The Heat of Misfortune

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ChojiYume

ChojiYume

Imagination Jester
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Waen Cutland was a regular guy. Or so he liked to try to believe. He sighed as he looked out the window of the small coffee shop. Bailey's, a popular place in the middle of Centervalley. Lame name for a town right? They ran out of the cool ones about a mile out from where they he sat. Though Waen didn't mind the quietness of this strange town. In fact, he'd hoped it would get him away from what ever it was that kept on bothering him.

He was quickly finding out that it wasn't the case. He sighed as he felt the presence hovering around the room. The damn thing, what ever it was, was clinging to him like glue though for most of the time. As if it though he was it's dad or something.

"Spirits....." He sighed. Well, that's what he assumed it was anyways. He'd always known that supernatural things existed. Because a lot of the bad ones liked to run into him. It was like he was a strange attraction to them. Was it his blood? Or something more detailed than that.

He probably would never know. He looked around and stood up as some more customers came in. He knew that to many more people and the thing attached to him might do something dumb and would get him permanently banned from the place. He sighed, disappointed that he was probably going to get yet another town destroyed. He was just going to have to get on the move sooner than last time. So many bad things ended up following him, it was a miracle he hadn't ended up dead.

He walked down the street slowly. Looking around and getting his barrings again. He didn't really know the area all to well. But he was starting to get better at placing things. Like Lucy's Pub, and Andrew's Grill & Beer. There was the big names too, but no one cares about those. The gas stations where that Indian dude sells the good stuff under the table. Or so he was told. Some stoners thought that he was like them when he ran into them. He still laughed at that thought. He'd found out a LONG time ago that going under the influence of ANYTHING would make things worse for everyone.

After too long, he came to the little hotel he was staying at for the night, but he shook his head and instead went to the small gambling bar down the way. Gear's and Gambles it was called. And the look fit the name. The inside of the building looked like the inside workings of a clock or something with all the gears and cogs inside of it. But most people were there to hang or to bet their paychecks. Some winning, some losing. But that was part of the fun right. He stood outside and shook his head. He'd bring to much bad luck into a place like this.

He sighed and looked around. Where could he go? A park? Wasn't there one just a little further? Maybe. He stood there for a moment just trying to figure out what he might do there, and where he might go. He sighed as he started walking in a random direction. Who cared where he went anyways? Wait. Was it getting harder to walk? What the hell? The presence felt more like two or three now. Damn. This wasn't good. He hurried to find the park. At least there, there wouldn't really be anyone right?!
 

Centervalley. At last she had found the source of the commotion. Why weren't Humans more creative with their town names..?

Brynn had been following this trail for days. Something was going on, and she was determined to find out what it was, then eliminate it as soon as possible. Such a disturbance was against The Rules, and she disliked that this all seemed to revolve around some tiny Human town. Tonight was it. She had tracked down the source - a male. So far, she had gone through a coffee shop, a pub, and a hotel. All linked, but not what she wanted. Then came the bar. Closer. She hesitated by the door, then turned her head and narrowed her eyes. So, he had gone running off to the park. How convenient.

She closed her eyes, opening them again as she stood in the center of the park. Her mismatched irises flicked from side to side. Deserted, all except for her target. She relaxed and allowed him to come to her. While she waited, she picked up a stick and started drawing figures in the dirt. Fallbacks. No person worth knowing would walk into an unknown situation without some sort of protection. However, she was starting to doubt that she needed them. The source felt Human from this distance, but she had been fooled before, years ago. She tossed the stick aside and turned, just as the source came in to view.

A boy. Not very old or fearsome looking. She eyed him with interest and put a hand on her hip. Seriously? He was the cause of the fuss? There wasn't anything threatening there. Hell, she cast a more threatening shadow than he did, what with her curly hair and feather necklace. She looked like a hippie with a penchant for business attire, pairing feathered accessories with a white button-down shirt and snug dark jeans. He looked like.. well.. a kid. She frowned a bit, wondering what he was hiding. Clearly something powerful. Well, whatever it was, she was going to drag it from him whether he wanted her to or not.

"What do you think you're doing?" she finally asked in an even and curious tone, keeping a very close eye on him in case he decided to run. He was already giving off a very distinct feeling of fear. She glanced behind him for a moment to ensure that he had not been followed. Being chased was a common enough fear and would explain why his pulse was raised so high, but there was nobody behind him. Still, he was a flight risk. That would be quite foolish and would not end well for him, but people had done more stupid things. When one lived as long as a Phoenix, they saw an unending stream of idiocy.
 
Waen bit his lip when he saw the beautiful woman in front of him. This wasn't good. He was trying to get away from people. She was in for a world of hurt. He sighed again. He looked so tired, felt so tired. Slowly he made his way to pass the woman. But she spoke to him. Asking him what he was doing as if he was doing something wrong. He lifted an eyebrow at the woman.

"And what are you doing out here miss? Because last I checked, people like you don't hang around a town like this." He chuckled a bit. He was going to try and play it off jokingly. "I try to find a place to be secluded and yet here I find a beautiful woman." He sighed. "The predicament this has brought on is quite troublesome." He smiled a bit. Though in the back of his head, all he wanted to do was get this girl to go away.

She deffinitely wasn't normal, but that didn't matter to those that followed him. Unless she was just another bad thing about to happen to him. "Look lady. I'm not looking for any trouble. I just want to go somewhere away from people. Away from everything, but people like you keep finding me and screwing things up for me." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "One reason why I don't understand how all this could happen to me and I'm just a human." He grunted. Yeah. He could tell she wasn't human. But he didn't know what she was.

After a bit he looked her over. She really looked nice. But he didn't want to chance it. He sat down right where he was. "Or are you like, someone who's here, to pretend that they can help me." He chuckled. "Because that's happened a lot to. He played with the grass and sighed. God he was sighing a lot today. The pressure from the spirits though was starting to get unbearable. He knew he wouldn't be able to get up. Fuck. This was a bad idea. He should have just walked past the damned woman.
 
Babbling. The boy was doing a lot of it. She simply watched him, letting him speak several times with no response from herself. It seemed that as long as she didn't talk, he would just keep going to fill the silence. That was actually quite convenient. In the span of a few minutes, she found out several things about him that were helpful. He knew she wasn't Human, for one. That was a vital tidbit. Most Humans on this world were unaware that anything else existed. The fact that he knew was both interesting and questionable. Just what exactly had he been exposed to that would tell him that? Or was he hiding something about himself? She was tempted to explore his mind to find out, but she would refrain.

For now.

"You speak too much," she remarked idly once he had fallen silent. She was not looking at him, but rather at the area surrounding them. Very interesting indeed. She tilted her head and glanced back down at where he sat on the ground, picking at the grass like a petulant child. Something had to be done. If he just sat there, they wouldn't be accomplishing anything. She sighed and reached down, grabbing his upper arm and hauling him to his feet with an easy strength that did not quite match her form. Once she had him up, she kept a grasp on him and started walking through the park with him as though they were a couple and not a guard with a prisoner.

"I want you to tell me precisely what you have been dabbling with and why. Do not lie, I will know," she informed him, taking him into a circle of trees nearby. All of them were warded against anything that she did not want getting in. It would likely enable him to relax and quit acting like he had cement blocks being hurled at his head. At least, that's what she was hoping. She released his arm and turned to face him, one eyebrow raised expectantly as she waited for him to start spouting answers.
 
The woman told him that he spoke to much. He chuckled at that. But when she got closer the thought's in his mind were practically screaming. She shouldn't touch him! She would feel the dark energy that hovered around him a lot stronger now. He wanted to pull away from her, but she had him to her feet.

This girl really wasn't human. It kind of had been a guess. Though there really had been something about her. When she had him go through the circle of tree's, he hissed in pain as the spirit's were yanked from him. His eyes widened as he tried to breath, damn, they'd taken a piece of him. Glaring at her, he yanked his arm away from her and wiped himself down.

"That wasn't fucking necessary. Now they've gone and taken a piece of my soul." He shook, like he was cold. He took a deep breath and hugged himself. But the night was warm, that made no sense.

"Dabble? Lady, the only thing I've dabbled in is alcohol and the occasional drug. Though i stopped when they started to get more violent." He turned away from her and looked outside the barrier. His eyes widened and he freaked out for a second.

"THAT was what was following me!" He shrank visibly away from the barrier. Whatever it was, he could see it, probably because of the barrier. "Fuck lady. What do you want really! I normally got along fine! These things FOLLOW ME. I have no fucking choice. They've followed me since I was a baby."

He looked at her, the look on his face was a mix of fear and anger. "Now either let me back out there and get me my piece of soul back, or get my piece of soul back and kill those fucking spirits while you're at it."
 
Brynn blinked and gaze the boy a blank stare at first. He thought..? Oh, dear. She sighed and crossed her arms, continuing to listen as he started into another panicked episode and started making demands. That finally drew a smile from her, though it fell short of lighting up her eyes. Instead, it was the type of amusement that was more of pity than anything else. She sighed and shook her head, trying to decide how to go about it. The easiest thing would be to just tell him to go back outside. If he died, it would be much easier. However, that would also be a point to the other side. She was supposed to keep the balance, not give aid to either side of things. Somebody was not playing by The Rules.

"First of all, they did not take a piece of your soul," she informed him. "The soul is not some tangible thing that can be broken apart like a cookie. If it were, and if you were indeed missing a piece, you would be dead. Trust me. I would know. To put it in a way that you would understand, the soul is more akin to air. You can not see it and most times are not aware of it, and trying to bottle up a specific part of it is futile."

"Secondly," she continued, her tone brooking no argument. "If you are going to sit there and tell me what to do about your problems, then you truly have no idea what I am here for. I am not your servant, nor your friend. If you ran out there on your own, I would not stop you. I would stand here and watch you die, then move on. I am needed elsewhere. The war is everlasting. However, if you decide to stop whining for long enough to put together a coherent string of thoughts and decide you'd rather be safe, you are welcome to come with me."
 
When the woman spoke on how souls worked he chuckled. He almost full on laughed. But he managed to keep it on the low as he looked at her. And listened to the rest.

"If that wasn't my soul, then I want to know what it was, because they took it from me, and it hurt like fucking hell." He looked at the barrier around him. "And I'm not walking out of this thing just to die. I'm not fucking dumb."

He looked at the woman again. She stood there as if she were the boss of the whole world. Hell no. "I don't think you even know what's wrong with me. Let alone how to help me. How the hell would I be safe with you? You just fucking admitted that you don't care if I die."

"War?" He looked at her when it registered in his mind. "The war between good and evil? Strange coming from someone who doesn't seem to really care."

He smirked and stood there looking out at the spirits. "Those things have been following me since the last town. Though only one had shown themselves till just now. It's really an annoyance. Especially when I can't do anything about it."
 
"Could have fooled me."

Brynn sighed. This was a pain. Dealing with Humans was always, always a pain. They were so.. emotional. He was getting angry for no apparent reason. In this moment, he was perfectly fine, yet he was raving about how helpless his situation was and how intelligent he was and how he was being stalked. Wasn't that draining? To be so wrapped up in the flood of emotions? It seemed exhausting. She frowned, tempted to reach for him and cleanse him, but he would probably start screaming and faint or something similar.

"I do not have time for this. As you are so fiercely intelligent, I shall leave you to your own devices. You have been doing a marvelous job on your own so far and I would hate to hinder your process. I would wish you luck but, as you have so wonderfully pointed out to me, a Human of your caliber doesn't need it. I'm sure that smirk will keep you immune from Death."

She gave him a slight nod and turned away, going over to one of the trees in the circle. To leave these wards active would drain her over time. It was unnecessary. She slid her fingers over the first marking, tracing a line of bright flames over the rough bark. It trailed about three inches behind her fingers, vanishing as she went. The marking beneath was gone. Satisfied, she began working on the one beneath it.
 
Why did everything this fucking bitch say piss him off. He took a deep breath. Watching her as she used magic to get rid of something.

"You say that you can help me? " He seemed to be calm and thinking hard, "What could you possibly do for me that others haven't tried?"

He slowly walked over to her, "And why would you want to do that? Help me? I mean. You seem to be reclusive and to hate humans. So I don't know what could possibly motivate you to do this for me."
 
Brynn sighed. More babble. This kid really liked to talk. That was not always a bad thing, she supposed, but it was never something she was a fan of. He wasn't even saying anything entertaining. Instead of telling a fun story or something that would be beneficial, he was questioning her. Again. He did not seem to have the capacity for learning from his own mistakes. That was something to be noted for future reference. In the meantime, she kept her silence, allowing him to go on about how he didn't know what was driving her actions. Well. At least now he was admitting that there were things he didn't know, instead of standing there arguing with her as though he was the one who had been around far longer than his own ancestors. Ah, Humans..

"Yes, things, because, already answered that," she finally said, answering his questions in perfect order as she finally turned back to face him. The markings were gone and the protective circle was fading. She did not bother asking his permission, instead grabbing the shoulder of his clothing a moment before they were launched into the air. At least, that was likely what it seemed like. One moment they were standing, the next, falling. She released him halfway through, allowing him to land on his own to prevent injury as they came down slowly onto a tall, grassy hill.

"Here we are," she said, glancing down at him before looking forward. Sprawled below them was a city nestled in a valley. It was dark, with two differently sized moons hanging low in the sky amid millions of stars. The city was a dazzling array of lights, but they were far enough away that it was silent for them now.
 
She didn't really like talking. Maybe he should stop. But he didn't even have time to talk anymore before she took him along with his tag-along spirits to somewhere he'd never seen before. His landing there hadn't been pretty. He slowly stood up and hissed at the soreness. "Easy on the... merchen...dise.." He looked around. Stunned silent.

His eyes widened and he looked at the scene. TWO MOONS?! Where had she taken him? Where was he? How had they gotten there? All questions running through his mind, but he didn't ask her a question. He just smiled at her.

At least he knew that she hadn't been lying to him. Well, maybe she still was. Maybe she was going to eat him or something. But at this point, it didn't matter. He looked back to the feeling of the spirit. Maybe this thing would finally go away.

The man stood there with a smile on his face. At least the lady was pretty. He could live with that. Besides. Life wouldn't be boring anymore it seemed.
 
"This is where we will get answers. While here, any entity that is attached to you will die within the hour. I would not worry about anything around right now. They'll be gone before we even reach the city," she said, looking over and taking note of his smile. At least he had stopped with the I-know-all attitude. Humans were so odd. They bounced from one side of the emotional spectrum to the other with little regard for how their rashness affected others in the vicinity. Of course, she knew they couldn't really help it. Humans were not normally made with a strong empathetic gene. Instead, they tended to be selfish creatures. It was hard to fight nature. She couldn't truly fault them for that. Still, it was nice to see a change, even a small one, in the boy at her side.

"As I said before, I do not aid you as an act of friendship. My job is to ensure a balance. Neither side can win nor lose. Powers must be kept in check. That is my duty. You are an upset to the balance. I do not yet know why, but I will. If you know anything, I advise you speak up. Parts of the investigation process may cause a fair bit of pain, depending on how deeply we have to delve into you."

That being said, she gestured for him to follow as she started walking down the hill toward the city. If he chose to stay behind, there was not much he could do. There was no direct route back to where they had been before, and behind, a dark forest with no aid in sight. It was either linger alone, or follow along and see what sort of things the Phoenix had in store for him.

[I totally thought I posted last in here D: ]
 
Looking around at the scenery while he followed the woman proved to be quite difficult. Since he was unfamiliar with the terrain he kept tripping over rocks, roots, and branches. But he didn't even utter one complaint. He just kept looking. Mesmerized by the sight of the city before him.

Wait, she just said that the spirits would leave him within the hour. He looked at her shocked. But he was so shocked that none of what he wanted to ask slipped passed his lips. This woman had just taken him to a mystical world that got RID of his problem? Why should he leave it? Unless it would destroy him if he stayed here to long?

Waen followed the female, whom he now was looking at more carefully. Raising an eyebrow, "Upset to the balance huh? To bad I can't make the balance better." He chuckled. He wished he had some good luck every once in a while. But the best he could get is no luck at all. Which meant a peaceful day at least, but it was pretty boring otherwise.

"Delve into me?" He looked at her and then started watching where he was going again. "Why is it that no one believes me when I tell them the truth." He mumbled under his breath, though he kind of meant for her to hear it. He almost felt like he was being ignored. "Whatever chick. It's not like I can change the mind of a supernatural being that's probably been in existence for thousands of years. You'll do what you want to get your answers." He sighed. If he died at least that would be the end of it.

After a while of walking in silence, he could feel the presences of the spirits start to fade away. He breathed a sigh of relief. He had almost been holding his breath to make sure that they would go away. With them gone, he might be able to think, even if it is just for a moment before this lady in front of him decides to shred him up for answers.

It would probably come as a surprise that he wasn't complaining about the long trek from where she'd landed them. But if she watched him carefully, she see that he was perfectly content with looking around him, especially at the two moons that were still there. He was even smiling like an idiot enjoying the moments.
 
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