It sure has been a while...

[3kul]

((I'm feeling a bit out of touch with RPing, so this is an open thread for practice. Anybody who feels like it can jump in, you don't even have to read all of this post if you don't want to (just be aware that I'll be using HollowEyes). ))

HollowEyes staggered to a halt, breathing heavily. Before him was a towering beast of a locust, it's wings flitting as it came down to land in front of him with a terrific crash. It had the torn remains of many charms across it's mouth, though it didn't seem to be suffering from the effects of any of them. Drawing closer to HollowEyes, it reached a viciously clawed arm out and... tapped him lightly on the head.

"Wow, you weren't joking when you said that you were out of shape HollowEyes." It said in a nails-against-a-chalkboard kind of voice. Speaking english was difficult for fiends, but this one was considerably more intelligent than the ones HollowEyes was used to dealing with. "What was that, like five minutes?" "Don't be so generous, it was more like two..." HollowEyes said, extremely irritated that he'd fallen so far. It was his own fault, really, for allowing himself to rely on others so much... Even Caton was created because he wasn't too good with handling the Ruby Dagger, why hadn't he just practiced more with it instead.

"Well, that's it then. Thanks for your help." The large fiend seemed a little confused, but obliged, disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

He was not bound to HollowEyes as several swarms of the stupider, smaller fiends were, and he was doing this only because HollowEyes had requested an evaluation of his abilities from the Locust King (aka the Locust Spirit). He knew that his body was considerably weaker since he'd had it replaced*, but something else felt wrong here... "What do you think, Aoiame?"

The Paper Spirit peeled herself from a nearby tree, having chosen to remain hidden from the locust. "Not just your body, but your spirit has weakened. You've experimented on yourself too much, and it's taken it's toll." She spoke in a stern tone, for as much as she cared for HollowEyes she was extremely disappointed in him as a pupil. He'd strayed far from the path she'd tried to lay out for him, and now he was feeling the results. "Splitting pieces off and then sticking it back together again... Honestly Hollao, what did you expect? I can't fix something like this, and before you ask me I can tell you right now that I don't know of anybody who can."

HollowEyes frowned, not entirely sure of how to respond. He'd forgotten how strict Ayame could be as a teacher, and he was almost regretting asking for her help in this. "So, the damage is done then? It's irreparable?" "As far as you or I know, yes. Don't go trying to fix it yourself, you'll only make it worse." HollowEyes silently cursed to himself as he was reminded of how well Ayame knew him. "Just learn to live with what you've got. Return to the basics and you'll find that you're not quite as weak as you feared." Feeling that now would be a good time to leave HollowEyes to reflect on this knowledge, Ayame too disappeared. Unlike the fiend, HollowEyes had no idea where she'd gone, but he knew that she'd come back soon enough (she always did).

For now, he decided to do as Ayame had advised him to and get back to the basics of what she'd taught him - just his plain old charms, a bit of trickery and the occasional spot of light combat to mix things up was all he'd really need... Along with an opponent to practice these things on, that is. "Well, it's called the Training Dojo for a reason." HollowEyes mused to himself, wandering on towards the building. There was almost always a Dojodian or two hanging about the place looking to get some practice in, so he didn't think he'd have to look too hard to find somebody to help him out.

[TheBlackSoul]

If HollowEyes thought he wouldn't have to look far to find someone, he was certainly correct. However, this somebody wasn't hanging around on the ground - he was hanging out (quite literally) from the wall closest to the Training Dojo's roof.

Occasionally slipping, Four Swords skittered almost insect-like across the wall. His arms, normally a pair, were currently split up into four to give him a slightly better grip, and the simply large claws that decortated his feet were digging in, creating unsightly scratch marks. Despite all that he was doing to make this easier, it was obvious his bodily structure wasn't exactly built for this sort of thing.

Well, it didn't really matter to the Parasitian currently. Recently, it had occured to him that, since his arrival in the Dojo, he hadn't done much. Unless combat styles here were similar to those back home, he wasn't going to be properly prepared if he didn't train.

And, that's what brought him here, attempting to train in mountain climbing. However, he was beginning to think maybe scaling a vertical wall wasn't the best idea.

Completely oblivious to HollowEyes somewhere down below, Four Swords shrugged off those thoughts and went on. Sooner or later, though, he felt certain he was going to fall off.

((I haven't used Four Swords at all, so this looks like a good place to take him out for a stroll.))

[KC11]

"SMACK"

Inside one of the rooms of the Training Dojo, someone was training. Or at least, trying to train. If one had looked in at that moment, they would have seen a girl with the torso of a human, and the rest of her body was that of a dragon. The girl had long, silver hair and bright blue eyes.

The girl sighed and twitched slightly. Her lower dragon part changed back into a human, blending with the rest of her.

"I still haven't quite gotten the hang of Sudden Shapeshifting."

She walked around the Dojo area.

"I wonder what my mother would think of me, not even able to change on the dot." she said allowed. The girl often thought out loud. "She'd probably say 'Aura Laquir, when you've reached the age I have...' oh, some nonsense like that."

Aura sat down on one of the steps. She suddenly looked up. She could sense another presence somewhere.

"Anyone?" she asked, slowly getting up. "Is there anyone here?"

(Yay Aura! I've never actually RPed KC's daughter. Should be... interesting. )

[3kul]

((Sorry for the slow response, given Blackstar's low amounts of activity lately I wanted to wait for a bit just to make sure I'd have something to reply to I can't believe I didn't notice that you'd gone and made a Parasitian character TBS, but I must admit he's done pretty well - fits in nicely with the species info that I've given and everything I'm curious to know where and how a Parasitian picked up a bunch of swords, but I guess I'll be finding that out soon enough anyway.

Also, uh, I may regret asking this, but when/how did KC have a child? EDIT: Just read her character history - born in a lab, eh? Crazy stuff!))

It was hard for HollowEyes to miss Four Swords, who was currently tearing up the exterior wall of the Training Dojo as he slowly scaled it. HollowEyes was about to laugh and comment on how foolish this person looked when he sensed something very strange about them.

Was it his smell? The way he moved? The way his spirit felt? Something about this person seemed inexplicably Parasitian, though HollowEyes could plainly see several things that contradicted that. For one thing, Parasitians did not clothe themselves (at least they hadn't before he'd left), and this one was wearing a cloak. But more importantly than that, this one had four massive swords dangling from his waist, along with a pouch of some kind. Weapons were a strange thing for a Parasitian to be carrying, for unless they were biological most would probably despise them... Unless he was a disciple of some kind of spirit, and the weapons were a gift?

HollowEyes shook his head, realizing that he was overthinking this. In all likelihood, this person was probably just from a species similar to Parasitians, and HollowEyes was just jumping to conclusions based on his own limited knowledge. The only way he'd ever know for sure would be by talking to him, so he figured he'd give that a shot.

"Sorry if it's meant to be obvious, but what exactly are you doing? There are stairs inside if you want to get to the rooftop that badly."

((Sorry for not really responding to your post KC, but HollowEyes isn't going inside just yet.

Just in case you were wondering TBS, Four Swords won't recognize HollowEyes, though as somebody so deeply interested in the Leech-Jackal rivalry he's probably heard of him. Most of what any Parasitian not of the Leech clan at the time HollowEyes was born would have only heard exaggerations and half-truths, though to the Jackals I imagine HollowEyes would be considered to be something of a godsend. It was thanks to the chaos he caused that tore apart the Leech clan after all, and left them unprepared for the Jackals when they moved in on their territory.))

[KC11]

(Ah, uh, an interesting mishap with DNA in a laboratory. Aura's a test tube child. I don't have anything to add, I just thought I'd clear that up.)

[Swix]

"Demolishing the building" came a voice from the top of the roof, which depending on how good HollowEyes memory was he might have found strangely familiar "from the looks of it"

The voice belonged to a girl who didn't look much older then twenty, with long, straight black hair and wearing all black clothing. It was quite obvious how she'd gotten up there, since her now much larger and longer black draconic wings were no longer able to be concealed.

Blue jumped off the roof of the building, revealing a much longer tail than she'd had before. It too was black scaled and draconic, though lacking any arrows or spikes at it's tip.

Blue opened her wings a short way before hitting the ground, considerably slowing her speed before her legs met with earth and preventing injury. The hybrid turned to look at the two Parasitians, though she of course only knew a little about one of them, the infamous HollowEyes.

"I don't suppose you two have seen a white wolf anywhere around here?" she enquired, semi innocently "have you?* Blue revealed slightly longer than usual fangs along with her most striking feature now, that of eyes that were completely black, lacking irises or whites of any kind. If they were observant, they'd see her on her fingers not fingernails, but claw sheathes in their place.

((This is Blue/DM from after the current Amphitheater 'rolling timeline, multiple characters' story which I hope will be finished soon. I haven't yet tested her out as much as I want so I thought I'd bring her here.

Depending on how much HollowEyes remembers from EC vs Gameware war, he might remember the same voice from atop a rooftop. Though then it was accompanied by an illusionary chunk of building ))

[Coolpikaaa]

((I just realized I haven't been to the training dojo to train.....ever.

Hmm....))

Coolpikaaa wished he could clear his head.

Not so easy when he shared it with someone else, who was actually himself from another time line.

Coolpikaaa really wished he could clear his head.

They (mostly CP) had decided that a fight or two might just solve this problem. Chromis on the other hand wouldn't go for it.The duo eventually came to the conclusion of entering the training dojo as long as they remained hidden, and only observed the fighting styles.

That was over an hour ago, and the two now stood outside the training dojo, disguised as a green tree. Coolpikaaa itched something fierce, but scratching would blow their cover, breaking the first rule.

He couldn't imagine fighting someone who went EVERYWHERE you were.

Eventually a few dojoians arrived for a day of training, not suspecting the tree outside was a spy.

Later in the day the first problem occurred. Someone had decided to tear up the outside of the training hall, and that had attracted a larger, second problem.

Holloweyes.

Coolpikaaa's side rolled in anger at the arrival of the Evil council member. The two had never gotten along, and it was more than just the fact they were included in groups organized on opposite ends of the spectrum.

The rage however was soon replaced by confusion. His other half recognized the Parasitian.

"What had Holloweyes been doing at my deathbed?"Coolpikaaa thought to himself. He suspected Holloweyes wasn't there to pay respects.

Anyone keen to the surroundings would notice the tree lean slightly closer to the Parasitian and his new interest, the one ripping up the wall.

-coolpikaaa

((In case you aren't familiar with the paradoxal journey through time, Chromis was teleported back before CP's death and the two became fused together.It wiped out Chromis' time line so Holloweye's part in the story is only remembered by Chromis at this time.The most he would know 3kul,would be that CP mysteriously vanished some time ago.))[/i]

[Chronos]

((Yeesh! Same here, CP. Besides, 3kul, how could I miss out on something like this? ))

hop.

What a fine day.

hop.

Maybe I can get something done.

hop.

Or maybe I'll just take it easy.

hop....

HAH!

hop.

Out of the nearby expanse of greenery, a syncopated erratic rhythm could be heard. It was light and free. It did not match well with the creature that was making the noise.

Alloexustio was here.

The demon of Chaos had planned on hopping by the leaning tree and through the creatures ahead- saying absolutely nothing as if it was the most normal scenario in the world. One thing only stopped him. Someone ahead was recognizable.

One of them!

It was none other than Hollow Eyes of the Evil Council. The same Evil Council that had stolen his revenge from him. Alloexustio growled. He had not yet made any real steps toward finding Ensichrys yet. He had not yet gathered the proper resources, and there didn't seem to be any willing to help him.

This Hollow Eyes was high of rank in the Evil Council. Who was he talking to? Perhaps it was unimportant.

Alloexustio hopped doggedly around the Training Dojo. He would sneak inside and hide in the shadows. Then he would begin to gather information.

[TheBlackSoul]

((Four Swords was a pain to come up with, to. I meant to make a Parasitian a while back, but all attempts at it didn't sound like it fit into the species description.))

"Sorry if it's meant to be obvious, but what exactly are you doing? There are stairs inside if you want to get to the rooftop that badly." asked some voice from below Four Swords.

His left arms let go of the wall, allowing him a better view of the creature below.

"What does it look like I'm do-" he began, but cut himself short when he set eyes on HollowEyes.

Is that what I think it is....?

When he had first arrived in the Dojo, Four Swords had heard tell that he wasn't the first Parasitian to make it here. There were two other parasitians already present, both members (or somewhat members) of a group called the 'Evil Council'. If his suspiscions were correct, then this had to be one of those 2.

On the front of his face, a pair of "slits" where a normal humanoid's nose would be flicked open, revealing a pair of tiny, black eyes. However, these eyes were open for only a split second, before being closed back shut.

He had to get a better look at this creature. But before he could actually say anything, he was interrupted by a voice from the rooftop, which was pointing out that he looked like he was trying to destroy the building.

"Thanks for the sarcastic remark. For your information, I'm actually trying to climb this thing. And I don't use stairs, because stairs make a poor substitute for a mountain wall." he said to Blue as she lept down (although that last statement was obviously supposed to answer HollowEyes's question).

Four Swords waited until Blue had passed, and then pushed himself away from the wall, letting go at about the same time. In mid-air, he twisted himself so that his limbs pointed downwards, and with that he landed with only minimal pain.

However, the side effect of his landing was that two of his swords fell from their sheaths, thankfully landing nowhere were they could hurt someone.

Grabbing both of them and shoving them back in their sheaths, the Parasitian turned his attentions back to the other one. He said nothing, but he seemed to be studying HollowEyes somewhat.

[3kul]

((Wow, I didn't expect the thread to attract this much attention ))

The sudden appearance of a young lady wasn't all that surprising to HollowEyes, as he'd expected to find all sorts of people lurking about the Training Hall looking for people to practice with, but he found her to be strangely familiar. He couldn't for the life of him recall where or when, but he got a distinct feeling of déjà vu from her calling down to him from the rooftop. She seemed to possess a kind of unique air about her, the likes of which HollowEyes didn't sense very often, and he felt a little disappointed that he couldn't remember where he'd met such a person.

"A white wolf, you say? There are plenty of the regular kind lurking about the Black Forest, but I haven't seen any white wolves around here before." That struck HollowEyes as odd, because Blackstar was the kind of place where the unusual became the usual (and vice-versa). By that logic, white wolves should be as common as cockroaches, but they weren't, or HollowEyes just didn't know where to find them.

Four Swords, unlike the mysterious hybridized beauty, was a whole new level of creepiness for him. An extra pair of eyes that were where HollowEyes supposed that his nose might have been suddenly opened to examine the SiC, then quickly snapped shut. After answering HollowEyes' question he dropped to the ground, a couple of his swords falling with him. HollowEyes managed to catch a glimpse of the swords that fell out of their sheaths, but only for a brief moment - they were made from a pitch black material, but otherwise didn't seem to be anything special. Four Swords quickly gathered up his blades, then began to stare at HollowEyes without saying much else.

"Uh, if you're looking for mountains, the Frozen North is probably better than the Training Dojo. A wooden wall probably makes for a very poor substitute." It wasn't the most helpful of suggestions, but HollowEyes was just trying to use a little conversation to hopefully stop Four Swords from examining him in such an obvious way.

((Editted for maximum correctness.))

[TheBlackSoul]

((I'd like to point out that Four Swords's small eyes are actually on the front of his face (where his nose would be if he had one), and are always present, just tightly closed. They didn't pop out the side of his face.))

Four Swords stopped staring at HollowEyes for a few seconds to glance at the somewhat noticable mountains further north. Perhaps this Parasitian's (if that was what it was, anyway) suggestion was actually somewhat decent. In fact, in his head he was beating himself up for not thinking of that first.

It didn't take him very long, though, to figure out HollowEyes was probably starting to get uncomfortable with him staring at him all the time. Slightly understandable, but it was just Four Swords habit to give people a look down before actually talking to them. This was paticularly so with HollowEyes, as he and Four Swords might possibly be the same species.

He made a slight mental note to follow the SiC's suggestion at a later date, but right now he wasn't going anywhere until he got a few things straight.

First off, he had to come up with some excuse for why he was here instead of the Frozen North.

"I wasn't, er, looking for real mountains at the moment. This was about the only thing close enough to one given the, um, current circumstances." he tried to explain, turning to face HollowEyes again. What were the current cicumstances? Frankly, that was something he pulled out of thin air.

Well, now that that pitiful excuse was out of the way, it was finally time to clear the race issue with this other creature.

"You are a Parasitian, right?" This question probably would prove to HollowEyes that Four Swords was, indeed, a Parasitian. While he himself didn't consider that fact unusual, the fact that he was possibly dealing with another of his kind was unusual. Well, at least here, and by his standards.

[3kul]

((Well, even the front is a side of the face - the front side!

... Oh alright then, previous post editted.))

"You are a Parasitian, right?"

Well that was the clincher for HollowEyes, he was sure that Four Swords was a Parasitian now. Anybody else would have asked about his name, or been much less specific than that... The word 'Parasitian' itself was not a very common one in Blackstar even with the presence of both HollowEyes and Little Sister, and so HollowEyes felt confident in this conclusion.

Of course, just because Four Swords was right didn't mean that HollowEyes would let him know that.

"Paranesian? No thanks, I'm more of an Agnostic man myself. I don't understand the Gods and I rarely want to, especially when it comes to the one responsible for this world." He paused for a moment, thinking carefully about this. "Well, I don't know if that's technically what you'd call an Agnostic, but I don't know a better term for it... Maybe my brother does? He's good with that sort of thing, you know."

He'd sooner eat a seven-course banquet served up by Slugfoot than get involved with another Parasitian, such was his intense dislike of his own race. HollowEyes was thankful that nobody who actually knew him was here, and he prayed that the woman searching for the white wolf didn't know, or if she did, that she'd be able to read between the lines and wouldn't spill his secret.

"Tell me though friend, I don't believe I've seen you in the Dojo before. What brings you here? Surely you don't mean to simply climb mountains and discuss religions." Calling a complete stranger 'friend' was not something that HollowEyes usually did, which was exactly why he did it - if this Parasitian had heard anything about him then he'd have to act as unlike himself as possible.

((For those of you wondering, a Paranesian is somebody who worships Paranesia ))

[Coolpikaaa]

"You are a Parasitian, right?"

"Paranesian? No thanks, I'm more of an Agnostic man myself. I don't understand the Gods and I rarely want to, especially when it comes to the one responsible for this world."

What was Holloweyes doing? Even as a tree, the fused spirit could tell the difference between Parasititan and Paranesian. And since when did Holloweyes have a brother?

"Tell me though friend, I don't believe I've seen you in the Dojo before. What brings you here?"

Friend?

Coolpikaaa demanded mobility from his other half and got it. The tree leaned farther than ever toward holloweyes. He had to hear as much as possible.

The thought that having a tree branch now in front of your face when it wasn't before never occurred to him as possibly arousing suspicion. He was too determined to spy on the EC member.

-coolpikaaa

[3kul]

It was impossible for HollowEyes to miss a tree branch suddenly hanging in his face, but he didn't think anything too suspicious of it, perhaps because he was too focused on his conversation with Four Swords. Tree branches broke all the time, he was just glad it hadn't clocked him in the head.

Of course, as the branch hadn't actually broken it didn't fall any further, and it quickly became a nuisance to HollowEyes. "Excuse me for a second..." He said calmly, grabbing the offending branch and twisting it violently, intending to snap it off.

((Well, I don't know if he'll actually be able to do that or not, so feel free to powerplay a little in your response CP.))

[Swix]

((Sorry for not posting last night, too tired