Hue (Haru and Ontos)

H

Haru Senpai

Guest
Original poster
It was the final hours of the day. Pinks and oranges scattered across the cloudless horizon, though the sparse, unnamed community continued to work diligently. Here, the people were outnumbered by produce. Stretching towards the towering walls that shielded the town of the King were snowfields of cotton, just barely settled to be picked. The cotton fields were the only remarkable quality of the village, along with a dirtied-white church. Worshipers of the Maker climbed the equally dingy steps each sunrise and sundown to pray for a good crop, along with protection for those living outside the walls such as themselves. Their gatherings were meant to bring them comfort.

A single, somber tone resonated from a tower beside the church. The farmers put away their tools, while a second prompted them to shuffle in a tired line into the opened double doors. By the third ring, everyone was inside and the church doors were shut. A gruff pastor began their nightly prayer.

Perched in a tree, Garnet could hear nearly all of their mundane, human conversation. The young demon was dangerously close to the small population of humans, should one stare into the foliage out their window for too long she'd be discovered another of many times. The thought instantly triggered a sense of unease within the pit of her stomach, but her curiosity outweighed her discontent. From her spot she could see dark-skinned, wrinkled elderly or pink, chubby human babies. She could witness how the families interacted with one another, compare the differences in honest expressions and false ones. Although this was an event she'd witnessed several times before, the diversity of man in such a congregation normally led to something worthy of observation, for the humans used this time to discuss their living as well.

As it had for several nights and days now, a fierce argument would erupt. One half insisted that the townspeople could not be expected to uproot themselves to cower behind the walls like frightened rabbits, while the other claimed it was no longer safe to be living out in the open. Within the walls arrows would fell any winged intruders that dared approach: with the rumors of demons decimating small gatherings like their own, even overcrowding could be overlooked. For a moment Garnet wondered if the rumors were true, but the idea was quickly cast from her mind. She'd yet to see a single village harmed by her kind. An almost silent hum vibrated in her chest while she shifted her chiroptoren wings ever so slightly. Humans were so passionate in their conflicts, she noted, that they failed to observe the world around them.

In one final statement, the dispute was settled. As long as King Dardanus required their crops, the people would stay. A reverent silence hung in the room for a long moment after that. The King inspired another type of fear, but one that bred respect. A subtle rustling of armor accentuated the intensity of the quietness, as if an unspoken force was daring anyone to challenge the King's word.

Thunk.

Numbly, Garnet turned her head to see an arrow imbedded deep within her shoulder, resting just beneath her right clavicle.

She was in the air in an instant, hearing the screams of "demon" travel through the civilian crowd as they hurried outside. A demon hunter stood in their midst, another arrow aimed for the fragile wings of the red haired, crimson eyed humanoid. Without hesitation, Garnet was flying away from the humans, paralysis spreading from her arm at an alarming rate. Only a few of the villagers owned horses, but the demon hunter was already given chase on a white steed. The arrow had been poisoned with a powerful anesthetic. A human would have been dead by now, but the demon was able to escape to the dense forest she resided in. She wouldn't make it to the cave where she usually slept, but would instead collapse against the base of a tree, arrow still stuck in her arm. All she could manage was to break the shaft in half before her blurred vision went black.

The hunter entered the forest alone, with only a general idea of where his prey may have landed. It was quite possible the beast was not alone in the dense trees, but he was adequately prepared: knives hung along his waist, arrows filled his quiver, but the most important item he possessed was a small, lidded jar filled with the same gelatinous poison he'd used on his projectile. He'd been hunting this particular demon for some time now, knowing of its tendency to wander too close to people.

The monster's recklessness would be its downfall, he would see to it.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
[btn=http://i857.photobucket.com/albums/ab135/Desol_2010/commish%20OC%20FINALIZED1_zpsud2opz2f.png]Link[/btn]

From the sandy edges of a small riverbank, easily passable by the small stepstones that interspersed the flow, the average person would see nothing unusual. The smarter, more perceptive eye, would point out the satchel that rested upon a nearby tree indicated that someone was once here. They would also point out the strange, claw-like footsteps that ended near the riverbank, along with a strange claw-hand that stuck out from under the sand below a slightly suspicious, human-sized mound, towards the flowing waters.

A salmon that knew no better leapt into its open palm. The claw clenched itself into a fist, skewering the fish. It wriggled and squirmed, but it would survive mere seconds even if it were freed this very moment.

"Got it!" A muffled cheer came from beneath the sand. The mound slid aside as Azure stood up from under his hiding spot, clad in the exact same clothing he was born into this world with. Granted, he was not born into this world with claws on his hands and legs, but he did not mind having weapons he could not be parted from.

The young man crossed his legs and sat upon the riverbank, looking at the dying fish in his claws. "I could start a fire," he spoke aloud. His voice sounded like the deeper end of a female's, and his body showed the reasons why. Azure was born female, but raised and identified as male. While whatever powers that existed granted him a level of masculinity in his face, and some parts of his body, there were things that he had to live with, or force. The voice, fortunately, came about naturally now.

With a shrug, Azure sunk his teeth into the salmon. Smoking it would taste nicer, but nightfall was coming. From head to tail, every bit of it felt like it restored some part of Azure. He sighed in content, before turning his gaze in the direction of the forest. The moment had been just right, and Azure's blue eyes fell upon the the demon hunter. The blonde greasy hair, the five o'clock shadow upon the man's face, and the crooked nose; it was Timothy, the demon hunter he had met in the nearby village. Rude, condescending and outright boasting about the number of ears he carved out from tribals, Azure had no care about the man's fate.

Though if a man like him had nocked an arrow upon his bow scanning the forest like a predator, Azure had to take note. Timothy had not noticed Azure, but Azure only ran to conceal his body behind a tree as Timothy turned his head away from Azure's direction. He listened to the every sound of leather boots crushing grass beneath it. What was Timothy hunting this time, anyway?

"Found you, monster. Looks like I gets to eats nice tonight." Timothy had spoken so sneeringly that Azure could even imagine his stained, yellow teeth from just the words. A demon.

Azure's actions came before his words even formed a coherent sentence. He stepped aside, ran and leapt, claws first, at the hunter. The man let loose his bowstring upon Azure, but it did not even slow him down as it pierced his heart. Azure was female biologically, but he was still taller and bulkier than the demon hunter. Knocking and forcing him down, Azure raked his claws into the man's throat. From anger, Timothy's face changed into fear. He realised he was dying, suffocating. Azure had not cut close enough to kill him outright, but the man could do nothing now but struggle to breath for the last moments of his life.

"Goddamned arrows," muttered Azure, plucking out the arrow from his breast. The wound was still quite visible, but he reckoned it would regenerate by dawn. Mixed in with his blood (coagulated blood that stopped flowing properly a long time ago), was a little bit of green gel. Poison. If sticking an arrow into his heart was an annoyance, poison wasn't expected to do much. Though it did knock out the poor demon girl that rested her head upon the tree behind Azure.

Maybe she knew where Zircon was. Hefting her in his arms with a princess carry, he grabbed the demon hunter's satchel, his own, and ran towards the nearest cave he knew of. It would be 2 hours before midnight when he reached there. Fortunately, he would not know that this was Garnet's own cave.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
In her unconscious state, Garnet had a vague awareness of scents. The toxin put her in a sleep-like trance in which her dreams mixed with reality. A putrid, skunk-like smell was replaced with something more akin to dirt. Though not as unwelcome as the rotting smell of the hunter's breath before, she still found it unpleasant inserted in with flashes of blue and red. Along with the pain from the arrowhead, she did not remain blacked-out for long. Though in a fog, she was mindful of that fact she was moving, and not of her own volition.

A series of mumbles and slurs slipped from her mouth drunkenly, and she made feeble attempts to escape her captor, resulting in little more than a roll here and there. Due to her incoherence, the glare she managed when she finally opened her eyes was much less than threatening. Her pupils were wide with a mixture of fear, darkness, and the effects of the drug. She could hardly even focus on the male's face. Her attention suddenly switched to the ever-growing pain in her shoulder. A disgruntled rasp escaped her throat while she clawed at the remains of the weapon, the goo-covered arrowhead pulling away with bothersome, sticky noises, a string of green, blood-tinted slime falling to the floor unceremoniously.

The next issue to address was her aversion to her method of transportation. Soon enough, the poison will have been eliminated from her blood. For the time being, her limbs were fairly useless; in fact, she could still barely make out shapes. Her tail swept along a familiar ground, and the sudden realization of where she was sprung her to her feet, albeit dizzily. This was her cave. Her only place of safety due to its depth in the woods. Those two things filled her with angered, defensive adrenaline.

She didn't have the strength to be menacing, but her instincts were telling her she was trapped and in danger. Several of her claws had been broken, but her tail had not. If it was her only method of defense, she could use it. Her lips curled, baring straight teeth supplemented with inconspicuously pointed canines.

Then it registered to her that this person was not human, though not demon. This revelation did not lessen her distrust, though it did leave her to wonder exactly what he was. Since he had not yet killed her, it was likely he did not have intentions to. The second option was that she was merely a kill being toyed with. An annoyed growl vibrated in her chest, and she decided if she only had one question to ask, she best make it worth being the last.

"You're-" Her own feet caused her to stumble, but she caught herself on the wall of the cave before she fell, grimacing from the pain it caused her wound but grateful for it giving her a chance to rethink her question. Asking if he was going to kill her was pointless. "Why didn't you let the hunter kill me?" The words still came out as a mess, but understandable enough so she hoped.

He was not a human, so just maybe his heart wasn't filled with fear.
 
Azure had paid little attention to the demon's face, and the actions she took amounted to mere background noise as he ran to safety. He set her down quickly enough, and stuffed a claw into the hunter's belongings, looking for the antidote. Though the moment he turned his back, the girl was up upon her feet, stumbling back against the cave wall.

Her question, granted, wasn't too weird. Azure was no demon. Granted, he looked inhuman, but she would wonder why someone like him would rescue her. As Azure turned around to face her, he sized her up from head to toe. Garnet was... tall. Still a little shorter than Azure, but Garnet was tall even for women. Zircon was almost half a foot shorter than Azure.

"Because I wanted to ask you something," Azure replied calmly. He took a step back, expecting the space he would give her could calm her down. A conveniently placed boulder served as a makeshift chair for him to sit down on. "My name's Azure, and I wanted to ask if you knew a male demon called Zircon."

He looked down at his breasts for a moment. With a sigh, he raised his left index claw to cover the arrow wound over his left breast. The girl didn't need to see his heart.
 
Nonthreatening, she quickly decided, put at ease by the increased distance between them. After a tired sigh and a moment of consideration, she eased herself into sitting with her back against the wall of the cave, and eyes locked on her intruder/savior. The fog in her mind was fading, and her perception was increasing by the moment. A rise of an eyebrow was her method of inquiring about the wound on Azure's chest. He was obscuring it, but the lack of blood allowed her to assume it wasn't too severe.

"You're hurt," she needlessly stated, taking in the non-human's appearance. Female, despite what she previously concluded, and even taller than herself. That was uncommon. She'd never seen anyone close to Azure's species before. Even with her agitation and general impatience toward the situation, Garnet wondered what the woman was.

Hm. Zircon? The answer and the question Azure provided only resulted in more questions, dreadfully. Under any other circumstance, Garnet would not have given up any sort of information about another demon unless threatened, but she believed she was now indebted to the stranger. It was not a comfortable position to be in. "I can't be expected to recall every member of my own species that I've encountered. If he cannot be found, it's likely he doesn't want to be, or is dead." Her tone was snappy and agitated, until she caught herself. Closing her eyes, a shiver ran through her form as the cool night temperatures set int. If Garnet was cold even with her hide, though blood-damp, clothing, she imagined Azure was as well.

But would Azure remain long enough for the chilly air to be a bother? Garnet didn't like that thought either. She still wanted to know more. "Even if I have seen him, I would not know it. I'm sorry." Slowly, she was either relaxing or no longer caring. If Azure had ill intentions, now would be the time to act on them. There was still lingering dizziness in addition to numbness in her extremities.
 
The girl's head seemed to be clearing up, enough for her to sit down without making another attempt of embarrassing herself. Her eyes locked onto his face, and appearance. She had already noticed his wound; it wasn't too much of a stretch to infer that she had seen more of his body. She would infer that Azure was female. Technically correct, but wrong to Azure's personality.

Azure smiled a little about the wound. "It'll take more than a single arrow shot to hurt me," he replied, sounding almost boastful about a quality he never earned himself.

When the topic turned to Zircon, however, the young demon grew annoyed, perhaps almost sounding even ungrateful. A cold wind, colliding harmlessly across Azure's back, killed her belligerent attitude, and she ended her words in a semi-apology.

"It's cold, isn't it?" said Azure. "I guess we're both saying the obvious, now." He laughed a little, hoping to get Garnet to laugh, even if just a little.

The next words would probably be a little harder for Garnet to get. Zircon understood it quickly enough, but Zircon lived in the times preceding even King Dardanus III's father. He knew what being 'Aliis' was. Azure did not know if Garnet knew as much as Zircon.

"Before we talk more, there's something I need to say." The first sentence came out quite easily enough, but Azure hit a mental roadblock upon the next. Knowing one thing and explaining it was two entirely different things. He paused for a few awkward seconds, staring with mouth agape at Garnet. The words that came out afterwards were a little rushed.

"DespitemyfemalebodyI'mactuallyamansopleasedon'tcallmeawoman."

A little too rushed. Another awkward silence gave Azure a chance to repeat, slower. "I know I look like a woman, but I'm not. My heart and soul are that of a man's, so I apologise if my body gives the wrong impression." Nearly a century of life had changed Azure. When he was a child, he would beat up people who made this reasonable mistake.
 
"There are blankets if you're cold, some wood if you can make a fire, and clothes along with food if you wish for either. I'd intended to collect more wood until I got sidetracked by the humans." She shook her head, stopping herself before she went off on a tangent, "you're free to stay here if you intend on remaining for long." Toward the end of the statement, the quality of her voice became questioning. Her words also served to establish that the cave was her place of residence, for the moment at least. After this incident, she'd have to relocate again.

Garnet chose to ignore the attempted humor, but appreciated the effort at lightening the atmosphere while she was beginning to accept Azure's presence. After confirming that she was fine, the demon wondered just what it did it take to hurt Azure, if an arrow to the chest apparently did not. Even Garnet's own injury had only just stopped bleeding, but the other seemed completely unperturbed by his.

And Azure, as Garnet had thought at first, was indeed a he. The thought of him being male in all but body reminded her of a conversation from long ago. She sat up straight, glad to get some sort of indication as to who this person was. "Aliis." It was a term she hadn't heard or so much as spoken of in over four decades. Her tail twitched along the ground while she considered him further. Given the claws and other features, Garnet wondered if he was a halfling, but with what she knew of them, they were killed before birth if discovered; though, that didn't eliminate the possibility. Slouching into a more comfortable position, she tested her control of her extremities, deciding that sleep and time were all she needed now. The arrow wound itself would take about five days to heal entirely. Luckily only skin and muscle had been injured: had a lung been punctured she'd be dead already, much less able to speak.

"I had been mistaken, I admit, about much more than your gender." A single nod served as an apology for her confusion, but she was quick to transition into her normal state of curiosity, "what are you, Azure? I've never encountered anyone similar." If the question was too blunt, she didn't notice, although she had several more. The next most salient inquiry on her mind was interested in why Azure was asking for a man named Zircon. What did he need of that specific demon?
 
Blankets weren't necessary, but the chance to actually eat some smoked food was music to Azure's ears. With an enthusiastic grin, he glanced over at what he presumed to be the firewood Garnet collected. The pile, however, only barely rose above his feet. His disappointment frayed the edges of his smile, as much as he tried to hold it. The fire probably couldn't do much, especially if it was going to last the night.

"Don't worry, it's just a mistake you shouldn't make twice," replied Azure, still holding onto the remnants of his smile amidst the disappointment he felt. The question Garnet posed, gave Azure a chance to divert the topic elsewhere, though.

He recalled the day the kingdom of Dardanus attacked. It was different from a punitive raid against their raiders. The battle had been planned to be a genocide. Surrounded on all sides, the fire arrows filled up the skies and pierced the bodies of so many of his brethren before they could even lift their axes. The night began with a burning sensation and a sharp pain in his arm, and ended in a cave north of his tribe's camp. He had escaped, but the wounds caused by this battle were a death sentence.

Azure's vision faded to black. And then it came back, amidst a foggy feeling in his head, and sharp searing pain enveloping his entire body. He recalled screaming a lot, yet his body did not move. As the fog cleared from his head, and the last vestiges of pain faded from his body, he saw the face of a male demon. Zircon looked at him straight in the eye, with an apologetic smile. "I... I'm sorry. I think I failed to save your life."

As Azure would say later, being partially alive was better than being completely dead.

With no embellishment of sorts, Azure told the story to Garnet. He explained that he was once human, but the demonic magic used to place his body back into his soul was never meant to be used on humans, or anyone who was completely dead. He felt no pain and bled no blood, but the way his soul was bound to his body affected his mind too.

"As I was told, I'm... living," Azure paused to find the correct word, before continuing, "on demonic magical energy. I have to sustain myself with the flesh of creatures, and I have a tendency to go crazy if I go hungry."
 
Garnet would neglect to mention that this was a mistake she'd made several times; however, this was the first in which she'd nearly died. Her carelessness was not something she'd prefer to bring out in the ope even so, no matter how obvious it may have already been. At the thought of food, her stomach growled. In the small cave she could spot the dried strips of beef hanging on a thin rope, though she preferred to resort to her preserved stores when hunting was difficult. For the most part, the jerky was stolen. Below the rope was her reason for having left her cave in the first place: a small fawn carcass, still fresh but yet to be cooked. In searching for firewood, she'd taken too long to watch the human's and their strangeness to retrieve the materials for a warm meal.

Listening carefully to Azure, she rose to her feet without much difficulty, glancing over her shoulder to indicate that he still had her attention. She was glad to have her to him while he told his story, somewhat surprised he was willing to tell it. While he spoke, her wings drew in tighter, tail twitching back and forth until finally whipping the ground: it hurt slightly, but successfully toned down her anger. "The Human King lives with no bounds. He'd see to the end of his people before considering giving up any amount of the luxury he lives in."

Upon hearing his final statement, she pulled the young deer back to her previous spot, looking down upon it thoughtfully. The throat was shredded as a result of her tail, but the body was otherwise intact and not yet bloated. "It won't last more than a couple of days before rotting. Have as much of it as you'd like." Given Azure's inhuman resilience, she assumed he could consume uncooked meat without worry.

"It's odd to me, just how much humans can hate. If it's not demons, it's each other." Garnet mused further on Azure's explanation, rolling her injured shoulder and grimacing as the dried blood caused the hide to stick to her skin. The wound, she felt, was merely another testament to the human's hatred; though, even with her injuries, she did not hate them. Their detestation was born out of fear and solidified by their king. She wondered if Azure had felt the same loathing prior to having one save him.