Post by Hotori on Jun 5, 2022 20:36:59 GMT -5
The next afternoon, Haru was making his way down a path that wound through thick woods. Despite the shade, it was quite hot today, and he decided to make a small detour to cool off. The village was a couple of days’ walk one way, so he could spare a little time cooling off before he continued.
He took a detour to the river he knew ran nearby, through a bright, sunny clearing. Despite being sunny, it also seemed cooler as the water brought a nice breeze with it. Looking around, he made sure he was alone before he dropped his bag on the ground, stripped and dove into the river for a swim. He had allowed his ears and tail to stay out as soon as he was out of sight of his village, and he was quite enjoying himself.
Besides, he thought with a grin as he swam, it would be good for Hotori and Isamu to spend some time together…
In modern day Beijing, in a small coed apartment on the campus of one of the most prestigious Chinese universities, a young woman of about 24 was bustling around the kitchen. Dressed in a black tank top, and long flowing black skirt, with heavy eyeliner, and dark lipstick, it was impossible to mistake this young woman for anything but a Goth. Her dark hair fell to her upper back, and was loose, with a single stripe in the front left side scarlet. She was short and petite, and would have looked like a Japanese schoolgirl if not for the deliberate effort to distance herself from the stereotype.
Currently, Michiko - though she pestered the name Misery - was fixing dinner for herself and her roommate. She got her veggie burgers fixed up just the way she liked them, and checked to make sure that Eli's food was fixed the way he preferred. Nodding to herself, she grabbed a plate of blood sausages, with a single brownie for dessert, and a mug of spiced animal blood, and moved to knock on his door. "Hey, Fangs, brought you food! You know, that thing you need to have the energy to study…"
Honestly, sometimes having a vampire roommate was pretty awesome. She would never dream of having the kind of diet he did, but she didn't mind cooking for him as long as she didn't have to eat it. He often forgot to take a break to eat if he was too distracted with his work, so she had started fixing him something anytime she ate. She was never the best cook, but she had learned to alter a few recipes to give him some culinary options. Sure, the local butcher probably thought she was summoning demons, with the amount of animal blood she got from him a week, but considering that it would have been trashed and she offered to pay for it, he didn't seem to ask too many questions.
“‘-would have shot down the final sun too, but the Emperor advised that to do so would forever remove light from the world. The sole surviving sun was thus spared. The world was saved but through his actions, Hou Yi gained a terrible enemy. The God of the Eastern Heaven was furious that Hou Yi killed nine of his boys. In revenge, he banished Hou Yi from-’ Oh, yeah yeah… we all know about that. But what about-?” The soft murmur from behind the door she approached - which was closed largely because he had the habit of talking to himself as he studied, like he was doing now - cut off at her knock. Bent over his desk, intently studying a fairly-old looking text through thin, wire-rimmed spectacles was a pretty normal position for Elijah Rossel, and his roommate should not be surprised that, instead of getting up or removing his nose from the book, he simply called out, “I’m decent! Come in!” Even as she let herself in, his fingers marched across his desk top without oversight on his part, blindly seeking a pencil, and after a bit more rummaging, pulling toward him another book, this one elaborately bound in gilded leather, with a bright-feathered phoenix emblazoned across the front, amongst ancient Chinese characters. “But what has the death of the suns to do with- hey!” An absent motion had pulled the book open, with the intention of making notes inside - his often-snarky but generous roommate had presented it to him after a trip she’d made, indicating that she thought it looked his style, and that he might store his notes for his dissertation in it - but a soft, shimmering light caught his attention, causing him to lay the pencil aside in surprise, as small characters began to form on the page before his eyes. “... hey, Miz? Thought you said this was an empty book…?”
Misery giggled when she heard her roommate muttering to himself - again - with what sounded like frustration. Hearing him call out to her, she opened the door and let herself in, smirking as she crossed to his desk to set his food down on a clear corner. “Decent, decent. you’re always decent. How are you ever going to snag a cute guy if you keep dressing and acting decent?” She looked at him for a moment as she set the food down before gently nudging his bare shoulder. “Thought you said you were decent? I think I may go blind from all the pale…”
She really did love to tease the much shier young man, though in truth she would never want him to change in any way. Although it was still hard to believe how they had managed to find each other in a country that wasn‘t home to either of them, she would forever be glad of that failed first date that gave her the best friend she had ever had. “You’d better eat up. You know how you hate it once it gets cold…”
She had just turned to take her leave - deciding she’d come back after she finished her own dinner to make sure he had eaten - when a note of surprise in his voice stopped her short. “Huh? yeah, totally empty. I flipped through it several times while I was on the plane ride back. I didn't see a single mark anywhere inside. Just that awesome phoenix and that golden symbol for “star” on the front cover. why?” Turning back to him, she could see that there did seem to be writing in the book. She moved up behind him and placed her hands on the back of his chair in order to lean forward to read over his shoulder. “Hey, isn’t that your name in English?” She pointed to a string of letters that looked very out of place amidst the ancient Chinese. She was fluent at speaking English, but she was still not the best at reading and writing it. Still, it looked like the same letters he used to sign his name on things. “Weird. Yeah, I… didn’t see any of that when I bought it…”
Haru swam for a while before he decided to transform into his wolf form. Though he was a grown man, he still found a childish joy in swimming in his canine form. It was something he rarely got to do now, so he enjoyed the little break. as he did, he thought back to telling his companions that he was a wolf spirit, the night before. Meian had - of course - found a way to tease him by making his ears and tail pop out before he had the chance to tell them himself. He’d playfully shoved the younger man while blushing faintly, but… well, everyone had taken the news so well. Maybe someday he could trust them with his other secret, though Meian already knew - he always knew. He wondered if such things were more common in Hotori’s time. They seemed to be a more advanced culture, so perhaps they were more accepting. Even if they were not, he had the feeling his sweet little Miko would accept him no matter what.
Feeling optimistic, he finally pulled himself out of the water and gave his body a great, all over shake to knock most of the water from his fur. He would still need to dry off in his human form, but that was always a good place to start.
She wouldn’t be surprised at the distracted tone of his response, as it was quite common for him, when he was deeply in thought. “Unless he is from ancient China and can explain the origins of the phoenix legend, I am far too busy at the moment to concern myself with finding a cute guy. And if he is, my shirt being on or off ought to have no bearing on the kind of conversation I’d like to pursue with him… so far the only luck I’m having is the origins of the sun god… which is quite another matter altogether.” Her other commentary made him shrug the bare shoulder she’d nudged, answering casually. “Too hot for shirts, in this weather - and it’s not like I can just go for a swim to cool off.” He gives her his eyes only for a second, with a smirk. “You could always borrow my shades…” Discussion turned to the book soon enough though, and his dinner lay forgotten as he turned his eyes down to the place she’d indicated, and he gasped, seeing his own name, printed in English characters amongst all the Chinese. “It… it is. That-” His gaze, intensely blue, met hers again, looking suspicious. “Is this your idea of some kind of weird joke?” A moment of thought. “Haiju put you up to it, didn’t he? I swear…”
His eyes trailed down the page, and he scoffed as he read aloud the title. “The Seven Constellations of Suzaku, the legendary-” Disbelief faded, and his jaw dropped as he read on. “... the… legendary phoenix of Konan.” He cleared his throat, and turned his eyes back to Misery. “... this… are you sure this isn’t a joke, Miz?” He couldn’t help allowing his gaze to trail back to the book once more though, and he read on. “Seven Constellations, enthroned in the heavens by the power of the mighty Suzaku, to defend his chosen priestess, include the following: the chariot, the wings, the willow, the ghost, the well, the extended net, and the-” He paused, startled, and his fingers blindly found the symbol on the front of the book. “... the star.” He cleared his throat once more before continuing. “These constellations are personified by-” All at once, a clatter and a smash of porcelain marked the mug of blood crashing to the floor, as the room was bathed in bright red light… and when it faded, the young vampire was gone.
Water droplets scattered from the wolf’s fur, but in the process, he seemed to attract a far more troublesome condition, in that a tall, thin young man dropped from the sky with a half-shriek of surprise, and collided with him, with all his weight. Unable to control his fall - and completely bewildered by this sudden development - Eli cracked his head sharply against the wolf’s thick skull, and then against a large riverside stone when inevitably the startled animal jerked away. The effect stunned him soundly, leaving his body draped half in and half out of the river as he blinked groggily and tried to make sense of what had just happened. Surely, he hadn’t fallen out of his chair and hit that hard…? He brought a hand shakily to his face then, rubbing it slowly… and giving a startled cry at the deep, dermal pain that seared his senses, at his own touch. Squinting up, he immediately spotted the problem, though thanks to the blow to his head, his mind was slow to fully realize it. The sun… With a soft curse, he pulled his arm up over his face, and attempted to roll… but alas his coordination was not at peak, and before he quite understood what was happening, he rolled with a giant splash right into the waters of the river he’d landed in.
Misery shook her head. “Haiju? Nah, I haven’t talked to him since he got grabby at the bonfire last month…” She looked from her roomate to the book, and back again. “I swear on your baby fang that this isn't some joke. I don’t know what the hell it is, but I’m as innocent as you are…” She gave a shout of surprise when the bright red light filled the room, and looked around as it slowly faded. “Eli? Eli!” She saw more writing filling the open page of the book, and leaned over to read. “Though the arriour of the Star was very strong, he found himself in dire straits…”
Haru’s keen sense of hearing detected something above him. Looking up sharply, he saw a flash of red light overhead, and what could have been the Star Symbol, just an instant before he saw a pale skinned young man falling toward him. He could not make sense of what was going on before the man literally crashed into him, and he gave a grunt of discomfort as their heads collided, jerking back instinctually. He lost track of the young man for a few long seconds as he saw a more common type of stars, shaking his head a few times to clear them.
Haru came to his senses once more intime to hear the young man cry out in pain, and fall into the river. Alert once more, haru darted along beside the river, keeping an eye on him as he moved ever closer. When the distance was small enough, he shifted into his hybrid form, and dove in, grabbing the young man under the arms and hauling him back out of the water. Immediately he could sense severe burns that seemed to be getting worse by the second… everywhere that was not covered by clothing and was open to the sunlight. Swearing softly, he pulled the man back into the shade of nearby trees, and laid him on the lush grass before placing surprisingly gentle hands on his chest. “Bad burns, head injury,...probably can’t think straight… breathing, but no heartbeat and severely anemic…” His palms began to glow as he started healing the burns and the head injury. He was worried about the lack of a heartbeat, but he could tell that had been the case for some time. That and the burns told him this young man was - aat minimum - not human. As he worked, he thought back over various tales he’d heard or read over the years. There was one thing that he’d heard of that checked all the boxes.
“My name is Li.” He said almost distracted as he poured energy into healing the young man. “I’m a healer, and I’ll be able to help you, but you’ll have to be honest with me. Are you what they call a vampire?” Despite the fact that he was unarmed - and completely naked to boot - Haru did not doubt his ability to defend himself against this young man if he proved as hostile as the legends indicated. His ears twitched slightly as he worked. He didn’t have enough strength to fix the anemia entirely, but he could knock the edge off of it, and probably let him feed to finish it up... If he could be trusted, that is…
He took a detour to the river he knew ran nearby, through a bright, sunny clearing. Despite being sunny, it also seemed cooler as the water brought a nice breeze with it. Looking around, he made sure he was alone before he dropped his bag on the ground, stripped and dove into the river for a swim. He had allowed his ears and tail to stay out as soon as he was out of sight of his village, and he was quite enjoying himself.
Besides, he thought with a grin as he swam, it would be good for Hotori and Isamu to spend some time together…
~ ~ ~
In modern day Beijing, in a small coed apartment on the campus of one of the most prestigious Chinese universities, a young woman of about 24 was bustling around the kitchen. Dressed in a black tank top, and long flowing black skirt, with heavy eyeliner, and dark lipstick, it was impossible to mistake this young woman for anything but a Goth. Her dark hair fell to her upper back, and was loose, with a single stripe in the front left side scarlet. She was short and petite, and would have looked like a Japanese schoolgirl if not for the deliberate effort to distance herself from the stereotype.
Currently, Michiko - though she pestered the name Misery - was fixing dinner for herself and her roommate. She got her veggie burgers fixed up just the way she liked them, and checked to make sure that Eli's food was fixed the way he preferred. Nodding to herself, she grabbed a plate of blood sausages, with a single brownie for dessert, and a mug of spiced animal blood, and moved to knock on his door. "Hey, Fangs, brought you food! You know, that thing you need to have the energy to study…"
Honestly, sometimes having a vampire roommate was pretty awesome. She would never dream of having the kind of diet he did, but she didn't mind cooking for him as long as she didn't have to eat it. He often forgot to take a break to eat if he was too distracted with his work, so she had started fixing him something anytime she ate. She was never the best cook, but she had learned to alter a few recipes to give him some culinary options. Sure, the local butcher probably thought she was summoning demons, with the amount of animal blood she got from him a week, but considering that it would have been trashed and she offered to pay for it, he didn't seem to ask too many questions.
“‘-would have shot down the final sun too, but the Emperor advised that to do so would forever remove light from the world. The sole surviving sun was thus spared. The world was saved but through his actions, Hou Yi gained a terrible enemy. The God of the Eastern Heaven was furious that Hou Yi killed nine of his boys. In revenge, he banished Hou Yi from-’ Oh, yeah yeah… we all know about that. But what about-?” The soft murmur from behind the door she approached - which was closed largely because he had the habit of talking to himself as he studied, like he was doing now - cut off at her knock. Bent over his desk, intently studying a fairly-old looking text through thin, wire-rimmed spectacles was a pretty normal position for Elijah Rossel, and his roommate should not be surprised that, instead of getting up or removing his nose from the book, he simply called out, “I’m decent! Come in!” Even as she let herself in, his fingers marched across his desk top without oversight on his part, blindly seeking a pencil, and after a bit more rummaging, pulling toward him another book, this one elaborately bound in gilded leather, with a bright-feathered phoenix emblazoned across the front, amongst ancient Chinese characters. “But what has the death of the suns to do with- hey!” An absent motion had pulled the book open, with the intention of making notes inside - his often-snarky but generous roommate had presented it to him after a trip she’d made, indicating that she thought it looked his style, and that he might store his notes for his dissertation in it - but a soft, shimmering light caught his attention, causing him to lay the pencil aside in surprise, as small characters began to form on the page before his eyes. “... hey, Miz? Thought you said this was an empty book…?”
Misery giggled when she heard her roommate muttering to himself - again - with what sounded like frustration. Hearing him call out to her, she opened the door and let herself in, smirking as she crossed to his desk to set his food down on a clear corner. “Decent, decent. you’re always decent. How are you ever going to snag a cute guy if you keep dressing and acting decent?” She looked at him for a moment as she set the food down before gently nudging his bare shoulder. “Thought you said you were decent? I think I may go blind from all the pale…”
She really did love to tease the much shier young man, though in truth she would never want him to change in any way. Although it was still hard to believe how they had managed to find each other in a country that wasn‘t home to either of them, she would forever be glad of that failed first date that gave her the best friend she had ever had. “You’d better eat up. You know how you hate it once it gets cold…”
She had just turned to take her leave - deciding she’d come back after she finished her own dinner to make sure he had eaten - when a note of surprise in his voice stopped her short. “Huh? yeah, totally empty. I flipped through it several times while I was on the plane ride back. I didn't see a single mark anywhere inside. Just that awesome phoenix and that golden symbol for “star” on the front cover. why?” Turning back to him, she could see that there did seem to be writing in the book. She moved up behind him and placed her hands on the back of his chair in order to lean forward to read over his shoulder. “Hey, isn’t that your name in English?” She pointed to a string of letters that looked very out of place amidst the ancient Chinese. She was fluent at speaking English, but she was still not the best at reading and writing it. Still, it looked like the same letters he used to sign his name on things. “Weird. Yeah, I… didn’t see any of that when I bought it…”
~ ~ ~
Haru swam for a while before he decided to transform into his wolf form. Though he was a grown man, he still found a childish joy in swimming in his canine form. It was something he rarely got to do now, so he enjoyed the little break. as he did, he thought back to telling his companions that he was a wolf spirit, the night before. Meian had - of course - found a way to tease him by making his ears and tail pop out before he had the chance to tell them himself. He’d playfully shoved the younger man while blushing faintly, but… well, everyone had taken the news so well. Maybe someday he could trust them with his other secret, though Meian already knew - he always knew. He wondered if such things were more common in Hotori’s time. They seemed to be a more advanced culture, so perhaps they were more accepting. Even if they were not, he had the feeling his sweet little Miko would accept him no matter what.
Feeling optimistic, he finally pulled himself out of the water and gave his body a great, all over shake to knock most of the water from his fur. He would still need to dry off in his human form, but that was always a good place to start.
She wouldn’t be surprised at the distracted tone of his response, as it was quite common for him, when he was deeply in thought. “Unless he is from ancient China and can explain the origins of the phoenix legend, I am far too busy at the moment to concern myself with finding a cute guy. And if he is, my shirt being on or off ought to have no bearing on the kind of conversation I’d like to pursue with him… so far the only luck I’m having is the origins of the sun god… which is quite another matter altogether.” Her other commentary made him shrug the bare shoulder she’d nudged, answering casually. “Too hot for shirts, in this weather - and it’s not like I can just go for a swim to cool off.” He gives her his eyes only for a second, with a smirk. “You could always borrow my shades…” Discussion turned to the book soon enough though, and his dinner lay forgotten as he turned his eyes down to the place she’d indicated, and he gasped, seeing his own name, printed in English characters amongst all the Chinese. “It… it is. That-” His gaze, intensely blue, met hers again, looking suspicious. “Is this your idea of some kind of weird joke?” A moment of thought. “Haiju put you up to it, didn’t he? I swear…”
His eyes trailed down the page, and he scoffed as he read aloud the title. “The Seven Constellations of Suzaku, the legendary-” Disbelief faded, and his jaw dropped as he read on. “... the… legendary phoenix of Konan.” He cleared his throat, and turned his eyes back to Misery. “... this… are you sure this isn’t a joke, Miz?” He couldn’t help allowing his gaze to trail back to the book once more though, and he read on. “Seven Constellations, enthroned in the heavens by the power of the mighty Suzaku, to defend his chosen priestess, include the following: the chariot, the wings, the willow, the ghost, the well, the extended net, and the-” He paused, startled, and his fingers blindly found the symbol on the front of the book. “... the star.” He cleared his throat once more before continuing. “These constellations are personified by-” All at once, a clatter and a smash of porcelain marked the mug of blood crashing to the floor, as the room was bathed in bright red light… and when it faded, the young vampire was gone.
~~~~~
Water droplets scattered from the wolf’s fur, but in the process, he seemed to attract a far more troublesome condition, in that a tall, thin young man dropped from the sky with a half-shriek of surprise, and collided with him, with all his weight. Unable to control his fall - and completely bewildered by this sudden development - Eli cracked his head sharply against the wolf’s thick skull, and then against a large riverside stone when inevitably the startled animal jerked away. The effect stunned him soundly, leaving his body draped half in and half out of the river as he blinked groggily and tried to make sense of what had just happened. Surely, he hadn’t fallen out of his chair and hit that hard…? He brought a hand shakily to his face then, rubbing it slowly… and giving a startled cry at the deep, dermal pain that seared his senses, at his own touch. Squinting up, he immediately spotted the problem, though thanks to the blow to his head, his mind was slow to fully realize it. The sun… With a soft curse, he pulled his arm up over his face, and attempted to roll… but alas his coordination was not at peak, and before he quite understood what was happening, he rolled with a giant splash right into the waters of the river he’d landed in.
Misery shook her head. “Haiju? Nah, I haven’t talked to him since he got grabby at the bonfire last month…” She looked from her roomate to the book, and back again. “I swear on your baby fang that this isn't some joke. I don’t know what the hell it is, but I’m as innocent as you are…” She gave a shout of surprise when the bright red light filled the room, and looked around as it slowly faded. “Eli? Eli!” She saw more writing filling the open page of the book, and leaned over to read. “Though the arriour of the Star was very strong, he found himself in dire straits…”
~ ~ ~
Haru’s keen sense of hearing detected something above him. Looking up sharply, he saw a flash of red light overhead, and what could have been the Star Symbol, just an instant before he saw a pale skinned young man falling toward him. He could not make sense of what was going on before the man literally crashed into him, and he gave a grunt of discomfort as their heads collided, jerking back instinctually. He lost track of the young man for a few long seconds as he saw a more common type of stars, shaking his head a few times to clear them.
Haru came to his senses once more intime to hear the young man cry out in pain, and fall into the river. Alert once more, haru darted along beside the river, keeping an eye on him as he moved ever closer. When the distance was small enough, he shifted into his hybrid form, and dove in, grabbing the young man under the arms and hauling him back out of the water. Immediately he could sense severe burns that seemed to be getting worse by the second… everywhere that was not covered by clothing and was open to the sunlight. Swearing softly, he pulled the man back into the shade of nearby trees, and laid him on the lush grass before placing surprisingly gentle hands on his chest. “Bad burns, head injury,...probably can’t think straight… breathing, but no heartbeat and severely anemic…” His palms began to glow as he started healing the burns and the head injury. He was worried about the lack of a heartbeat, but he could tell that had been the case for some time. That and the burns told him this young man was - aat minimum - not human. As he worked, he thought back over various tales he’d heard or read over the years. There was one thing that he’d heard of that checked all the boxes.
“My name is Li.” He said almost distracted as he poured energy into healing the young man. “I’m a healer, and I’ll be able to help you, but you’ll have to be honest with me. Are you what they call a vampire?” Despite the fact that he was unarmed - and completely naked to boot - Haru did not doubt his ability to defend himself against this young man if he proved as hostile as the legends indicated. His ears twitched slightly as he worked. He didn’t have enough strength to fix the anemia entirely, but he could knock the edge off of it, and probably let him feed to finish it up... If he could be trusted, that is…
