Like A Dragon

“Truth be told I can’t really make full sense of it myself. It just feels like a more intense… pure, should I say, version of my Armagus? I don’t know, young one, what I do know is that if you ever feel something strange in your gut, be careful. After all, it makes even the great Bang Shishigami, feel uneasy…”

“Unfortunately, I’m not talking fancy perfumes. I’m talking True Magic…”

Scary stuff.

“…”

    “You don’t have to scream.We can all hear you.”

She noted his hand reaching forward, but ultimately made no effort to stop him. So far, the fire person was the only one who hadn’t reviled her, probably because they were similar. At the mention of wanting to find or missing her father, she merely shook her head. “Fail-ure… He… Called me… Mon-ster…” It was the most she’d tried to speak thus-far, and still seemed to struggle with it too.

“Others… Too. Monster… Ugly… Demon…” She tensed up a bit, clutching the large mace-like machine. “Throw things… Swing… Fire… Scream… Yell… Chase…” Suddenly, a tear fell to the ground, and her body quivered a bit. “Monster… Monster… Monster… Hurt me… Why?”

She looked up at him again, and though her eyes were hidden, it was clear she was crying. “Why?”

Unsettling, was a fitting word to use. This certainly sounded like Frankenstein’s Monster; even if ‘monster’ was an entirely unfitting word for the fragile girl before him. He heard her out, though her voice seemed pained. Not by the effort of talking, but because the subject was... difficult, for her. And judging by what she said, he wouldn’t be able to blame her were that the case.

And when he saw her crying? He just... froze, himself. He really didn’t feel equipped to handle this. He barely knew her, what was he to say to make her feel better? Could anything be said? He... He wasn’t good at this sort of thing.

So he was silent, for a time. Simply staring at the ‘monster’ with mouth slightly agape as he searched for words that seemed to refuse to come. Until eventually, he sighed, and moved - sitting into a position right at the girl’s side and moving his hand. Down, to settle on one of hers, even as she gripped her mechanical weapon.

“People can be... really, really stupid. Even if they’re just told something’s wrong, sometimes they’ll buy into it and treat it like it is. But... look; you’re not a monster. From the looks of it you’re even less a monster than me. If... if it helps, I’m not gonna let anyone throw things, hit you, hurt you or whatever while I’m around. Alright? We’ll... Weeee’ll get outta here! And find some more people who understand you. How’s that sound?”

The monster looked at him, and listened intently. So… He wasn’t entirely made? Just his arm, and one other part? She seemed to take a moment to process that. The fire man kept most of his body, but had an arm and something else changed… How unusual. She wondered why someone would let their body parts be changed out like that. There were many questions she had, of course, but his came before she could make the effort to voice hers.

Well, he had answered her question, albeit dubiously, so… It couldn’t hurt to respond back, right? Again, she seemed to struggle with the words for a moment, but a bit less than before. “F-Fran… Ken… Stein.” That was the name she recalled hearing her father call himself… Before he’d deemed her a failure. The monster looked down, seemingly saddened by the mere mention of her make’s name.

“Frankenstein...?”

Of the pieces of literature that survived not only the ending of most life on Earth, but the century of a new world that followed, the tale of Frankenstein and his monster was one of them. Perhaps just because it was a cautionary tale, but Saito suspected it served a dual purpose for the world government of his time: Propoganda. Discrediting science in favor of Ars Magus. After all, a terrible abomination created by a mad scientist certainly made the purity of magic seem a little more appealing when you framed it right. Now, Saito found himself in some backwater part of the countryside among people who largely seemed to be from the freakin’ stone age, it felt like. So...

Surely it... couldn’t be the same Frankenstein? Despite his circumstances? Whatever the case... he felt like this girl was hardly the abomination spoken of in the old story. She was very odd, but didn’t seem malicious... she even began to look upset, prompting the redhead to sit forward, a bit closer and reach out to place his (abnormally warm) hand on her shoulder. Slowly - so she had more than enough time to decide if she wanted to stop him. “Hey... sorry. Do you... miss em? Not like em?

@blackgrimoire

It hadn’t been long since Venira had been in this ‘ Hierarchical City’, but she’d been fortunate enough to find a remote, well-fortified location she could take for herself. The old tenants wouldn’t have a need for it anymore, of that she was certain. But now it seemed despite her best efforts to keep curious explorers and reckless scavengers out that she had an intruder. The former ruler was a patient one, but not the type to be rude to her guests. And so the wandered would soon come face to face with Venira in a more… intimidating form.

“I would suggest turning around now. Entering a dragon’s lair is often a death sentence.” A voice rang in his mind, Venira speaking through and not words.

Her little reckless intruder had been running, from the looks of it, and had wound up exiting one of the many tunnels making up the labyrinthine maintenance areas around Venira’s central home; near her ‘lair’ proper, sweating and tired. Still sensible enough to skid to a stop along the slick ground. Surprised, clearly, by both the appearance of his ‘host’ and the way she spoke into his mind.

“Wh--? How the hell?”

Of course, there wasn’t too much time to question the unnerving voice in his head. The reason the redheaded boy had been running quickly made itself clear, as another individual suddenly rounded the corner, a white haired man wielding a pair of handguns. Which were quickly trained on the first of the intruders, and fired in quick succession.

Cursing under his breath, Saito dove to the side and swept up a piece of thick scrap metal off the ground to block the next volley that he couldn’t dodge. ”Bastard!” 

His attention was now on his attacker... but that man spotted Venira, and instead addressed her. From several meters off and down the barrel of a gun...

Slowly but surely, the monster was coming around to this man. He could make fire, he didn’t seem disturbed by her freakish appearance, and now… Now, the monster could see that he had a metal arm. Without warning, she grabbed the limb and held it closer to inspect it. It was certainly strange, but perhaps he was really like her! Perhaps she had finally found someone who wouldn’t reject her!

Suddenly, the monster began making small noises from her mouth. “Ah… Ha… Haaaa…” She backed off, and held her throat, but not like she was choking or in pain. “Ha… Whooooo… M-Made… You?” It was the first time she’d made a proper effort to talk, and she seemed to struggle with forming the words.

“Mmh?” Normally he wouldn’t respond all that well to someone grabbing that particular part of him; many would rather see it cut right off at the shoulder. But by this point he had assumed the strange girl to be just that; a strange, curious girl. So besides shifting a little to get more comfortable (and position his feet so he could move away if necessary), Saito let the girl sate her curiosity and inspect the prosthetic as she pleased.

And then, equally as surprising, she spoke. Strained and with great effort, but the words were clear enough when he listened closely. It seemed showing off what he was capable of was definitely a conversation starter! Yet, still... who made him? So... this woman was man-made?

“Sitting around and stewing in my feelings was never my style. I always busied myself with something, or spent the day with someone else who mattered to me.” She was lucky, she always had Celica. Her existence prevented Nine from hiding away somewhere, since she always had the responsibility of looking after her. Saito didn’t seem to have the luxury of siblings.

“And that’s why I’m here.”

“Yeah, fair enough. I guess only one of us is the wanted fugitive.” Food, reading material or games if he could have them; they were what he usually stockpiled if he had to lie low somewhere for a while. But company? Now that was a bit more rare. Which is why Nine’s offer brought both surprise and a smile to him. With his arm still around her, the redhead would tighten his grip a bit, squeezing her in the hug just a bit tighter for but a moment.

The monster watched as the man lit his fingers on fire, and seemed slightly startled at first. seeing as he felt no pain, though, she decided to crawl closer, looking intently at the little ember. He could make fire… With his body? Suddenly, her eyes went wide. Was he, then, like her!? The monster didn’t know what an ‘armagus’ was, but she could certainly do something similar.

The monster grabbed the large mace-like object she carried, and nodded. She stood up, and grasped the handle firmly with both hands. The monster concentrated, and suddenly, small flickers of electricity crackled around the head of the weapon. He could make fire, and she could make lightning!

Oh. Oh that was a good reaction! She seemed pleased! He couldn’t immediately tell if the weapon’s electrical energy was simply a function it had or something only she could make it do, but the fact remained: She was responding to his little trick in kind. So he would answer back with a smile, and a clap for her impressive “trick”.

“Awesome! You can make electricity? Guess we’ve both got some weird stuff up our sleeves... actually, I guess that wouldn’t be the only thing.” He could see that horn-like spike of metal pointed out of Fran’s forehead, and figured he had very little reason to hide his own arm. So, pulling the sleeve of his left arm back, revealing that his arm was a prosthetic. Metal--and clearly not any normal sort of metal, given how partitions and gaps in the metal glowed with a faint, warm light, and the make of some of it looked unusual to boot.

“I can barely remember my own. But let’s see… if I met you that many years ago, and at the time you were….” She’s briefly doing the math in her head….

SUDDEN THIRST.

Thankfully, she’s not jumping his legal bones, that smile on his face making her hesitate. She knew how rough it was to not have a mother to celebrate with, so she just decides to lay with him, using his human arm as a sort of pillow. What sort of thing would her mother do to comfort someone? Nine hesitantly reached up to pat his head.

“You don’t have to force yourself to look happy. It’s a hard day for a lot of people.”

Oof. He just got a shiver down his spine. What was that about? Eh... nothing to worry about, probably. What took his mind off those thoughts was, again, Nine herself, whom surprised him by laying down at his side. Not unpleasantly so, by any means, and he would relax again a moment afterward. Even tentatively holding her closer in a half-hug, since she was laying on his arm.

Aaaat least until she was patting his head. Then he was just plain confused.

The monster watched him silently, her gaze unblinking despite both eyes being vaguely hidden behind pink locks of hair. She observed how he gathered sticks together, and recognized that he was making a campfire. People seemed to do this because it felt nice to sit near a fire, and to that, she agreed. However, she was also a bit wary, as fire also hurt when you actually TOUCHED it.

Suddenly, though, something unexpected happened. Normally, the process of making fire happen involved rubbing sticks and rocks together a certain way. This person, however, did not do that; no, the fire seemed to come from his hand, which left the monster utterly baffled.

“Ah?” She tilted her head a bit, staring at the flames. How had he done that? Did it not hurt? Though she did not truly say anything, the monster’s gaze moved between him and the fire, as if trying to make sense of what she’d just witnessed.

One of his wandering looks let him see Fran’s apparent confusion. Her tilted head, and the way she looked between him and the now-ignited campfire. Oh, was she interested now? Cool, that was an actual topic! Which mean he could maybe ease the tension between them. About as much as likening his powers to parlor tricks could.

Or screw up; it really depended on how this was received.

“Aha! The fire, right? Check it out!” Rolling up his sleeve and wearing a confident, proud smirk, Saito flicked his wrist and conjured flames to his fingertips. Small, and relatively harmless so as not to actually risk frightening the strange girl; or giving their campsite away any more than the campfire itself would. No need for fireworks here!

“Sulking? Is that better?” She closed the distance again, this time joining him in a seated position. Her teasing wouldn’t give him enough time to go back to what he’d been doing. “Either way, doesn’t seem like something a boy your age should be wasting any time doing. …….How old are you again?”

It feels as though she’s been waiting for years, biding her time….

“You seem to be in better spirits as well. That’s good.”

“Memorize my birthday.” He wouldn’t comment on that bit about his sulking. A the very least it didn’t make it sound like he was trying to be a downer.

Folding his arms behind his head, Saito dropped back until he was laying down fully and staring up at the sky. She certainly wasn’t wrong, seeing her always did a little to lift his spirits when she wasn’t threatening to kill him. But today was a little upsetting, given how much “mother’s day” stuff he was seeing around. Even despite that, he put on as good a smile as he could muster for her.