Korina paused at the side if the road, hands resting upon the wheels of her wheelchair. She was waiting for the light to change so she could cross the street with less fear of being run down. She was regretting coming here, very much. People continuously babbled at her in the two different dialects of the Chinese language, speaking so quickly she had long ago simply thrown her Chinese to English dictionary in to a burning dumpster providing light to a couple of homeless people. The flight here had been horrible, once again people proving they didn't care about others except for themselves. She had been completely ignored, not given an aisle seat. A wheelchair had not been provide to her, so she had to literally drag herself across the tarmac to the terminal and beg for a wheelchair.
However that was behind her, and she was trying to forget it. She was here on a mission. In that ancient library where she had been looking with Tristian Hail, Korina had come across another name. The name of some people supposedly who had magical abilities, abilities that where bestowed upon others in the forms of strange markings like tattoos. These 'tattoos' helped people in ways that suited each person individually. These people where named the Shinto and they lived secretly somewhere here inside this city. However it was rumored nobody could find them alone. Korina had struggled with almost every other alternative she knew, and had finally come to attempt to find these elusive, mystical tattooists.
Her legs no longer worked at all, not even inside her special NASA made walking apparatus. She had noted pain going up her back along her spine and had constant cramps in her arms. She took pain killers (not those crazy horse pill ones but she alternated between aspirin, Tylenol, and ibuprofen) to keep the cramps down enough to be able to manage her wheelchair. She knew it wasn't long after, not long at all till she lost the use of her arms. They where like here legs had been just before they had been taken away from her. All she could do was hope and pray that she found these people to whatever god was out there.
Post by Aine Erotes on Aug 5, 2013 16:10:05 GMT -5
A cry for help… Aine blinked, dazzled by the sudden plea. She received many of them, thousands a day even, but almost all of them were pleas for love. It was rare anyone prayed to her for anything else. But this voice- it was truly sad. It wanted help, not love, and despite the fact that it wasn’t usually her domain, she listened in. To whatever God is out there…
So it wasn’t to her. It was to anyone, and yet, for some reason, Aine was the one receiving the prayer. Well, if it was meant to come to her, she supposed she’d investigate a little bit more. Confident with her strides, she glided over to the pool of vision. As per usual, Varos was knelt by the side of the beautiful water, watching carefully. Whenever the Goddess came across an event that needed interfering, Varos lightly touched the scales at her side, which changed with every invisible scene. Wordlessly, without even looking up, Varos acknowledged her presence, ceasing her duties, and walking away. The scales disappeared with Varos, and Aine now knelt by the pool.
Looking into the waters, it formed a scene. A woman, in a wheelchair, surrounded by strangers whom couldn’t spare a moment to help her. She was obviously a foreigner, looking almost Hawaiian, among all the Asians. How curious- this was the one who called her?
In a mere moment, she was in the scene. Hidden behind a corner, a little Asian girl, of perhaps seven years old, walked, spotting the woman in the wheelchair. She looked curious, and quickly ran over. The girl tapped the cripple’s arm, “你失去了什？”
Korina sighed and closed her eyes, then opened then as the light turned green. She gripped her wheels and prepared to roll across the street when a small finger tapped upon her arm and a young voice came to her in the local dialect. She turned around and smiled at the little girl. She tilted her head, looking at the female. She had decided to do this the hard way, meaning absolutely no Raphael. So she had no way of quick translation.
"I...I am sorry dear. I don't understand." She pointed to her lips and shook her head incase the little girl didn't speak English either. She moved her hand in to the pocket and withdrew a hard piece of candy, a watermelon flavored Jolly Rancher. She smiled and holding it on her open palm offered it to the little girl. "Here....yummy." She rubbed her stomach to emphasize the yummy. She glanced at the light and saw that it had changed back to green and she would be unable to cross until it changed to red again. Not that she was in a hurry. She looked back at the little girl. "Your really adorable..." She smiled sweetly and poked the little girls nose.
Post by Aine Erotes on Aug 25, 2013 14:16:02 GMT -5
She had attracted her attention, and when the human opened her eyes and settled them on her, she looked back with the large eyes of a child. She had touched her arm, and, using her powers, knew about the past of this Korina.
She understood now, why Korina’s prayers had come to her. This woman was the victim of the darker side of her domain. Men so overcome with lust, sexually assaulting innocents. She understood, and wished to make up for it. She did not approve of forcefully taking love, for love should be earned. Lust even, earned, even if by your skills of charisma or by the money in your pocket. Never stolen.
She didn’t understand, which was to be expected. However, if she had merely started out speaking English, it would have raised some suspicions. The woman offered her a candy, rubbing her stomach. Taking it, she sucked on the Jolly Rancher, enjoying sweets quite a bit. She gave a dazzlingly smile, and Korina called her adorable, poking her nose, and causing her to frown. Who just poked a stranger's nose?
“Woman… Lost?” she asked, her voice coated with a thick Chinese accent. Somewhat internally mocking the over-exaggerated gestures, she pointed to Korina as she spoke. She then pointed to herself. “Ài help.”
Ài was quite a suitable name, quite similar to her current name Aine, and literally meaning ‘Love’.
Korina smiled happily as the little girl took the candy and then gasped as she spoke english, even haltingly with a very thick Chinese accent. She absolutely beamed at this. She leaned down and kissed the little girl's forehead kindly. "Ai, that is a beautiful name for a beautiful young girl. Yes, I am lost extremely bad. I have never been to China before, and unfortunately I don't read or speak Mandarin." She sat back and sighed, looking around again and shaking her head.
She looked back down at Ai as her smile sank from a beam to a kind of sad smile. "It also would appear that the family I am looking for doesn't exist, yet it does exist. It's all so confusing." She looked around again and back down. "Do you think you could help me Ai? I am looking for a family names the 'Shinto' family. They are suppose to have something to do with tattoos. That's all I know dear." She chewed on the left corner of her lip in contemplation, wondering if she could rig a way to talk to Raphael who may be able to help her cause this girl was so young and barely spoke English. The poor girl probably didn't understand even half of what she had just said.
Post by Aine Erotes on Aug 30, 2013 12:07:35 GMT -5
Korina was quite surprised that the girl knew English, which was reasonable considering their location. This woman was quite affectionate though. First the candy and the nose poke, now a kiss on the forehead. The little Chinese girl frowned, as she was supposed to be about seven, and many did not appreciate kisses from strangers. The woman’s grammar lacked slightly ‘I am lost extremely bad’, but perhaps it was to help the little foreigner understand. She beamed, exclaiming excitedly speaking her broken english. “I speak Mandarin! I speak English! Daddy thinks it important for life. I please Daddy!”
She listened as Korina spoke of the Shintos, already knowing that the woman was after them. The girl appeared to be thoughtful for a moment.
“Ài help. Ài help find Shinto. Ài knows the Shintos. Dangerous, mysterious Shintos. You no want to go to the Shintos.” Aine said, quite seriously for a little child. The Shintos were magical, and not everything they did was a blessing. One also had to prove themselves for a God to lead them there. It always amused her though, how the Gods secretly led the mortals to their chosen destinies.
Korina sighed and nodded her head. "Yes, I know it's dangerous Ai. Unfortunately I don't have a choice anymore. I have to go and see if they can help me. They are so far the only lead I have." She looked back down to Ai and then shook her head. "Do you understand Ai? I have to find the Shinto's." She looked back up, regretting once more she had decided to do this solo with out Raphael. The AI system was her best friend.
Korina looked up the street first, shielding her eyes as if it would help her see better. Then she looked down the street, looking for any sort of clue. Then she looked back down at Ai and sighed holding her hand out. "Come on dear, we are gonna cross the street and you should always hold an adults hand when crossing streets." Taking hold firmly of the little girl's hand Korina used her other to carefully cross the street in her wheelchair. She just prayed people would be patient with her seeing she was in a wheelchair and leading a child so she would get run down by a car. It was almost absurd, the young female leading the ancient goddess by a hand, as she didn't know where it what she was doing. Yet Korina didn't know this was a goddess, so thus she thought nothing about it simply assuming this was a common little girl, albeit an extremely cute little girl and very nice to offer to help a complete stranger.
