~Disclaimer: I don't own Slayers. Never did, never will unless something
entirely unexpected was to happen. Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi
(spelling may be off, sorry) own Slayers. I DO own this story, its plot,
and my versions of Grau and Grou. :D
~Author's Notes: umm...yay? I updated. I'm not exactly planning what's going to happen here; I just write as it comes to me and the thing fits like a jigsaw puzzle. I'm happy it's working out like this. Mind, everything you read here about Mazoku is a deduction I made and is believable, but not necessarily true. In my opinion, the only person who could write any Slayers story completely in-character is Mr. Kanzaka. And I am definitely not him.
On with the chapter, yes?
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
"I hate you."
"The feeling is mutual, believe you me."
Grau smirked at his brother and brought his staff into a defensive position as Norst charged him. Both of them were fully trained and each could barely deflect the other's blows. Norst managed to clip Grau with his sword when Grau's defensive position was weakened as he recovered his stance. Grau's reflexes were quick, and he slammed the butt of his staff hard into the pit of Norst's stomach. Norst jumped back a good fifteen feet, coughing. He kept up a defensive stance, however; a little blow like that wouldn't make Grau want to stop, nor did Norst want to.
Within a few moments' time, Norst had recovered. Of course, those few moments were just what Grau needed to cast a spell and fire it at his colleague. Norst swore softly and teleported to avoid the attack. He reappeared behind Grau and struck him with the sword, or he would have had Grau not turned just a moment before and blocked with his staff.
It was at this time that they both stopped the fight, or rather, the training session. Norst used the inertia of the blocked blow to jump back, landing neatly on his feet. The two glared at each other for a moment more. In the distance, the bells for one of the many churches in Dilss chimed the hour -- four A.M.
~`~`~`~`~`~`
Being up so incredibly early may seem crazy, but seeing as Mazoku rarely sleep, it really isn't surprising. Sherra was already awake. As her human half succumbed to the Mazoku half's influences, she found herself able to stay up longer. Any sort of worries or doubts she had had three days ago had dissipated to a low murmur of unimportance. Her main focus now was to please her Lord, and to do that she had to get trained as quickly as possible.
She was sitting up in bed, stretching tiredly. She got up and took her bath. Still half-asleep, she slung a belt around her waist at an angle and hooked Dolgoufa to it. He seemed to like this awakening time much better than yesterday's. She walked into the hall and looked around. It was empty, but she could hear voices coming from a room two doors down.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm fine." That was said though gritted teeth.
"Judging by that pain you're radiating, I would have to disagree with you."
"I'm fine."
Recognizing the voices to belong to Grau and Norst, Sherra walked into the room. They blinked up at her. Norst seemed perturbed by something, while Grau was smirking smugly.
"What's up?" She asked them. "Norst and I were training and he los-" Grau was cut off by Norst's hurried, "Nothing! Not at all!" He got up and glared pointedly at his "brother." "Sore loser," Grau muttered under his breath. Sherra blinked at the two of them.
"Anyway," Norst said, "we have things to do, humans to antagonize. Grau, I believe that it's your turn to train Sherra right now, so I'll be off." He teleported away as he finished the sentence.
"Well!" Grau exclaimed, clapping his hands together as he stood. "It looks like it's you and me today, Sherra-chan. Shall we begin?" He smiled at her and walked out the door, clearly intending her to follow. And so she did.
"Today I'm going to show you how to act human and how to use the humans," he said. Grau was way too bright and cheery for this early in the morning.
He stopped before the double doors as they swung open of their own accord. He walked through the threshold and Sherra followed suit.
~`~`~`~`
Sherra remembered humans. Sort of. She could remember mannerisms and how to act a little, but as for her human life, she was drawing a complete blank. Her memory felt like a black void.
As she and Grau passed through the doors she noted the guards. All Mazoku.
They passed another set of doors and entered the main portion of the castle. In sharp contrast to Dynast's private wing, the castle was primarily white. There were carvings here and there of cherubs and plant life and the occasional gargoyle, depending on the theme of the hall. The carvings were well-kept but very old. It got to feel like a musty museum in many of the halls.
All the while, Grau had been instructing her on how to act and how to think. His tone of voice implied to the casual passers-by that he was chattering away on everything and nothing.
Of course, everything he said made perfect sense to Sherra in a twisted way. She understood how humans thought, being half-human herself, and she could see where windows of opportunity would open for her to take control of the situation in such a way that the human would be completely oblivious. This was going to be fun.
"Well," Grau smirked, "the only reason you would be doing stuff like this now is if you wanted something. Try doing it when Dynast-sama lets you into the marketplace. Start acting cute--it shouldn't be hard for -you- to do--and guys will go outta their way to please you. Trust me. It was one of your specialties. Once we go back to our wing I'll show you all the jewelry you'd conned out of guys." Grau smirked at the memory, "You have a small fortune in trinkets guys bought for you."
They had stopped walking by now and were facing each other in conversation. Servants and the occasional maid walked briskly past, barely paying any attention to either of them.
"I have an idea. Why don't you wander around and become acquainted with this palace? It'd be a good opportunity for you to practice, too. Just remember: if you get lost, you can always teleport." With that, Grau teleported away, leaving Sherra alone in the corridor.
She hadn't been expecting that. Well, that wasn't entirely true. She had suspected that he'd do something like that, but hadn't really expected him to. "So what now?" That question was meant to be rhetorical, but it received an answer nonetheless. "Go and find someone to manipulate," Dolgoufa said in a helpfully sarcastic manner. "To do what?" Sherra asked, a bit confused as to what she was supposed to do, exactly. Dolgoufa didn't have an answer for the unexpected question.
~`~`~`~`~`~`
Grau smiled. He was in one of his private chambers, one that he had taken to calling his Scrying Room for reasons obvious; he scryed in this room. He was sitting in a black plush chair. It was old-fashioned. If a human was to sit in it, they would dub it "impossibly uncomfortable" and quickly proceed to burn it and any other piece of furniture similar to it in a large bonfire. Of course, the chair was made of Grau himself, in much the same way that Xelloss' staff was a part of Xelloss. Grau made the chair comfortable to only himself so when Norst was in the room with him, he wouldn't steal his favorite chair.
But back to the matter at hand. Sherra had taken her temporary abandonment well. The girl had a level head. Most humans would panic in a situation like Sherra was in, but then again, Sherra wasn't human, not completely. He wasn't so sure if it was a good idea to be asking Dolgoufa for directions, though. The sword would purposely get her lost just for the fun of it.
Grau leaned back in his chair and smiled. At least he would have amusement for a little while.
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
"Go and find someone to manipulate."
That wasn't very hard to do, but manipulate them to do what? That's what Sherra couldn't figure out. She didn't want anything from them, so why bother? It was the idea of practicing, she supposed, that was the point here. Sherra blinked as she remembered something Dynast-sama had said. Something about manipulating to feed. She could put THAT into practice, without a problem. Her incentive renewed, Sherra wandered down the halls.
And out of the castle.
"Dynast-sama never said that I can't leave the castle," She reminded herself, if only to reassure her decision. Okay, so she didn't quite make it out of the actual grounds. She found herself in an expansive rose garden, the roses in the height of their bloom. This may seem incredibly cliché, but what's the point of including a rose garden if the roses aren't even in bloom?
It was all very pretty, and many would think that such a lovely, peaceful sight would make a Mazoku sick. Not true. Only genuine, potent positive emotions can make a Mazoku experience its own version of nausea, and it would have to be a particularly weak Mazoku who would succumb to it. Most would keep their façade going strong. Xelloss would exaggerate it to make his enemy think him weak.
There was a circle of girls sitting on little benches in a patio, all decked out in expensive-looking silken gowns. Typical upper-class snobs. Sherra could see even from this distance that their faces were covered in make-up to cover blemishes. Any heavier and it would be caked to their faces. A couple of the girls were fanning themselves, commenting on how incredibly hot it was. It served them right. Dressing that heavily when it was "hot" out was just stupid. Sherra hadn't noticed it being particularly hot or cold today, either.
Her interest piqued, Sherra walked a little closer to the girls and climbed a tree. She watched them from up there, concealed by the foliage. She hadn't been particularly subtle about climbing the tree; she could have teleported. She should have teleported. Nevertheless, the girls hadn't noticed her presence. Sherra felt a sudden wave of repugnance for the girls. She could feel their emotions clashing like oil and water. As they chattered, they put each other down, some more subtly than others. She dubbed this as being a fairly decent meal and settled down to watch.
"She said that? I don't believe it!" One of the girls squealed.
Sherra rolled her eyes. Gossip. What a useless bunch of coquettes. Their moods, however, were serving as a snack.
"Well, I heard that the King has a new guest staying in his private wing. And that it's a girl." Another girl spoke up, her voice nasally. Sherra perked up at that. News travels quickly. She wasn't so sure if the humans were supposed to know she was there. Sherra felt a wave of repulsive distaste coming off the girls. They began to whisper amongst themselves. Sherra needed only to catch the word "scandal" to get the gist of what they were so excited over.
The King was at the marrying age and every girl in the castle, be it a maid or the daughter of a nobleman, knew very well how hot he was. And don't get them started on the General. The General was far easier to get at than the King. He slept around. The King, on the other hand, didn't show any intent on marrying within this millennium. But if there was a girl staying as a guest in the wing that only the King, his commanding General, and the high Priest were ever allowed in or out of...the implications were obvious.
Starting to get slightly annoyed, Sherra climbed down out of the tree. She had a mind to let Dolgoufa have a taste of their blood for implying such a thing. She didn't completely understand exactly what was "scandalous", but they were not helping her Lord's honor. That was, in Sherra's book, enough to warrant a death sentence. Her anger was escalating quickly.
"Whoa, Sherra, calm down!" Dolgoufa's telepathic voice rang cold and clear, cutting through the fiery haze of her mounting anger. As her servant, he couldn't disobey her; if she wanted to kill he couldn't remove himself from her possession. But killing here and now was most definitely NOT a good idea. Dolgoufa only had to gather his thoughts for a fleeting moment before he had a plan formulated to calm her.
"What would Dynast-sama think if he heard that you were endangering his cover?"
That effectively doused the flame. It worked with all the Priests and Generals; they won't act, after all, if it wouldn't please their Master.
Sherra took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. A breeze blew by and a few rose petals were carried on its breath.
"You're right," she said softly, eyeing the girls with open abhorrence. "I have to think of a different way of doing this."
Dolgoufa gave her a mental nod.
She sat down in the grass, thinking. If she couldn't hit them physically, she'd have to go after them mentally and emotionally. This wasn't an area that Dynast-sama had even touched upon. Right. So.... She frowned, having come up empty.
"You'll have to observe them," a voice rang softly in her mind, its tone helpful.
"Watch and learn. What do they like? What do they take pride in? Strip them of their pride and confidence. You have it better than them. You know more. Show them this. Do it slowly. Do it subtly. Haste makes waste, and things like this can't be undone. Think about it. Put thought into your efforts. Formulate a plan and predict what they'll do when they'll do it based on your observations of them. Then...execute your plan." She could hear the voice's soft smile. She recognized who it was.
"Thank you, Grau," she thought, directed at him.
Smiling, Sherra stood. At least she found some people to practice on. Only she had no intention of leaving it as just practice. No, this would be for real. And she would break them.
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
And I endeth here. It's a bit shorter than the previous chapters, but continuing would make this chappie insanely long. ^^
Love it? Abhor it? Either way, drop me a suggestion/comment/criticism via review!
You know you want to...
~Author's Notes: umm...yay? I updated. I'm not exactly planning what's going to happen here; I just write as it comes to me and the thing fits like a jigsaw puzzle. I'm happy it's working out like this. Mind, everything you read here about Mazoku is a deduction I made and is believable, but not necessarily true. In my opinion, the only person who could write any Slayers story completely in-character is Mr. Kanzaka. And I am definitely not him.
On with the chapter, yes?
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
"I hate you."
"The feeling is mutual, believe you me."
Grau smirked at his brother and brought his staff into a defensive position as Norst charged him. Both of them were fully trained and each could barely deflect the other's blows. Norst managed to clip Grau with his sword when Grau's defensive position was weakened as he recovered his stance. Grau's reflexes were quick, and he slammed the butt of his staff hard into the pit of Norst's stomach. Norst jumped back a good fifteen feet, coughing. He kept up a defensive stance, however; a little blow like that wouldn't make Grau want to stop, nor did Norst want to.
Within a few moments' time, Norst had recovered. Of course, those few moments were just what Grau needed to cast a spell and fire it at his colleague. Norst swore softly and teleported to avoid the attack. He reappeared behind Grau and struck him with the sword, or he would have had Grau not turned just a moment before and blocked with his staff.
It was at this time that they both stopped the fight, or rather, the training session. Norst used the inertia of the blocked blow to jump back, landing neatly on his feet. The two glared at each other for a moment more. In the distance, the bells for one of the many churches in Dilss chimed the hour -- four A.M.
~`~`~`~`~`~`
Being up so incredibly early may seem crazy, but seeing as Mazoku rarely sleep, it really isn't surprising. Sherra was already awake. As her human half succumbed to the Mazoku half's influences, she found herself able to stay up longer. Any sort of worries or doubts she had had three days ago had dissipated to a low murmur of unimportance. Her main focus now was to please her Lord, and to do that she had to get trained as quickly as possible.
She was sitting up in bed, stretching tiredly. She got up and took her bath. Still half-asleep, she slung a belt around her waist at an angle and hooked Dolgoufa to it. He seemed to like this awakening time much better than yesterday's. She walked into the hall and looked around. It was empty, but she could hear voices coming from a room two doors down.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm fine." That was said though gritted teeth.
"Judging by that pain you're radiating, I would have to disagree with you."
"I'm fine."
Recognizing the voices to belong to Grau and Norst, Sherra walked into the room. They blinked up at her. Norst seemed perturbed by something, while Grau was smirking smugly.
"What's up?" She asked them. "Norst and I were training and he los-" Grau was cut off by Norst's hurried, "Nothing! Not at all!" He got up and glared pointedly at his "brother." "Sore loser," Grau muttered under his breath. Sherra blinked at the two of them.
"Anyway," Norst said, "we have things to do, humans to antagonize. Grau, I believe that it's your turn to train Sherra right now, so I'll be off." He teleported away as he finished the sentence.
"Well!" Grau exclaimed, clapping his hands together as he stood. "It looks like it's you and me today, Sherra-chan. Shall we begin?" He smiled at her and walked out the door, clearly intending her to follow. And so she did.
"Today I'm going to show you how to act human and how to use the humans," he said. Grau was way too bright and cheery for this early in the morning.
He stopped before the double doors as they swung open of their own accord. He walked through the threshold and Sherra followed suit.
~`~`~`~`
Sherra remembered humans. Sort of. She could remember mannerisms and how to act a little, but as for her human life, she was drawing a complete blank. Her memory felt like a black void.
As she and Grau passed through the doors she noted the guards. All Mazoku.
They passed another set of doors and entered the main portion of the castle. In sharp contrast to Dynast's private wing, the castle was primarily white. There were carvings here and there of cherubs and plant life and the occasional gargoyle, depending on the theme of the hall. The carvings were well-kept but very old. It got to feel like a musty museum in many of the halls.
All the while, Grau had been instructing her on how to act and how to think. His tone of voice implied to the casual passers-by that he was chattering away on everything and nothing.
Of course, everything he said made perfect sense to Sherra in a twisted way. She understood how humans thought, being half-human herself, and she could see where windows of opportunity would open for her to take control of the situation in such a way that the human would be completely oblivious. This was going to be fun.
"Well," Grau smirked, "the only reason you would be doing stuff like this now is if you wanted something. Try doing it when Dynast-sama lets you into the marketplace. Start acting cute--it shouldn't be hard for -you- to do--and guys will go outta their way to please you. Trust me. It was one of your specialties. Once we go back to our wing I'll show you all the jewelry you'd conned out of guys." Grau smirked at the memory, "You have a small fortune in trinkets guys bought for you."
They had stopped walking by now and were facing each other in conversation. Servants and the occasional maid walked briskly past, barely paying any attention to either of them.
"I have an idea. Why don't you wander around and become acquainted with this palace? It'd be a good opportunity for you to practice, too. Just remember: if you get lost, you can always teleport." With that, Grau teleported away, leaving Sherra alone in the corridor.
She hadn't been expecting that. Well, that wasn't entirely true. She had suspected that he'd do something like that, but hadn't really expected him to. "So what now?" That question was meant to be rhetorical, but it received an answer nonetheless. "Go and find someone to manipulate," Dolgoufa said in a helpfully sarcastic manner. "To do what?" Sherra asked, a bit confused as to what she was supposed to do, exactly. Dolgoufa didn't have an answer for the unexpected question.
~`~`~`~`~`~`
Grau smiled. He was in one of his private chambers, one that he had taken to calling his Scrying Room for reasons obvious; he scryed in this room. He was sitting in a black plush chair. It was old-fashioned. If a human was to sit in it, they would dub it "impossibly uncomfortable" and quickly proceed to burn it and any other piece of furniture similar to it in a large bonfire. Of course, the chair was made of Grau himself, in much the same way that Xelloss' staff was a part of Xelloss. Grau made the chair comfortable to only himself so when Norst was in the room with him, he wouldn't steal his favorite chair.
But back to the matter at hand. Sherra had taken her temporary abandonment well. The girl had a level head. Most humans would panic in a situation like Sherra was in, but then again, Sherra wasn't human, not completely. He wasn't so sure if it was a good idea to be asking Dolgoufa for directions, though. The sword would purposely get her lost just for the fun of it.
Grau leaned back in his chair and smiled. At least he would have amusement for a little while.
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
"Go and find someone to manipulate."
That wasn't very hard to do, but manipulate them to do what? That's what Sherra couldn't figure out. She didn't want anything from them, so why bother? It was the idea of practicing, she supposed, that was the point here. Sherra blinked as she remembered something Dynast-sama had said. Something about manipulating to feed. She could put THAT into practice, without a problem. Her incentive renewed, Sherra wandered down the halls.
And out of the castle.
"Dynast-sama never said that I can't leave the castle," She reminded herself, if only to reassure her decision. Okay, so she didn't quite make it out of the actual grounds. She found herself in an expansive rose garden, the roses in the height of their bloom. This may seem incredibly cliché, but what's the point of including a rose garden if the roses aren't even in bloom?
It was all very pretty, and many would think that such a lovely, peaceful sight would make a Mazoku sick. Not true. Only genuine, potent positive emotions can make a Mazoku experience its own version of nausea, and it would have to be a particularly weak Mazoku who would succumb to it. Most would keep their façade going strong. Xelloss would exaggerate it to make his enemy think him weak.
There was a circle of girls sitting on little benches in a patio, all decked out in expensive-looking silken gowns. Typical upper-class snobs. Sherra could see even from this distance that their faces were covered in make-up to cover blemishes. Any heavier and it would be caked to their faces. A couple of the girls were fanning themselves, commenting on how incredibly hot it was. It served them right. Dressing that heavily when it was "hot" out was just stupid. Sherra hadn't noticed it being particularly hot or cold today, either.
Her interest piqued, Sherra walked a little closer to the girls and climbed a tree. She watched them from up there, concealed by the foliage. She hadn't been particularly subtle about climbing the tree; she could have teleported. She should have teleported. Nevertheless, the girls hadn't noticed her presence. Sherra felt a sudden wave of repugnance for the girls. She could feel their emotions clashing like oil and water. As they chattered, they put each other down, some more subtly than others. She dubbed this as being a fairly decent meal and settled down to watch.
"She said that? I don't believe it!" One of the girls squealed.
Sherra rolled her eyes. Gossip. What a useless bunch of coquettes. Their moods, however, were serving as a snack.
"Well, I heard that the King has a new guest staying in his private wing. And that it's a girl." Another girl spoke up, her voice nasally. Sherra perked up at that. News travels quickly. She wasn't so sure if the humans were supposed to know she was there. Sherra felt a wave of repulsive distaste coming off the girls. They began to whisper amongst themselves. Sherra needed only to catch the word "scandal" to get the gist of what they were so excited over.
The King was at the marrying age and every girl in the castle, be it a maid or the daughter of a nobleman, knew very well how hot he was. And don't get them started on the General. The General was far easier to get at than the King. He slept around. The King, on the other hand, didn't show any intent on marrying within this millennium. But if there was a girl staying as a guest in the wing that only the King, his commanding General, and the high Priest were ever allowed in or out of...the implications were obvious.
Starting to get slightly annoyed, Sherra climbed down out of the tree. She had a mind to let Dolgoufa have a taste of their blood for implying such a thing. She didn't completely understand exactly what was "scandalous", but they were not helping her Lord's honor. That was, in Sherra's book, enough to warrant a death sentence. Her anger was escalating quickly.
"Whoa, Sherra, calm down!" Dolgoufa's telepathic voice rang cold and clear, cutting through the fiery haze of her mounting anger. As her servant, he couldn't disobey her; if she wanted to kill he couldn't remove himself from her possession. But killing here and now was most definitely NOT a good idea. Dolgoufa only had to gather his thoughts for a fleeting moment before he had a plan formulated to calm her.
"What would Dynast-sama think if he heard that you were endangering his cover?"
That effectively doused the flame. It worked with all the Priests and Generals; they won't act, after all, if it wouldn't please their Master.
Sherra took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. A breeze blew by and a few rose petals were carried on its breath.
"You're right," she said softly, eyeing the girls with open abhorrence. "I have to think of a different way of doing this."
Dolgoufa gave her a mental nod.
She sat down in the grass, thinking. If she couldn't hit them physically, she'd have to go after them mentally and emotionally. This wasn't an area that Dynast-sama had even touched upon. Right. So.... She frowned, having come up empty.
"You'll have to observe them," a voice rang softly in her mind, its tone helpful.
"Watch and learn. What do they like? What do they take pride in? Strip them of their pride and confidence. You have it better than them. You know more. Show them this. Do it slowly. Do it subtly. Haste makes waste, and things like this can't be undone. Think about it. Put thought into your efforts. Formulate a plan and predict what they'll do when they'll do it based on your observations of them. Then...execute your plan." She could hear the voice's soft smile. She recognized who it was.
"Thank you, Grau," she thought, directed at him.
Smiling, Sherra stood. At least she found some people to practice on. Only she had no intention of leaving it as just practice. No, this would be for real. And she would break them.
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
And I endeth here. It's a bit shorter than the previous chapters, but continuing would make this chappie insanely long. ^^
Love it? Abhor it? Either way, drop me a suggestion/comment/criticism via review!
You know you want to...
