The Land of Sparks and Scrolls

Summer's visible eye narrowed, just enough to convey she mistrusted Samael's almost 'harmless' inquiry. Ears even pricked back just slightly, as though to flatten against her skull.

"Methinks I smell you're trying to, ah how they say? Pull the wool over my eyes. Which makes less sense than the Russian idiom. You can ask for any anime thingy or a pokemon plush or something... And you want a walk?"

The Chimera tilted her head softly. Demon Kings had anniversaries? Right yes. She remembered him mentioning that rather... Consecutively for the past few years. And still, it always caught her off guard when it came around!

"Hmm... What are you wanting that's not. You know... Perverted?"

The Illuminati should just shelter orphaned baby animals/demons and just promise Summer she can care for them. It would have a 85% chance of making Summer go “BABY” and she would just full Goblin Broodmother on the little ones. 

     Shigaraki was paranoid. It was probably his past encounter with demons, but most wanted to pick fights or to harm him. He didn’t trust this demon at all. He worried she would pick a fight with him and try to murder him. The man, really didn’t want to fight Summer. He’d rather be on better terms than enemies. Better to have more friends than enemies after all.

      “I see.. so basically when a demon dies, the spirit leaves the dead body and enters a new one.. correct? So the original spirit cannot die I presume,” he thought out loud. Making sure he understood correctly. It did make sense. So if he killed Summer, she would likely try to take over his body. He wasn’t about to have that happen….

      The villain took it all in, trying to make sense of it. It was a bit confusing, and different from what he was used to. Usually the demons he ran into were from Hell, and were bad spirits from those who lived bad lives on Earth. The after life really. “Well, we may have an issue, as I wish to destroy Japan.” He lifted a finger, “But it’s merely to fix our corrupted system. There’s no way to fix it how it is now. So I have to simply clean everything and start anew. Though your world, I have no interest in.” He lowered his hand back to his side.

       “So you wish to get back to your own world? I do have a dimensional rift travel quirk. Though that doesn’t help me too much since there’s unlimited dimensions and finding your particular one would be very hard. But nevertheless, I would be happy to help you settle into this world while you’re here.”

     Shigaraki’s gaze softened, “And no, I won’t be twisting your tail off or anything of the sorts. You don’t harm me, I don’t harm you. It’s simple really. I have no desire to make an enemy out of you. I think it’s pretty cool I can speak to a demon who isn’t looking down on me for being human.”

     He paused for a moment, “If… you want you can stay at my guest room… Though I warn, I have a little girl at home, and she will probably be all over you due to your looks. She does see things out of the norm due to quirks– as quirks can affect the physical form. But seeing something like you she may get excited.”

“Something like that. Usually demons are traced back to one of Eight Demon Kings. Then they trace back to Satan. It’s really confusing.” She admitted softly. “Basically, I’m ‘kin’ to Amaimon, the Demon King of Earth. He’s ah... A really cool dude when he’s not bored...” 

Was that.. A blush? 

Scratching her cheeks, Summer’s tail gave a few impatient flicks, as though to brush the redness away.. Though she saw the almost 180 turn his personality did, and decided it was best to focus on that. Was it a tactic? A glance was given to his gaze in a few unsure moments, but she soon deemed he was genuine. This guy didn’t have it in him to really ‘lie’ per se, she figured. That being said, withholding information wasn’t technically lying, and the dude seemed okay with that. Once you weren’t on his shit-list of course. 

Then again, if all those kinds of demons had attacked him, then it made sense he tried to fluff himself up. “I...” She paused a moment, clicking her black tongue for a moment. “Sure? I mean a warm place to stay would be nice... And!” 

Summer’s eyes brightened. Now, that bushy tail couldn’t help but wag from side to side. A little girl? A kid? Shigaraki didn’t look like the fatherly type but a child was a child! Goblin instincts actually had her give mixes of coos and rumbles. Imperial Goblins were the caretakers, matriarch and patriarch of a Goblin colony. While they were the most protective of younglings, this also gave her a very sweet disposition towards most infants of species...Provided it wasn’t trying to eat her or something. Those once unsure brown eyes were like warm chocolate, too! 

     Shigaraki was paranoid. It was probably his past encounter with demons, but most wanted to pick fights or to harm him. He didn’t trust this demon at all. He worried she would pick a fight with him and try to murder him. The man, really didn’t want to fight Summer. He’d rather be on better terms than enemies. Better to have more friends than enemies after all.

      “I see.. so basically when a demon dies, the spirit leaves the dead body and enters a new one.. correct? So the original spirit cannot die I presume,” he thought out loud. Making sure he understood correctly. It did make sense. So if he killed Summer, she would likely try to take over his body. He wasn’t about to have that happen….

      The villain took it all in, trying to make sense of it. It was a bit confusing, and different from what he was used to. Usually the demons he ran into were from Hell, and were bad spirits from those who lived bad lives on Earth. The after life really. “Well, we may have an issue, as I wish to destroy Japan.” He lifted a finger, “But it’s merely to fix our corrupted system. There’s no way to fix it how it is now. So I have to simply clean everything and start anew. Though your world, I have no interest in.” He lowered his hand back to his side.

       “So you wish to get back to your own world? I do have a dimensional rift travel quirk. Though that doesn’t help me too much since there’s unlimited dimensions and finding your particular one would be very hard. But nevertheless, I would be happy to help you settle into this world while you’re here.”

     Shigaraki’s gaze softened, “And no, I won’t be twisting your tail off or anything of the sorts. You don’t harm me, I don’t harm you. It’s simple really. I have no desire to make an enemy out of you. I think it’s pretty cool I can speak to a demon who isn’t looking down on me for being human.”

     He paused for a moment, “If… you want you can stay at my guest room… Though I warn, I have a little girl at home, and she will probably be all over you due to your looks. She does see things out of the norm due to quirks– as quirks can affect the physical form. But seeing something like you she may get excited.”

                    Rin settles in for the piggy back, it’d been a long day for him and he was still young so he was understandably tired, even for a halfling, not that he knew that yet. He was watching the scenery as they walked, just checking things out that he normally couldn’t see because of his height, still listening to Levi as he spoke to him. It was a little odd that he felt safe with a complete stranger, but Levi had not given him any reason to think he’d do him harm and the fact he knew Shiro helped settle the idea of that.

“Okay.” He replies, smiling at him again, though he doubted Shiro wouldn’t feed him, though it did seem like a bit of a deserving punishment for worrying the poor man by running off like he had, he knew he’d be out looking for him. He yawns a little bit and then he sighs, looking up to se the start of what could be seen of the stars with all the light pollution, they were very pretty in his young mind, counting them as he saw them quietly to himself.

That’d come as a shock to Levi later on, that his comrade was basically raising the son of Satan, and moreso the fact that he’s giving that child a piggyback! Shadows of movement seemed to catch his attention, and he lightly sped up his pace of walking. Whatever it was, he had no business dealing with it until afterwards...But something made his scales stand on end. Perhaps his protectiveness was an instinct deep down he hadn’t really thought about since... Since he died. Someone so important in Levi’s life, that he’d felt so incomplete without him. 

     The man had a feeling the demon would want to know what his specific quirk was. Though, he was going to dance around the question. She could still prove a threat, and it’s best to keep his quirks under the table, just in case.

      “My quirk? I am actually a special case,” he started, folding his hands behind his back and rocking on his heels. “I have more than one quirk. A library of quirks really. Most people only have one, save for a few special cases. But most people can only handle one quirk. But I have one called All For One. I can steal other people’s powers and make them mine.”  That was all Shigaraki would share about his quirks. His original being decay, and All For One being passed down to him. With that vague knowledge, it would serve no purpose to give her the upper hand in anything really.

      “I suppose that’s good to know you’re not a savage like other demons. Most I have met are rather…. rude. They were rude, and then I killed them, so they’re not so rude anymore~,” the king chimed, a chuckle escaping his throat at the end.

     Funny how she spoke of destruction, considering that was Shigaraki’s path. To destroy everything that got in his way and create a new society in Japan. At this point, it was a ‘join me or perish.’ Though, save a few, as those people were his friends that were either neutral or heroes. They got the ‘free’ ticket out of death.

       “You protect humans from other demons? That’s quite interesting.. What is it about humans that you like so much, hm?” A demon who fought other demons to save a sad species. How ridiculous. Though he wouldn’t share his insult with her. “Yeah, I’m human. And so you’re not a full demon then? Are you perhaps a half and half of something? Or something else?”

Ah, that answered a lot for Summer right there. It may have seemed obvious, but he had given her more information than he should’ve, regardless. Asking her about what ‘quirks’ she had was a gain on his end, and now that it’s been revealed that she did not work on the system of quirks (that she knew of anyways), he would be vague to keep himself a mystery in terms of a fight. Not that she’d been picking one until she rest completely. Losing her humanity in a world she didn’t know didn’t sound too ideal for her or the locals. 

She tilted her head slightly, thoughtfully. She wouldn’t hide the gleam of intuition as, if it was obvious she may have been given more information, then he would perhaps keep from attempting to kill her too, right? Just a subtle one, though. This guy sounded pretty paranoid, and he was attempting to size her up in some mannerism. 

“Well.. Demons where I’m from don’t actually ‘die’. We just borrow physical forms from people. Say you destroyed a demon from my world’s body? The spirit has a strong chance of just trying to possess your body immediately afterwards. At best, you’d still be infested by the Demon until it slowly rotted your body out for itself.” Unless you were an Exorcist or incredibly high in Willpower, but that casual snippet should keep Shirgaraki from trying to seek harm on her, for the moment. She didn’t want to test if he had any powers using this ‘All For One’ thing that could actually permadeath her. 

“As for your question,” Summer stated casually while stretching her arms to the sky. In this case, it was allowing the sun to better wash over her form. She may not be a plant, but Earth Demons still did like the natural sunlight. After her hands fell, she continued, “Where I’m from, Demons are...Concepts, I’ll say. Local deities, such as Hachirotaro-Okami and his legend, are demons that are worshipped like gods. Demon is moreso a term for spirit or Yokai, with demons being the usual ‘go-to-bad-term’. From what I believe, Demons and humans are very symbiotic. It takes belief for demons to exist, and demons teach humans. So I’m not aiming to kill Satan or something, I’m just a check to a very delicate balance. I’ve killed humans before, but that’s just a lot more...Rare? There’s a group of humans and demons that just want to destroy the world because their Leader is a pissbaby who wants Satan in a host. For...I assume to destroy the world. And I’d rather not have the world destroyed?” 

A bit of  a ramble, but enticing him with information may let him indulge in a bit more information. Maybe? This would help. A bit of a bluff on her end, but it isn’t the first time she’d been cast into a doomed timeline. 

      Demon.. Another demon. That must mean she’s some sort of demon. He has met some in his travels, though they usually were quite nasty and hated humans. But they could decay nevertheless so most demons he came by were rotten dust specks.

     “Quirks are.. super powers. In this world, 80% of the population has some kind of power. Sometimes they’re something small and useless, like levitating a nearby object twenty feet from the ground. Or having a hawk’s eye sight,” he explained and took a few cautious steps towards her. “I don’t really care for this other demon you were fighting. I am not interested in them, I’m interested in you,” the king announced.

    His digits pressed into his chest, “My name is Shigaraki Tomura. I am what they call the Kingpin of this world. The lord of the underworld. The biggest villain there is in Japan,” after his intro, he swept his hand out and gave a bow.

     “I’ve met other demons before. But most aren’t… quite friendly. I never got to meet one and get to know them. You on the other hand,” he said, pointed towards the chimera, “Seem to be different. You haven’t insulted me when you first saw me, and you haven’t tried to attack me…. So what kind of demon are you, Summer?”

I’m not interested in them, I’m interested in you. 

Summer immediately became uneasy with that comment alone. Though knowing what quirks were was...Beneficial information at the very least. That usually meant, however, that she would need to answer his questions in some way, shape or form. And, knowing that this guy talked with demons wasn’t exactly heartwarming either. Tension could be subtly seen in the alertness of her form and shape. Though granted, she wasn’t in any condition to fight an enemy that felt confident and comfortable enough to not flee when someone said they were a demon, albeit roundabout. 

It didn’t necessarily make her easier in trusting to know this guy was a villain. How did she just...Find these people? Lucifer had more or less appeared to offer her a spot in the Illuminati at one point, and here she was, with a self-proclaimed villain. He had the persona to make it believable but... She gave him a polite bow regardless, then stood straight. Canine instinct had her not step away, as that would be a sign of weakness, and possibly provoke chase. 

“Thank you for telling me what a quirk is, Shigaraki..” It took the Russian tongue a dance to get that name properly. “This one is curious of what ‘quirk’ you have...I’m going to look less clueless here, but.” Her chest puffed out pridefully. “The difference between me and some other demons is I’m not a savage. A monster? Yes, but I still have enough reason to know that wanting to condemn a world’s destruction just because your host is rotting and you’re in pain is just selfish.” 

                  It was….fortunate that along with his demonic nature, that Rin’s ability to see demons was sealed away, unlike Yukio, though he was very much still a half demon, that little fact was unknown to him, he didn’t believe in monsters anyway, it would do him no good now to see any goblins or coal tars flying around, still, Shiro had told him a few times that he should be inside before it gets dark, or at the very least on the grounds of the monastery, to keep the creeps, human or otherwise from getting him. he old man made no effort to hide just how terrible the world could be sometimes, whilst stilling doing his best to make sure that Rin and Yukio had as normal of a childhood as they could.

Rin rubbed at his own eye gently, kinda tired from all the running and walking around he’d been doing trying to find his way home. He sighs a little and he looked back down at Levi when he spoke again. He smiles a little and he nods, even as a child Rin loved food, perhaps it was because he needed so much of it? “I love yakitori.” He says happily, though he honestly could have gotten the child anything to eat and he’d still eat it, he was not particularly fussy. He nods his head again to confirm it was a long walk, probably even longer for someone as small as he was.

Very Fortunate, though Rin’s disposition towards Shiro and Levi’s line of work as a teen (assuming of course he didn’t share it now) would be a little agitating and ironic. Still, the male continued on walking along the darkened streets, careful to avoid any particularly infested Coal Tar area. He was tall, and while his lungs did heal from breathing in the creatures, he knew they would slowly rot a human’s lungs. As far as Levi knew, this was an average human child and not actually the Prince of Gehenna. Since, for all intensive purposes, he was a demon prince. 

//Yeah I dusted her off a bit ago, and I added another good boi named Leviathan (Levi). Tbh I saw the follow and was confused until I saw written by Ti and I just !!!!!!!!!! Tiiiiiiiii!!!

“Really? I was considering heading over there to check. But you mean COMPLETELY empty? Veil isn’t even there?”

Well…that is somewhat expected, with him being her “shadow” and all. But just because he is her servant doesn’t mean he follows her around all the time. He’ll sit at home, guarding the place until she gets back. But if Veil isn’t there? Then either he’s with her or she’s in trouble. He wants to think not seeing Veil should be a good thing but considering Yunneth or some of the others haven’t messaged him back? He felt a pit in his stomach.

When asked what he was doing here, Nero swallowed the lump in his throat while trying to suppress the panic that was rising.

“…I was just…on my way home. I wanted to text Yunneth without getting in anyone’s way so I stuffed myself here.”

There would be a slight because before speaking up again.

“Hey. She told you she was going to get a check up right? You’re sure that is what she said?”

He had to make sure the story is straight. That Yunneth wasn’t either lying or planning something else. While he trusts her, considering she is his left hand woman thus has no reason to ever doubt her, she is still an enigma at times. Stone faced, stoic, keeping to herself often…sometimes it’s hard to keep track of her. So, if that is REALLY the last place she is known to have been going then, he has work to do…

“Well, mind you I didn’t break into the place. But knocking on the door and checking what windows I could, it seemed empty as well. And... These big ass ears aren’t just for decoration so I’m fairly confident Veil wasn’t even there.” 

A gnawing in her stomach started to stress her incredibly then. Nero had known Yunneth far longer than she, so Summer felt, and his urgency, let alone the surprise on his face was enough to cause her to worry for her friend. Her brows furrowed with worry herself as her gaze sharpened to nothing in particular. To Nero, this would look like the subtle pointing of a rounded pupil. Logic brought everything back down, with what he was saying. Of course, Summer didn’t know where Nero lived, so she couldn’t call his bluff on that. Even if the way he paused would be enough to be skeptical. 

“That makes sense... Her scent does linger close to here. If it’s on route to your house then maybe she was coming to look for you. But... Why wouldn’t she just like message you or something? It goes straight to voicemail whenever you try calling her. She doesn’t even turn her phone off for rituals sometimes! So.. I started to track her out of worry. Then I heard you and recognized your voice so here we are.”  

To his question, she paused her words and nodded. Yunneth was pretty cut and forward with a few things. Though both of them knew her well enough that Yunneth only disappears when she’s doing something dangerous, something she doesn’t want to worry others with, studying, or something truly happened to her. 

              Rin’s grip tightened only momentarily as the older male stood up, not that he was worried he was going o fall, he was just trying to stay balanced as the other stood. He looked around a bit as he was now up higher than he could normally see. He hoped he could be tall when he’s older, you could see so many interesting things up here, at least for a child his age it was interesting. His attention was quickly turned back to Levi when he heard him speak, he puffed his cheeks out a bit when it because obvious to him that he’d said that a bit louder than intentionally, or so he thinks. He normally did get a lecture at the very least when he did something like this. He just hoped Shiro wasn’t too mad that he’d run off.

 He looks down at the other for a moment, that that he could see much other than his hair and the tip of his nose from where he was sitting currently, he did look up when they started walking again, back the direction he’d come from, he wasn’t sure it was the right way, but, it was a start he supposed, it’s not like he knew where he was to get home from here. The question caused him to pause for a moment, trying to remember the last time he’d eaten, had he had dinner? Or was that lunch? He’d been too worried about finding his way home to realize that he was in fact, hungry. He looked at Levi and shrugged his shoulders, it was an honest response, “I don’t think so…it was still light out when I ran off…”

As long as Rin grew healthily and didn’t stretch his joints too much in growing, then all should be okay with being tall! Levi, unable to see much of Rin between the clumps of hair he owned, and anatomy in general, kept an eye out while he walked. They were still in the Red Zone for this Colony of Goblins. While Goblins normally weren’t malicious...They were lower level demons. Usually lower level meant that something higher on the food chain could control them. There was also collectives of Coal Tars too in clumps of dark corners. Almost an unusual amount of them. Either way, Levi knew that, unless the demons had young, they shouldn’t bother them. Made him leery, nonetheless...