, revealing a clear blue right eye and a bloody red left eye. Her blue eye was crying, while her red one held and invisible smirk.
Creed lifted up a hand and covered her red left eyes.
Post by Rennia Trayvold on Aug 31, 2013 18:06:56 GMT -5
Rennia shook her head and let out a soft, almost cold chuckle. "I would be careful in this world Miss Ackerman. You still cling to an idea that doesn't exist. Sentient beings are inherently selfish. No matter what you do or who you do it too, everything you do is motivated out of selfishness. You kill because you want to, you destroy because you want to. You take because you want to. But, you also save, create, and give because you want to. True selflessness is an illusion. Even sacrificing yourself for the sake of another is done because you believe it is the right thing to do, and you do it willingly out of a desire to do right. You still get what you want. Selfishness."
The woman gazed at the other in amusement once more. "To answer your first question, Why do I do it? There are people worth spending time with. You can't be afraid of things ending badly if you want to actually 'live' your life, because that's just the thing about life. Shit happens. And did you ever stop to think about what they wanted? The ones that love you usually want to be loved in return, or at least make you happy. Is not denying them what they want, to be with you, to be close, to be there when you're happy or to hold you while you cry.... Is that not selfish? Don't try to pretend that closing yourself off to the world is an act of selflessness. It's an act of fear. You're afraid to get hurt again."
Rennia's eyes would gaze back into Creed's cold ones with more of an idle apathy than anything else. She seemed oblivious or uncaring of the dislike that seemed to fill those cold eyes. "In all honesty, no Miss Ackerman. I cannot say I understand the value society places on a life. People are people. They're born, they die. That is life. What you do with your life is entirely up to you, but if it came down to me... When you die simply depends on how life runs. So in short, I cannot say I appreciate another's life as you might consider it. On the other hand, again no. I don't take love for granted. They say you don't know what you've got till it's gone, but I disagree. Not a day went by when I didn't take time to appreciate what I had with the people I cared for. Do you think watching people you know die is easy? Yes, as I said, death is a natural part of life, but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. Don't confuse my willingness to open myself to the world and be hurt, with your desire for self preservation. If either of us is more selfish than the other... It's you."
The fiendling gazed intently at Creed Ackerman. This was a piercing almost accusatory gaze made as if to prove a point. She might have been a little hard on the woman, but she felt the girl would be better off hearing the truth from someone willing to give it, than be fed lies by people who couldn't bear to break the truth to her.
