whiteshade of blackness 'gaku 21 apr, 2008
warning : mention of violence/slavery implied
# 20 Fullmoon Dance /Oozing Scales
The most absurd things came up when you thought you could see logics clearly, of which was the reality; meaning the things near to impossible were the things you thought most likely not ever going to happen, right…?
Was that make sense…..The words, I meant…
Well, I was confused…still…. (1)
There were those pleasant sounds of laughter ringing again, heard from the rocks not too far away from the caravan circle; sometime a happy shrill followed now and then. They were waving the paper pinwheels in their small hands, thrilled when those things let out the high pitched whirs by the winds.
There was a little boy about 5-years old who was holding his neck like a leech attached to his back, and his twin sister using his crossed legs as a comfy chair while he made the whistling pinwheels for them; which seemingly something those children had never seen or play with before. He made the whistler from the dry seeds of some desert plants that were scattered around the rocks site; he suspected at least those people had never known that those seeds could be used to make sounds like that. One of the children kept asking so many questions one after another at his side; satisfied that he learned something new for every question answered. The others were running around joyfully with their new toys in their hands. Their adults kept an eye on them from where they were resting or doing other activities. Perhaps they still didn't trust a new beast with their children; or rather…shouldn't they suppose to not trust a barely known beast with their children…?!
There was a knowing purring-chuckle from the side of the caravan in where he seated at the front, the already asked question again of "Jealous, already…?" heard with the same tone like a déjà vu.
He creased his brows lightly, "Should I?" that was to himself, actually.
"Naah, they're just brats, they won't steal your precious beast away…! –or cook him for dinner..!"
He meant it as a rhetorical question, but it was answered anyway. Now he couldn't help it but thinking about that. "Ummm…, Rice..?"
"Yes, D..?"
"Do you thi-…. What..?"
"D should be your initial, right? If you think I would call you 'human' in front of your beast and end up in shredded pieces, you gotta be kidding me…!" Rhyssé said resting his back on the caravan's side with his hands crossed behind his head, looking at the far horizon and sometimes took a glance at the flock of playing children surrounding the new beast. Well, there were not really that much of them to be called a flock, but to him one was already dominating his space, so a few more than five running at him being their goal was like a stampede coming.
"Oh…" there was a relief in that little voice, you didn't have to be a beast with super hearing to perceive that.
"What? Satisfied enough with just that fact…?!" the far-west beast chuckled again, deeper. He knew what the Archant was going to ask him, and he knew what answer might calm him too. It's just something with children's possessiveness, that's all; and that Archant was even younger than those children happily playing with his Beast over there, of which the Beast himself seemingly enjoyed their company too much; maybe he was still one of them, too, Rhyssé thought to himself. The long furry ears twitched a little several times, catching unperceived sounds from the air. He could 'hear' guilt rising from the one on the caravan behind him.
"What are you feeling so guilty about? If you want to join them you could just do that…!" he said evenly. Then he could 'hear' the blushing.
"It's not that…!" the voice answering him was trembling at the end.
Ah, he hit jack-pot..! The beast grinned to himself, humans were so easy to read; he chuckled playfully. "Why not? Your beast seemed like he could handle children well; thanx to him I could have a little rest by myself..! I'm sure he won't mind your company…!"
There was a pause, "Well…" Rhyssé could hear him biting his lower lip, "…he told me to stay in here when he's not with me…."
"Wha..?!" Rhyssé stuck out his head from the caravan's side, "You're the Human, and he's the Beast, right…?!" he asked incredulously.
"He told me that….!" The Archant said slowly with a pout while busying himself playing and pulling at the caravan's tassels that tied the bells at the caravan poles and thus making them sounding his anxiety out, looking like an infant who got told to do something he barely understand but obeyed nonetheless even though he didn't want to.
The far-west beast trembled slightly with eyes wide and a hand covering his mouth. He thought he could hear something of an odd sound coming from him, before he realized that the beast was stifling his laughter with all his might. His creased brows got deeper, "What's so funny..?!"
That angry tone was the death blow and the beast ran away from him laughing madly snatching a girl with blankets in her hands by her waist in his way, who yelped in surprise as he took her disappeared behind a far caravan.
He could still hear the beast's laugh from somewhere. "Wha…what's with him, suddenly fleeing like that…?!" he asked to no one trying to divert his realization from his burning face.
As the laughter ebbed to an almost a sob-like sounds, the girl spoke. "You know, Rice, it's not polite to use a girl as a cover for your face, like this..?" Her dangling feet tapped his knees lightly.
"Yeahh…" the beast sniffled once.
"What's bothering you?" she petted his gold locks affectionately as she moved the blankets above her head with one hand. He put her down and took the blankets from her hand, hugged them tightly on his chest covering the lower halve of his face, looking at the sands between the girl's feet. "Damn, I hate that innocent face, I want to rip it from his head with my own claws…!" he muttered flatly.
"What's that? Is that jealousy in your voice…? Be careful not to let it out when the boy's beast is around or you'll be dead-meat..!" she chuckled patting the beast's cheek.
"I just hate it, not jealous..!!"
"Yes, yes; you hate a lot of things..!" the girl pecked the beast's nose and turned away.
"Including Archants…!" he said to himself mumbled by the blankets, but she already knew what he would add to her words for she lifted both her hands in the air in the up-to-you gesture. He let his beast nails out, stroking the blankets slowly imagining something he could do with his sharp pointed nails and some innocent face he knew he wouldn't touch. The possessive smell was thick in the air coming from a certain beast since their first meeting; he sensed it perfectly like breathing fire. That was what fueled his hate the most, even though he knew that that human-beast pair were not at fault, and not even related to his hate. But feelings were like a horde of liquid-fire you could not rein with just consciousness, even more if you were a beast with instinct ruling higher than your thoughts.
A dark glints dawned in his crystal-grey eyes as they thinned to slits, if he couldn't touch the Archant than he just touch the beast, right…? He smirked beautifully, wetting his lips as he felt the hunger made his mouth water. –Yesss…just a little bite would be fine…!-
The evening moon hung white in the sky. It would shine a perfect circle in a couple nights away; he could feel the instinct stirring to wake inside him, hot and alluring. Then he slowly walked to the biggest caravan hidden alone behind large stones, separated intentionally from the other caravans; it was metal walled and black painted.
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…."C'mere, beast..! We'll tame you properly..!!" those leering voices haunted his blank-dream again. How they cackled and how they cheered and cat-called and roared.
His long ears twitched unconsciously, trying to find anything he could hear beside those disgusting humans….
A white feather drifted from somewhere above and broke the blankness, he could hear his heart banging in his chest…he didn't want to see in this dream, voices alone were already torturing. He knew that his eyes were already closed even though he tried desperately to shut his sight from witnessing as the single drifting feather illuminating the scene to a dream-quality scenery of winter with snow of white-lights pouring down soundlessly...
He whimpered once. Fingers twitched reflexively as he tried to claw the scenery to shreds…. There was a known touch of silky white tresses brushed over his face. He was staring straight into the unforgettable purple orbs; wide and enchanting as they were in their fragility; the thick white eyelashes shaded the glimmers of white-light in those orbs, a tender soothing stare. The slender fingers stroked his cheek ghostly, softer and colder than the snow, as if his body warmth will melt them away.
He sobbed a couple times…whining as he realized he was reliving his hell again.
"Are you in pain…?" that fairy-voice asked the same question in the dreams.
He whined long and pleadingly. The white triangle-shawl covered their bodies, but it didn't feel warm; it was isolating, instead.
"I will teach you how to hate…."
And he gasped and arched his body as there was a sharp pain on his behind stinging along his spine to his entire body.
He jerked to wake, realizing that he was crying again in his light sleep. That dream was not a nightmare, just a piece of memory he couldn't forget…or forgive. He rose to sit, rubbed his face with both hands hardly, as if trying to erase the after-vision from his eyes; angry at the tears wetting his cheeks without he even realizing crying them out. Putting his elbows at his bended knees in front of his face, his hands circled his head as if protecting it. He knew why he got this upset enough to recall that still unforgiven memory back, it was those large innocent violet eyes and that snow-white skin….!
How he wished he'd torn them out the first time those eyes stared at his eyes when he gave that Archant the water that afternoon. A shiver ran up his body, a deep flush rising on his dark tanned face. He gulped dryly once, realizing that he was aroused just by the thought of hurting that Archant. He smirked to himself; well, what could he say…the fullmoon was close and he already felt the pull since yesterday before he met that human-beast pair.
He silenced his mind for a while. The loud snoring sounds coming from behind his back was a good turn-off, but they got to his nerves when he thought of it. He hit the bundle of blanket at his side hard, the snores choked once but sounded even louder after that. His long earspricked down and he jumped out of the pitch black caravan into a night desert air. The sky shone dimly with star-lights and silky clouds. He stretched beastly once clawing at the nearby rock then yawned humanely, rubbing his left eye with his knuckle.
His ears perked up in alert curiousness as he 'heard' a wrenching pain waves, so thick weaved in the air it was like a blanket shrouding his hearing. He walked soundlessly towards the source of the pain (at least he thought it was the way to the source, since it was too thick to distinguish the directions).
"Rice, beast-patrolling already…?" a man with weapon in his arm asked him from a high rock, he was lifting a mug to the androgynous beast.
"'Night, Led..!" the beast answered half caringly, not even glancing at him. The man chuckled at himself on the high rock, gulping the mug content.
He found a high structure of rocks reclining at each other at their tops, almost like a closed praying hands. But the high rocks were too steep to climb as they were almost stood vertically. Rhyssé stared the tops with a deep frown; he could guess who it was in the troupe who could go in there…
"You know, you should be more discreet with your 'scent' when you're in this condition…! More than just hiding your body!" he said peeking into the cavity between the rock tops.
There was a balled body at the farthest part of the cavity; it was trembling with pains and fever. The 'smell' even bothered Rhyssé's nose now that he was close enough with the one permeating it. A pair of darkened prussian orbs stared him in a slit, they were dilated by the pains and seemingly half aware of his surrounding.
"Can I come in?" Rhyssé asked already stepping inside. There was one rock structure that lied almost horizontally inside and served as the floor like a bridge crossing the hollowed large natural well; and as the beast accidently kicked a small stone into the dark hollow, he waited quite a long time until there was a small clattering sound from down the pit, it seemed like the pit was a concave hole down into the sands below ground level. He could guess what made the deep large hole deep into the earth like that one; must be a great thing or power fell down from the sky onto that –what might be once a single huge rock; and as the sands at the center caved in, the tops of the vertical high-rocks fell reclining and supporting each other covering the hole at the center.
"Wow, that was a long trip down…!" he sounded none too excited at that fact. A little thought popped out in his mind that somewhere in that site might be some holes deep enough to be the passage for the OWLs to come out from their depths.
The beast walked slowly to the balled figure, stopped and squatted at a respective distant enough just to let him touch the figure's hair with his fingertips if he were to reach out his hand to him. He sniffed lightly at the other's direction. "You're high with fever…! Isn't your-kind supposed to be colder than average humans?"
The feverish prussians didn't answer, it was as if they were trying to recognize whether he was a real being or was just a fever illusion. Rhyssé sighed deeply once then got up. "I'll get you some water to cool down your senses…!"
"….don't bother.." a raspy whisper stopped him, he turned around again facing the balled figure. Noticing that he got an answer, he dared himself to get nearer him and squatted again.
"That bad? Curse-sickness…?!" he asked as he felt the air near the other's cheek with his fingers. An almost soundless grunt answered him. "Your human knew…?"
A tired blink answered him this time.
"He didn't do anything about it…?" there was worry in his voice, so the Beast thought he didn't really accusing.
"…it's not something mendable….." he mumbled with trembling lips.
Rhyssé silenced for a long time, watching the other beast's miserable face he'd hid behind his wrapped hands. "You're like this; that's why you took the offer to join the troupe. 'Right..?" he muttered after a long thought.
There was no answer in any kind, except for the feverish hands tightening in on themselves a little. "…you must have been at your limit persevering this, guarding your human in the desert alone…"
"Is he that precious, I wonder…!"
"……….rything….."
Rhyssé chuckled incredulously, "More than everything…?! You're also lovesick along with curse-sick?!"
He tsk-ed and messed the hair behind his head in irritation, grunting long to himself. "Here! I'm an amulet-fox so my blood can lessen curse-sickness a little…!" Rhyssé offer his inner left wrist with veins pulsing strongly with blood to the Beast.
The sick Beast tilted his head a little avoiding the offered hand. "Hey, I'm not a beast-tamer so my blood won't impact you that way. You don't have to worry-…!"
"…you're in heat….!"
"What..?!" the dark skinned face burnt a little, "Does that matter in anyway..-?!"
He gaped a little after that, seemingly had a thought of his own, feeling the flush hot on his face. "Ca…..can't help it; fullmoon is coming….!" he said lamely, averted his eyes with a pout.
"….must get better before fullmoon…..!" the Beast muttered with a hard face, but his eyes were still only half aware, focusing on something that he himself couldn't see.
"I'm not a mating-fiend even at fullmoon, so you don't have to be that wary…!!" Rhyssé growled flatly.
The prussian eyes closed, there was almost a weary smile tugged his hidden lips. "……'uman hate…."
And with that the Beast fell asleep. Rhyssé blinked several times, scratching his head; his long ears twitched alertly. As he didn't hear 'awareness' he smirked with a happy glint in his eyes; crouching forward, he attempted a lick on the Beast's forehead with the end of his tongue. He didn't awaken the slightest. After giving himself sometime to mull at the taste on his tongue, Rhyssé gave a delight chuckle then purred happily, and treated himself to another lick.
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There were light knocks on the caravan's door at the back of the carriage. He opened it after fixing his hair a little. "I'm sorry, I didn't disturb you, did I?" the girl Rhyssé snatched yesterday smiled presenting a basket to him. "Breakfast for two..!"
"Oh, thank you, -urmm..!" he answered a little awkwardly, knowing his Beast was not there the whole night.
"He's gathering some medicines at the high-rocks..! Just call me Ell!" the girl pointed to the Crocodilian-back's tops, further into the rockery site. "Isn't he great? He knows a lot of stuffs, even our troupe's healer didn't know much about mosses and fungi that could be used as practical medicines; and to think that those are free while the whole time we had to buy medicines in the expensive drug-stores with such ill-mouthed merchants..!!" Ell laughed openly.
"Unhh….really..?" he just didn't think like he wanted to feel good about the girl's praising for his Beast, what's with her being a stranger (even though she was counted as one of their hosts) but knowing his whereabouts better than he did (the Beast didn't even bother to tell him where he was going or about to do since their joining the troupe's caravan).
"Oh, well…there's water in the basket, and some hand towels to wash your face with, just wet them before you wipe your face with it. Sorry we couldn't provide you some bath in this kind of place..!" Ell said apologetically, her smile got curved at one edge.
"I understand..!" he smiled, thinking of some nice words about having roof above his head and some wall protecting his body from the desert's wind, but he thought he didn't want to sound to be too nice than that since it would sound cliché after a few sentences.
"If you're bored, you could come with me to see around, feeding some beasts in the cages..?" she tried, feeling the wall he'd set from strangers that seemed like started to depress him a bit.
The Archant didn't answer right away; he looked like a bit stunned by the offer. Ell decided that she could just take the initiative of the situation. "All right, I'll come to get you in about 15 minutes..?"
"…eh.." he was about to say some excuse, Ell knew; so she fled.
"If you're not finish by then, I'll wait…!" she half ran to another caravan, disappeared behind the busyness of the morning.
And he still gaped at the crowd.
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Rhyssé tossed around the cloth pouch in his hand playfully, watching the back of the Beast openly; his long ears twitched repeatedly 'hearing' his every move on another rock's top quite a distance away from where he rested his back on some rocks. The Beast had liquid movements he seldom met in just everyone; his moves were so silent that even though he wasn't on the down-wind, Rhyssé had to strain his beast-hearing just to locate his whereabouts without seeing him physically.
"So, you learned medicine seriously..?" the far-west beast asked casually; his ears enjoying the 'sounds' of the other beast's physical vibrations. The sound of his heartbeat enduring his 'curse' didn't escape his hearing, too; he liked that tortured sound hidden well from all's knowledge as well.
"Your knowledge is far beyond the human's about these natural-sources. You're with the OWLs once..?!"
"Yes" flat whisper.
"Oh, which 'scape…?" the beast smirked. "Deep-bottle..?" Unknown to most humans, the OWL's habitation was interconnected with each other by tunnels or chasms, so when humans distinguished the places with directions, the OWLs distinguished their territory with depths. Anyone knew those 'scapes by name would be someone who'd lived in that place once.
The Beast turned his head to the amulet-fox with something in his eyes. Rhyssé smirked wider enjoying his indifferent stare on him, he knew that the Beast wanted some diversions from the subject of the OWLs; that's why he'd open up the subject, anyway. "What…?!"
The Beast didn't say anything for sometime. "…you licked all over my face last night…!" his flat whisper had an accusatory tone in it. That got the fox laugh, "So what? Your pain lessened, weren't they not…?!"
His brows creased a little above his drooped eyelids, a wild glint in his deep prussian orbs.
"Spur of the moment…?" Rhyssé tried lifting his hands and shoulders. "..or curiosity?" Either way, seemed like he was not allowed to go there; he opened his palms in surrender, "Okay! 'Be careful or you'll loose your tongue', right…?!"
As the Beast turned his head back to what he was doing, he asked again. "So, where did you learn the medicines from..?" That's the double-bladed conversation. Ah, he's so cursed with his tongue, he thought with a naughty smirk.
The Beast blew out his sigh; it seemed that he had to answer one of the two subjects, anyway. "One of many who'd bought me..!"
"And who was this 'one of many'…?" the fox played the pouch on his feet like a ball.
"The Collector..!"
He froze staring at the pouch that fell on the rock near his feet. "…..for real?" his voice sounded small. A grunt answered him. Rhyssé picked the pouch with a foot and tossed it on his feet again.
"I heard The Collector could make a living-dead, is that right?"
The Beast turned to him again then approached him with a handful of moss and other things. Rhyssé opened the pouch for him and followed him back down to the caravan circle, with the pouch slung on one shoulder, staring at the Beast's back and 'hearing' his movements.
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He stared unblinkingly into the cage. The creatures behind the iron bars sniffing at him exactly like what dogs would do; at least Ell said they were dogs, for that matter.
"Well, what do you know? They like you..!" the girl smiled behind him while filling the food basin with some grains in the opposite cage.
He furrowed in contemplation. "Really dogs…?" he asked with an unconvinced tone. The creatures breathed his scent through their mouths with tongues sticking out. He blinked. Those tongues were thick and long, and deep colored of grayish purple, licking their own faces and even covering their heads.
"What kind of dogs…?" he asked eventually glancing at Ell, who chuckled amusedly at him.
"Rock-hound. First time seeing ones?"
He nodded bouncily, eyes fixed at the so-called-dogs wide. He thought he heard Ell chuckled again, but he was too engrossed with his staring. The rock-hounds were waggling their short skinny tails with thorny ends, their short and bulky legs might be looked cute if their skin were not so grey-colored of furless hard-skin that made them looked like some bloated cadavers of some things that had been drowned since a week ago. The paws had three long pointy claws facing front, while each of their hind paws had an addition of a long spur facing backward. What really fascinated him was the almost-flat 'armor' protecting the top of their body from head to rear made of something like horn-bone, and the bizarre shape of their heads/muzzles of almost rectangular shape with its front a little slenderer than their skulls. They had no lips covering their long teeth, so to him it resembled a smiling skeleton's bare teeth. And they had no eyes.
"They're originally called Archean-dogs, but rock-hound was easier to remember, right? They're Rice's conquests…!" Ell poured a small bucket of water into the long tub in front of the adjacent cages of different beasts.
"Rice..?" he turned his head to the girl behind.
"Rice is a Wild-tamer; though he didn't want to be called as that. He trained animals for our shows, mostly. But I suspect it's just because he didn't want them to cause any harm to the troupe's people; beasts are protective to their pack, you know…"
"I know…!" he muttered under his breath, mostly to himself. "Wild-tamer..?" he turned to the girl.
"Ah, right. If you still not familiar with them; there are those who are gifted as beast-tamers, and there are Wild-tamers." Ell explained, fingering her chin.
"What is the difference?" that alerted him a little.
"Wellll-…" Ell stared at the low caravan ceiling. "….Wild-tamers tame Wilds, and beast-tamers tame beasts…!"
"Between Wilds and beasts..?" he furrowed his brows a little.
"Hmmm, Wilds are the-kingdom's name, and beasts are the-commoners…!" she sweatdropped at her own explanation.
"That means beasts are parts of Wilds in general..?"
"Unnh…Why don't you ask Rice; or your companion about that? I never had the clear education about that, myself. For me, I guess, if they could coexist with us, they're fine; regardless of their races or kinds…!" the girl grinned, feeling a little silly of her own ignorance, but truth was she never really bothered with that. She was a simple girl, that's all.
He stared at the girl for a while, "….then.. Wild-tamers could also tame beasts…?"
Ell shrugged with a grinning chuckle. That summed up the conversation.
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Something nudged his numb mind; even though he didn't know what it was, but he let his feet take him to where they want him to go. The winds felt sharp on his face, they carried the smell of something familiar but must-be-forgotten -some voice in the depth of his mind whispered. He covered his hands with the black-cloth around his shoulder, folded them at his front as if he was cold –even though the desert's sun already high; felt the wide cloth fluttered behind his back like comforting strokes.
Something nudged his numb mind, …and he didn't know why…..
He thought he felt something 'brushed' his hearings before he actually heard. Half aware, he tried to hear more of that something and familiarized it. At a turn between the rocks, without even knowing why his feet guided him there, he stopped; an even wide-eyed look on his plain face.
The winds blew sharper at his unmoving body, and he could name that familiar but must-be-forgotten smell wafted in the breeze; it was lust. Eventually his ears let his mind identified the small sounds that were weaved in the air.
It was Rhyssé's sounds of whispers and purrs. He blinked once, as if telling his eyes to let his mind to see. So the fox was crouching on the ground, pinning his Beast who was sprawled on his back, using both his knees by his hips and hands gripping the Beast's upper arms keeping him immobile; while he was licking the side of his face and neck. Ears flattened backwards, lips curved in a slightly open smile, with a very delighted expression on his face.
"…..Aren't I good at doing this…?" he purred the words out. The Beast was silent with a stony face, his eyes were piercingly sharp, but he clearly didn't object what Rhyssé was doing to him. "What? Silence means good..?" he chuckled in his throat.
As the fox started to travel lower to his shoulder and rubbing his face on his shirt-covered chest, he grunted. "…stop that!"
Rhyssé looked up, licking his chin. "But I'm useful like this….-", he left 'unlike a certain someone' unsaid, but he was sure that the Beast knew it hanging in the air.
"It's not because it's advantageous that you devote yourself for…!" he sounded a little upset.
"Oh, so it's an inconvenient devotion…?" the fox nibbled lightly at his jugular.
The Beast caught the fox's shoulders in a flash and turned their position. "It's none of your business..!" he growled flat. The fox tsk-ed, staring up at the face whose shadow covered the sunlight from blinding his eyes, "But you could be more than just this, right…?", then he chuckled without really explaining what he meant.
Then they seemed to realize that he was there staring at them. The Beast turned his head at him, while the fox only angled his face a little. They had the stunned expression of being caught for a fraction of second, then it was hidden just as fast as it came forth.
Rhyssé smiled wide at him. He was staring evenly at the fox's face; his Beast was staring evenly at his face. It seemed that he'd manage to get there without them realizing; or were they too engrossed at their….game..?
Rhyssé chuckled again, seemed like to himself, realizing that none of the pair would take the initiative to move. He felt his own 'thirst' beginning to make his mind hazy, so he wormed out of the Beast's hold as he was frozen in suspense. "We'll talk again later…" he purred, took a fast lick at the Beast's right ear presented to him, and left bouncily humming a song to himself.
That left the Human and the Beast unmoving at their places. Seeing that his Human stood frozen staring at the spot where the fox was once even after he was already gone for sometimes, the Beast called silently. "…Human..!"
May be his instinct reminded him that his Human's former-self was explosive, so he was anticipating such a reaction…..or else, perhaps he'd be disappointed if his Human's real-self was not so ardently possessive over him.
The Human blinked again, he saw alertness in the Beast's prussian eyes. Something bubbled up from deep inside him, and started to make his chest burnt.
There was almost no change on the outside of his Human's appearance. He almost felt disappointed.
"…don't…." a small voice sounded from his Human's direction. "…don't ….lie down…"
The Beast blinked.
"…with anyone…… like that…"
The brown brows curved up a little, so his Human was jealous, after all. "…It's not…"
"He….hurt you, didn't he…?" the violet eyes looked at the ground in front of his own feet, his arms curled up tighter around his body. "……that man….!" His violet orbs started to moisten.
The winds blew hard suddenly for some moments, they felt like sharp stings on the Beast's skin. When the winds died down to soft breeze again, he realized what his human was referring to.
Then it dawned on his mind that his Human was rearranging the puzzles of scattered memories from his former-self to fit in his frame; Duo's frame, not Deia's frame. And that's why he seemed so colorless at the time.
Memories built personalities; he remembered someone said that in the past.
So, that's what it was…. He smiled warmly at his Human who in all the likelihood seemed like he wanted to dig a hole in the ground and crawl into it, as if he was frightened of him. "You don't have to feel bothered by that. It's in the past…!" he whispered silently approaching him; the thought that his Human didn't feel safe about him saddened him. He took the black-cloth piled upon his Human's shoulders to cover his head with, whispering gently to his ear. "Have you eaten?"
A nod answered him.
"I kept your share in the caravan. I was going to look for you but Ell took me to see the troupe's beasts….!" He almost sounded guilty.
"Was it fun?"
There was a smile in the Beast's words, so he took a glance at his face above his. There was no longer his characteristic little smile there, but his prussian eyes were staring at him warmly. His heated chest felt soothed, but he felt shy if ever his Beast realized what he was feeling, because it felt like a bad feeling -those hot bubbles. He looked down again. "It's not boring….!" His eyes turned brighter a little.
"Good…!" the Beast smiled. Then they walked down to their caravan in silence.
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What if the pieces of scattered memories built into a wrong puzzle-set…? That thought nudged the Beast's mind. Like taking a wrong conclusion from the facts printed in those memory-pieces because he rearranged them in a wrong line? The Beast frowned to himself; he wouldn't let his Human get lost now…
No… he'd let his loved-one got lost in despair and betrayal once…..
He wouldn't let his Human lost like that… again..
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Rhyssé walked by kicking his feet forward one by one, listening to the bells around his anklets jingled with a clear high chime. His lips quirked downward at the ends, ears stretched backward. He didn't want to hear what that prodigious-pair was talking behind him, since it's not really his business; but he couldn't help but feel bothered by their relationship. It's not that he was a racist, no; it's just that….Archants were so…
A girl's shout brought his mind instantly to the surface again, but by then it was already too late to dodge a flying floor-brush. The thing hit the front of his head with a loud thunk. He blinked with a forlorn expression. After that more female's shouts admonished him from his surrounding and more domestic things flew welcoming his arrival in the middle of the caravan circle.
"…Rhhiiiicyyyyyyy….!!!" a boy about 10 came running to him with an ecstatic face; behind him the twins running hand in hand with napkins fluttering by their necks. As he blinked, he realized that almost from every direction the other children racing to get to him, too; his lips curve-twitched up at one end, eyes wide realizing that he was standing in the eye-of-the-storm.
"Rice..!! Reign in your SMELL…!!"
"It's still MORNING, isn't it..?!"
"At least let them finish their breakfast…!"
The shouts continued; there were also catcalls from the men who were sporting light flush on their faces, some of them made a toast to him with their water pouches or mugs; the others were laughing.
"Fullmoon's coming..!! Hahaa…" an elderly man laughed with a pipe hanging on his mouth. That made the fox's face burnt red instantly.
"MINNNE….!!!" a pair of really big bandaged-hands grabbed his upper-arms (and shoulders) and scooped him up away from the children's reach, held him high like trophy in a victorious pose. The children who lost their target whined and jumped trying to catch his dangling feet in vain.
"He's MIIINNE…!" the big-bad-bandaged man roared (even though it sounded like jokingly exaggerated), the children whined more at that and hit the man's knees and shins (they were only that high to his height).
Rhyssé kicked the bandaged face with both feet; "I'm MY OWN, you big JACKASS…!!" he screeched.
The two hollows of eyes behind the bandage under Rhyssé's feet shone red for a moment. The fox shivered with goose bumps visible on his skin, his lips grimaced with fangs intentionally showed.
"…'later..!" the big-bad-bandaged man stowed the fox under one of his bandaged arm like a sack and bouncily walked away to the solitary black caravan behind the rocks.
"What…?!" the fox bugged his eyes in horror. The children howled at their departure, but didn't follow them.
"NNNOOOOOOoooooo……..!!!" the fox's howl could be heard for a long time. "It's still early, I'll be cooked in there by noon, HEEEeeLLppphh…!!!!" he cried from afar.
……did he mention that the black caravan was metal-walled…?
---------------
He ate the breakfast from the basket in silence; his mind was concentrating on the feeling of his Human's stare burnt at him from the front of his right side. "Ask me…!" he whispered evenly.
He felt his Human's blink in the enclosed air of the caravan. His Human took some more time staring at his face before he asked in a flat indecisive voice, "….Wild-tamers….!"
That question was not what he expected, so he turned his head to face him. "…' tame Wilds; beast-tamers tame beasts…!"; everyone said that.
"Difference…?" his Human stared him widely.
He cocked his head a little, "Wilds mostly… is what humans called unusual creatures from what they already know of; beasts were the creatures they already recognized…"
"That simple…?" he sounded like he wasn't satisfied with that answer.
"Beasts familiarize each other with their presence; the stronger the presence, the stronger the power possessed by one. It's not something that could be manipulated to deceive another beast; except that it could be hidden if the owner had the talent to hide it from others. Wilds recognize each other by instincts.."
His Human blinked to that. "You..?"
He'd expected such a question, "The Lord referred to me as Wild at first; then he called me beast, you remember…?" His Human nodded once, there was a flash of something dark in his violet orbs about the mention of his foster-father(?), but it cleared in no time; so he continued. "Beasts were mostly considered the already tamed ones; Wilds with some kind of intelligence were considered tame to some extent, thus they were beasts. Wilds mostly used instincts above their minds…!"
"Wild-tamers could tame beasts…?"
"Wild-tamers tame instincts; beast-tamers tame minds..!"
"And after that…? Mind-tamed beasts had instincts left, and Wild-tamers could tame them in turn?"
He blinked to that, "….Ones with pure-instinct could not be tamed..!" he said blankly.
"Nothing higher than pure-instinct means Wild-tamers tame Wilds with instinct, too, is that right..?"
It's his turn to nod. "Beast-tamers..?" his Human asked with a little furrow on his brows; somehow he seemed like he knew that after that what he would be hearing wouldn't be too nice.
"Blood..!"
"Blood?"
"Blood carries power in it, too. Some even considered it thicker than presence…"
"So Rice won't…." that's what the issue was at first.
"No..!" he thought to himself that his own presence was larger than the fox's.
"So,….that man…-?"
'He was a beast-tamer, or at least he liked to think so...!!'(2) those words came forward from the distance of the scattered-memories even though he didn't really summon them.
"His blood was dirty..!" the Beast had thought of ending the conversation before it gets to critical zones, but he couldn't find the right end so he had to continue; or else his Human would get suspicious and force the questions, anyway.
"If there's pure-instinct, then there'd be pure-blooded, yes..?" he worried his lower lip slowly.
"Pure-blooded even said to have their ancestors' powers in their blood" he swallowed his food dryly.
"…..Lord of Virion…?" and that was the issue back then.
He blinked again; where did that come from..? Then he groused in his mind at his own stupidity; of course he knew it, he was there when that human Lord kissed…-
He swallowed the rest of the thought. His Human passed him the water pouch, still staring at his face. He took a big gulp and sealed the pouch again, his Human's stare was still burning at his face; he sighed in his mind, there's no circumventing this out ….
"…Yes; Lord of Virion…!" He was the kind of pure-blooded that could be smelled just by entering his country, he thought.
"So, what if…-?"
"I'll fight his blood…!"
"You can do that..?" his violet orbs were almost pleading; it pricked his insides seeing that.
"I'll try…., but I won't fail!"
"With what sacrifice?"
He'd thought his Human would be able to see through it; he smirked to himself, in his mind; satisfied at his Human's perceptiveness. "I won't sacrifice you..! And I know you wouldn't let me sacrifice myself!" he added quickly as he saw his Human opened his mouth to cut him. "So if it's ever got to that,…come take me back..?"
There was silence took over the conversation for a long time. His Human didn't show anything on the outside, but his searching eyes seemed to decipher more than his mind could understand at the moment; his stare sometimes looked far away at something encrypted in his memory as 'blackness'. Looking at his violet orbs darkened brought a pain to his heart... He's not ready yet…, he thought. He almost reached out his hand to cup the snow-white face to bring his eyes to the present again, but something in his chest was hurting for his Human to realize what he was before this lifetime, so that he could finally stop hurting alone, but he didn't want his Human to hurt for him.
The contradicting pain almost choked him when he tried to swallow the food in his mouth. He gritted his teeth…He should have more control, his mind told him.
Then, a firm nod. "I'll find you…but try not to leave me..?" his Human said looking straight to his eyes. That had turned from pleading came from the fear of being abandoned, to a request; he remembered it had quite shaken him when his Human pleaded him 'don't leave me' before, by the fire that night on the open desert. Now his Human was actually more serene than his former-self, he thought; may be he'd read him wrong..? May be his Human's-self was not as volatile as he'd thought before? But his hazardous tendency when he was still inside of Deia was real…. He frowned.
"I'll be with you…!" he said evenly.
"Yes; do that…" his Human smiled; he knew that the Beast was not someone who verbally ardent, he was more to action than words; so if he voiced his action then he'd do it regardless of any circumstances might come ahead. His words were almost as good as a vow.
The thick eyelashes drooped in calmness, and he scooted to the inner side of the caravan's space near the open window with lacy curtain fluttered by the desert breeze, and he curled down on a large pillow like a cat, still watching his Beast eating with his sleepy violet eyes. The Beast watched him back all the while; a thought reflected in his prussian eyes but he didn't care about it at the moment.
Then the breeze lulled him to sleep not long after; for a while he still could feel the Beast's eyes on him, and it gave him a sense of security.
…..the surface was not a hell, he said to his mind…He had not regretted leaving the comfort of the blackness deep within him, he hoped he wouldn't have to.
---------------
…there was never any mirror that would reflect him back in the small round chamber surrounded by the darkness…
He never wondered why…
An enchantment song heard softly and ceaselessly from somewhere outside, as if an invisible cage to keep him inside. He realized it, but still he never wondered why…
It's because he never had the reason to be wondering about anything.
That was his safe place…the only place that he knew he was allowed to be….
That the surface was hell….
That thought he knew as a fact disturbed his little piece of serenity; that's right, a little voice clouded his mind; the surface was hell, so don't ever come outside…!
He jerked to wake, disoriented and feeling a little anxious. There was a familiar vibration coming from somewhere out there; he focused his mind to feel it.
A pleasing sound of musical instruments heard from the outside, he just realized it after some time. Then he realized that it was already dark; it was nighttime, his Beast must have let him sleep the whole day.
In the center field of the surrounding high rocks gathered the troupe's people, it seemed that they were celebrating something. The men sat on wooden crates placed at the outer circles, while the women and children sat at the inner circles, at the very center was a bonfire big enough to make the shadows of the rocks casted on the sands to resemble a line of dancing giants protecting the outermost circle. There was music playing and songs heard continuously, that must be what had initiated the memory of the chamber to rise in his dream; some children and girls were dancing at the field around the fire, there was a distinctive person leading the dance. And eventhough he was wearing a carnival mask, the posture and agility clearly showed who it was, not to mention the long furry ears of metallic blue color that were not part of the mask; the sounds of the small bells at his anklets jingled making their own music as if a song in another language to the troupe's instrumental music, and sometime his clear giggles sounded in amusement at the others' dance; then followed the children laughter. It was an enchanting sight, the fox's dance was.
He blinked his eyes feeling like he's still seeing a scene of another dream.
A round shining object in the night sky made him looked up. The moon was almost in perfect circle, he thought as he observed the ragged rim of the moon that almost gone to smooth round-line; may be tomorrow…
A stare he felt on his being made him look back to the circle of people again. There, stood his Beast from between the men's seats, with a thick blanket wrapped around his body. He stared back at the Beast's eyes, and realized that he was staring at him with a hoping look, almost like pleading; but when he blinked because of the intensity of his stare, the look was already gone from the Beast's eyes and replaced by something that he'd catalogued before as waiting-stare. Perhaps he imagined it…?
He walked slowly to him as he felt the stares of the men around his Beast fell on him, too; he's not ready for being alone under the scrutiny of so many strangers yet, he thought. His Beast gave him the comfort of safety just by wrapping the thick blanket around his shoulders so that they wore it together. He sat in silence beside him, just relishing at the contact their bodies made by the closeness. His head felt high, he was sure there was somebody talking to him but he couldn't exactly hear them. A warm wet finger wetted his lips surprised him, but he didn't jump. He tried to focus his eyes…
"Ginger ale…" his Beast whispered softly at him with wide eyes, then stuffed his own ginger ale-ed finger into his mouth, sucking the hot-sweet beverage clean. He thought he saw the pleading again in those deep blue eyes, accompanied with something akin to understanding. A thought came to his mind that only him could recognize what reflected in his Beast's eyes. That lifted his heart a little. He smiled.
His Human took the wooden mug and sipped the warm liquid. His brows furrowed a little at the hot taste and coughed lightly. "Desert's-dragon..! Strong, ain't they…?!" an elderly man at his side laughed pleasantly with a wide grin. His Human answered with some questioning coughs, at that he smiled. The men near them laughed, too. His Human's cough faltered at hearing them, he wrapped his arm around his Human's waist in the cover of the blanket, sensing his nervousness.
"…iyck'…" he choked a word out, "…ick bites…!" he said hoarsely, feeling the strong burn in his throat that had gotten hotter once the liquid was down. The men laughed louder. "It'll get tamer after a few sips. A good medicine against the desert night air..!"
His Human pulled his head back a little and stared the mug at arm-length with accusing eyes. There was laughter around him, even coming from the troupe's females. He didn't realize it that he was an eye-candy, and everything he did was eye-catching and endearing. "Bad dream..?" he tried to make his Human feel in the present. The violet eyes stared wide with a stunned-like look at him, back to the mug in his own hands, then back side-glancing at him. "No…just something like a memory.., I think…" he mumbled with a little uncertainty.
"It's not bad. It's just…" he searched a word, "…make me cautious..?"
"Hmm.." the Beast hummed flat, looking straight at the fire ahead, sounded like he didn't care but he knew it was exactly the opposite; may be he even thought about it more than himself, knowing his character. That made him turn his head facing him, the sight of the beautiful face from its side this close was a better medicine against the desert's night air, his mind whispered. His eyes traced the outline of his Beast's face, and he felt a sudden urge to close the gap between their faces, just a breath's distance. But his body didn't follow up to the urge; so they only sat frozen like that, feeling the world closed in to just the two of them despite the crowd and the dance and the bright bonfire.
He didn't realize how much time had passed with them sitting there without giving a care to their surrounding, until the bright light of the bonfire casted on their faces blocked by a big shadow, and he saw a surprise in the Beast's eyes which only he alone could recognize. He turned his head to the object in front of them that was blocking the bonfire's light. It was a tall person (at least he thought it was indeed a person) wearing a very loose ragged leather pants and bandages all over his body, leaving only a pair of dim lights on his face that must be his eyes. A pair of big horns on his head stood out from his ragged grayish long hair.
"Yo..!" he said with a grin showing his pointy teeth, looking down at his Beast. The Beast's brows quirked up a little, staring at the man's bandaged face. "Dōzō…!" he answered flatly, letting the man into his guarded-space (of his and his Human's) just for polite's sakes knowing that they were the ones that were allowed into the man's people first. Suddenly the horned-man let out a high-pitched howl, scooped up the Beast by his upper arms (just like he did the fox that day) and swung him in a full circle. The Beast had a very funny expression on his face at the sudden act, stared with eyes bugging out with brows arched almost to his hairline, and flushed face by surprise and shyness, and the sweatdrop…, and he could almost see there were question-marks popping around his head like the imaginary-chirping-birds when you got an extreme headache. He'd burst in laughter if it was someone else and not his Beast…
"He speaks the same language with mine..!!" the horned-man grinned in triumph, with a voice loud enough to make the bonfire to waver. Then he tossed him onto his shoulder and kept him from falling down with one hand under his bent legs, like a grown man and a small kid (-in size, too). The suddenness caught him and he had no choice than to hold on to the man's big neck and around his head, noticing at the last second that he almost bumped his face to the man's curved horn protruding from the side of his head.
He could see his Human jerked to stand with a silly gape; he'd laugh too if he could.
"AKUUUU…!!!!" a high-pitched screech beat them, and a blur of a fox suddenly grabbed at the man's arm holding the Beast, trying to pry it from its charge, his feet pushed at the man's body and leg as their standing ground. "You don't even remember how to speak in your language, you JACKAAASS…!!" the fox screeched higher, seemed more livid at the fact that the bandaged arm didn't budge even though he'd put all his strength to pry it.
The Beast blinked at the thick jealousy cloud wafting from the fox, he saw from the end of his eyes his Human closed his gaping mouth in a click, and he knew his Human was going to say something hazardous.
"…your papa..?" he asked in a naïve voice. The fox's feet slipped from their standing grounds and made him hanging by his arms. Then there was a shrill laughter breaking the night air as the troupe's people fell down from their seats and doubled over on the sands.
As the laughter still continued, Rhyssé could only blinked at his Human with eyes a pair of blinking dots in perplex, still holding on to the man's strong arm. "Wha…?" he gaped out his open-grin showing his sharp fangs. "Whose what, what…?!"
The Beast knew it before the fox actually let his hands go from the man's arm, letting his feet dropped to the sand and launched in a blur to attack his Human while screeching in a foreign language. A big foot stepped on his body in the middle of his launch and nailed him to the sand; Rhyssé was still screeching in what seemed to be his clan's language, trying to swim out of the foot's pressure vainly; he only managed to clear the sands at the sides of his body, looking like a turtle that got stepped on by a naughty big-kid. That was only fuelled the people's laughter more; it seemed like that was almost like some kind of another ritual in the aberrant way, but was likely to be expected to happen concerning their beastly predispositions that the troupe's people seemed had already adapted with (about the Fox and the Demon).
His Human only blinked in confusion.
"It's almost full moon; that's why he's in his worst jealous-sensitiveness…!" the man called Aku grinned, enjoying his small companion sand-swimming under his foot. In the fox's screeches there could be heard 'stupid', 'ero' (that actually was exaggerated since the Demon only sleep above anything else when he's not on his feet), and 'demon' inserted between the foreign words. The Beast blinked, 'aku' means demon, alright…he thought as the man chuckled loudly with a big grin that almost divided his bandaged face in two just several inches from his face, he wondered if the big man could swallow his head in a whole if he meant it.
…just bite his tongue…. He thought to himself, picturing if the big 'demon' really do it.
"Haah..?! You said something…?" he asked turning his bandaged face to his. At the same time the Beast noticed the man's lines of shark-like teeth, longer and bigger than his own, and consisted of several set of lines to underline it.
…..or may be not… He dismissed the man with a cough-like grunt, at that the man grinned and chuckled making his whole body shook with the deep vibration.
The Beast tried to look at anything else beside him; that amused low chuckle sent more information his senses could perceive aside from just amusement or something akin to homesick-feeling the man showed in the outside. He knew savage-creatures attracted each other with their strengths; it's what lured them almost as enchanting as beauty to humans, or smell to some beasts. This Aku had a very thick 'smell' that he didn't want to cross him anytime soon, ….or later.
If the troupe had someone like him with them, than why did they take them in..? He recalled one of the scout-men did mention about other beasts being with them; but with this kind of beast –which he doubted even classified as one- the troupe wouldn't have to worry about any danger from wild-ones, aside may be some unwanted attention from some hunters –or preternatural ones.
Suddenly he realized that the fox had stopped screeching and sand-swimming down there, the laughing troupe people too had stopped laughing to catch their breaths and there was a tight air of anticipation fogged invisibly around them. Then a pair of hands caught one of his dangling feet around the man's abdomen. He looked down and found a pair of large violet eyes staring openly at the man's face, his hands were above his head because of the man's height; almost like a little child caught a prize his big daddy dangled above him. His Human smiled naively.
"Oh, you want to try to be up here, too..?!" Aku grinned excitedly; he swung his other free hand to swipe the small human to his shoulder too. But a foot at his wrist stopped his hand just before his fingers touch the human's blanket. The two dim-lights under the shadow of the bandage sideglanced at the Beast, finding him already escaped from his large hand, using it as a standing ground to crouch with one foot stretched out to stop his other hand. Then the Beast hissed possessively, a flicker of fire burned in his dark blue eyes. Almost at the same time, there was a pleasant chuckle coming from his Human, as if demonstrating his Beast's possessiveness over himself, and saying surreptitiously that the Beast was his alone; that he would not bow to anyone other than him, and the Beast would do anything for his sakes. Aku stared at the innocent face, and his pleasant naïve smile. The Archant chuckled again to conclude what was transpiring at the time.
And then the Beast jumped down to the sand, took his Human's hand and covered it behind his own back. He looked evenly at the people and nodded once, "Good night!" he said flatly in a soft voice then took his Human back into the caravan entrusted to them.
There was a still air amongst the people, they were staring at the two's leave silently –but openly, of course; Rhyssé crawled out from under his companion's much bigger foot and stood beside his taller body that was blocking the light of the bonfire from him. The fox kicked his lower leg hard several times, even knowing that the Demon wouldn't feel it much; "…You want to have a blood bath, stupid-Aku?! I'll give you one, aho-ero…!!" he'd picked up some curses from a lot of somewheres.
The Demon only stared with a stump face (under his bandage, but Rhyssé could 'hear' it clearly). He opened his mouth slowly, "……he…-" but he didn't have the chance to finish his thought; there was a shrill cry from the females in unison.
"....he had a very nice voice..!"
"How enchanting..!"
"Addictive..!!"
The girls commented openly. While the elders laughed at the sudden turn of wind.
"Is he a knight, Rice..?!"
"He is, right?"
"His Human is a Royal, isn't he?"
"They elope together, hu..?!"
And the swarm of gossiping girls closed in on them. "…Yea, right…!" Rhyssé stared dismissively with drooped eyelids.
"Ow, come on; you can hear it between them, tell us, tell us..!!" some girls said in unison, it almost like a trained play.
"I am NOT telling ANYONE about ANYTHING..!! My ears are NOT for GOSSIPING…!!" he showed them his fangs, shooing them away with his foot but the girls seemed not to mind with his rude act.
"Phah..! Party pooper..!!" the girls left them mumbling their complaints. "..But he didn't deny it that he DID eavesdropping on them..!" one of the girls commented; "…rrrriiiiight--…!" and all of them looked back with dark accusatory stares and conspiratorial smiles. "….but you DID make a move on that Beast, riiight…??"
Feeling pressured and outnumbered, and a little cornered at the fact that he did actually heard something 'almost accidently' somewhere, and more, the fox barred his claws and hissed. And the girls ran away giggling merrily.
---------------
He bit at the bread half-caringly, his mind strayed somewhere outside with the others' conversation he could hear clearly even from the inside of the caravan. His other hand brought the spoonful of soup into his mouth. After chewing reflexively a couple of times, he swallowed and bit the spoon carelessly as if it was a pipe.
"…You know…" after taking sometime to think he voiced his thought, "…that they kind of got the majority of it…?" he said mumbling through his spoon.
His Beast snorted uncaringly; that was kind of the opposite of his own reasoning to join the troupe in the first place, the Human thought.
He looked straight at his Beast resting his back on the caravan's wall, lounging next to the caravan's backdoor as if without a care for anything else in the world. "…I thought you made it a great deal about that 'precaution's-sakes'…?" he asked him flatly.
"You'll get your answer tomorrow..!" his Beast almost looked to be too tired to care about making a real conversation; he almost asked him what chores exactly that the troupe had him do that day, and he realized that he himself was sleeping almost the whole day, and that realization made him choked suddenly.
His Beast passed him the pouch as he searched for it blindly with his hand. "Don't worry about it; I'm just thinking a little about something…" his Beast said while he gulped the pouch content. "At least you could tell me what you're worrying about…?!" he blew out the question together with the air in his lungs as he pulled the pouch from his mouth.
His Beast lifted one brow up at his pressing intonation, and stared him a little oddly; he almost had goosebumps with his kind of staring. "…do you feel anything out of the ordinary because you sensed something in the air…?"
….and what kind of question is that inserted in this kind of conversation…?! His mind mocked. "….and, you are implying…--?" he pouted a little at his indifferent Beast who was still staring him with that odd stare.
The Beast blinked once, and his odd stare was gone; he averted his eyes from him and dismissed his own question. "….nothing..!"
He sighed looking up at the caravan's ceiling; "…--especially when Rice is around..?" he asked what he thought was implied in his Beast's question. That got the said Beast snapped his head to face him again; seemed like that was actually what he'd been thinking.
He looked down at his laps, avoiding his Beast's wide piercing eyes. "….Rice had a very nice smell, especially at night….!" he admitted; his senses could perceive it that much, even though he'd been untroubled by it for the most part –except from that day when he found the fox pinning his Beast down, he'd realized it that it was the fox's smell that had lured him there, like an invisible strings pulling a marionette to move. "What do you mean about feeling something out of the ordinary..?" he asked back.
His Beast didn't answer in any kind of form, but his odd stare had shifted to a curious one -his mind translated it for him, so he thought that the Beast was urging him to elaborate more of it deliberately; and so he continued.
"….you thought I should feel something about it..? What…like jealous?" his Beast still stared him evenly, but he could recognize the shine in those prussian eyes that differentiate his mood or what he was thinking at the time. "…or affection…?" he got bolder seeing that the shine in his Beast's eyes told him that he got more interested with the conversation.
"You don't feel it..?" his Beast asked eventually.
"Homeland had more enchanting-smelling poisons that were stronger and more deadly than his smell…." he left it at that. He didn't feel anything about the mention of Archantra or about him not mentioning it by name, and that actually what made him self conscious in front of his Beast, for he averted his eyes. He didn't care if the Beast took it wrongly that the subject of Archantra was may be a sensitive one for him; may be it was in the opposite way.
The Beast turned his face from him, may be acted like he didn't see that one; he looked out from the door's small diamond-shaped window to the desert, the reflections of his glinting eyes stared back on the glass.
"Well…." he started, "…not for everyone. Amulet-fox give away such a characteristic smell that sometimes they were actually used as some enchantments to lure other beasts or Wilds…..like a sweet-smelling flower to honey-bees, or fresh blood to predators…."
"..even the humans could smell it. Innocents ones like children, especially…"
So what Rhyssé had mentioned about being the favorite beast was the result of his own nature..? He thought to himself.
"You asked me once about outsider beasts that would change during full moon…?" That brought his attention back to the Beast's turned face.
"Most of them would be exceptionally active during full moon, especially those which move in packs and hunt at night…"
"….so you mean…"
"We'll have a major fight tomorrow. I want you to rest well today…" the Beast reasoned a little distractedly, he could smell some creatures closing the distance their way from afar, with quite diversities in their kinds, but he knew most of them would be predators.
"Oh…so that's why Rice is touchy since yesterday.." his Beast turned to him with a wide stare, "…he was ready for the big fight defending his pack…!" he concluded it evenly. His Beast blinked, he wouldn't thought that his Human's former-self would see it from that point of view, but sometimes he was still amazed at what his Human would think about something in particular; this-self or former-self.
He smiled with amazement.
His Human minded his dinner back, spooning his forgotten soup; "…Why are you smiling like that…?" he asked half-irritated with a flush on his face.
"Aa…you're right…." he said with wonderment tinged his voice; beasts were beasts, anyway; packs came forth before one's craving, that's why the fox was a bit pushy on him when they were alone, because he wanted to be useful for him in his own way since he won't help him any when his troupe-pack is in the balance. And for being a beast, he himself had to have his Human to see it for him.
"…yes! You're smiling; stop that….!" his Human pressed more his irritation with a more deep flush coloring his white face. He chuckled at him.
"Not funny, Yuy..!" and that's the first time his Human ever called him by name again, his retort sounded the same as what his former-self would say; they were one and the same all this time, anyway. That thought made him a little melancholy that his Human's soul was what he'd lived for this whole time, and that they were never as separated as to familiarize each other all over again; he surrendered to the urge, then; pushed his body forward, took advantage at his Human's unawareness who was trying to not look at his smiling face, and licked his Human's left cheek affectionately once.
"Wha…?!" he almost tossed the soup bowl by the surprise; feeling his face blown up by the hot blush, he screamed what he'd heard Rhyssé said before just to cover his nervousness.
"Don't DO that, Beast, you ero..!!"
And that made the Beast actually pulled back laughing.
---------------
At the same time outside, around the bright bonfire, some people with ginger-ale and soup and other food dripping from their chins after they blew them by the surprise, looked at the one-caravan direction with suggestive perplexed expressions. Some girls were giggling between themselves.
And there was an explosive laugh coming from Aku who was getting his face-bandage redone by the fox; "…don't move, it will become loose, erroneous-jinx..!" He was sitting somewhere behind a rock sheltering them from the fire light, with the fox stood in front of him and was taller just because his protruding ears were a little longer than the man's horns with his sitting position. Aku grabbed the lithe waist forward to him; "You want that beast, hm..?! You better reign in your craving, he's a much greater jinx than I am..!!" he grinned and the line of bandage Rhyssé was pulling tight slipped from its path into the mouth opening that divided the man's face; he tsk-ed in irritation.
"…I thought I'm already a jinx myself..!"
"Well, you don't know him, do you..?!"
Rhyssé stopped his hand and let the bandage end dangled from Aku's neck unceremoniously. He stared long at the man's two dim-lights of eyes, and cupped the big face with his left hand while he inclined his upper body to whisper very silently in Aku's left ear. "…Aku….." he stopped for a breath, "…he's got a Void's-craft in his body..!"
"….So..?"
The fox pulled back to stare at the man's face, even though he avoided looking at his pair dim lights burning a hole at his own face. "…don't you think the troupe could use that kind of thing for something good…?" he asked almost lips-talking for he knew the said Beast would be most likely listening to them talking in secret too.
"You mean for show..?" Aku smirked explosively, he didn't lower his voice just because he never really cared about others minding his business. "Forget it! Void's-crafts were cursed things more than your-kind could mend..! And those things would attract their-kinds; I don't want to fight a bunch of Shadows just because you thought you could let people see it up close for some small coins..!!" at the end he showed the fox his lines of teeth for emphasis.
"…But he's fighting it, Aku…!" he wetted his lips, "Don't you want to see what he looks like without that-thing eating him from the inside…?" Rhyssé asked like a little child asking for a toy to his daddy.
Aku stilled at that, "..Oh!" he narrowed his eyes to slits of burning light, "…I see; you just want something to play with..!! And you would even put your pack in danger just to satisfy your curiosity; you thought since they're not really your-kind you could just find another pack to settle in when you lost this one?!" Aku stood up roughly, walking away, but he stopped after a few wide strides. "Grow up! You're not a kid anymore..!!" he added without looking back, then disappeared behind some rocks and the dark of the night.
Rhyssé was left standing still on his spot, staring at nothing where a moment ago he saw Aku's face there. He just wanted to act deviant to some words he heard from the Beast's caravan just before; he didn't want some Archant to understand him more than what he realized about himself; just because they could put things into beautiful words…!
Even Aku couldn't see through him like a thin layer of clear water…or may be he never bothered to. "…damn Archants…!" he growled low, hugging himself with both hands as he felt cold white hands encircling his shoulders loosely from behind. "Damn Archants and their perspicaciousness..!!"
His breaths fogged as his body still remembered the cold presence of the one Archant that haunted him even in his conscious times. He squatted on the sand, hugging his knees and hid his face between them. "…damn you all to human's hell….." he mumbled brokenly.
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The Beast stared at his reflection on the small window, he could hear what the fox and the bandaged man was talking about; and he knew that the fox had some issue with Archants, that's why he'd let him in his company this day, better than letting him out of his sight and do something impulsively to his Human. He knew the fox's instinct ruled his acts higher than his logics, that's his nature, so he didn't really see him at fault for his tendency towards his Human and his Human's-kind. That's something other-kinds usually find it hard to understand, and took it from the wrong side and judged upon with their own nature-of-thinking.
He turned his head to his Human, staring again with what he knew his Human thought of it as an odd-stare, enjoying his Human's act of being not flustered by it but he could smell his nervousness in the closed air of the caravan. It was rather an enjoyable smell, because it's coming from his Human.
"What..?!" after putting the bowls back to the basket, eventually he reacted with a pout because he knew he couldn't hide his nervousness since the very beginning. His Beast only smiled a little, then back to his staring outside to the desert, enjoying the smell his Human permeating. To him that smell was what more stronger and deadly than any sweet-scented poisons in the sphere, he knew he'd already been dead when he first smelled his Human's scent in the courtroom of the Castile and instead of trying to escape he had surrendered to that smell. Yes, he'd been dead years ago to this creature, that creature just hadn't decided when to take his life from him.
…lovesick and curse-sick, ne, fox..? Love is the curse!...I just don't hate this curse, so I don't need your help to mend it…. He thought staring at the brightest star of the north-east, the one used by the troupe to guide them. He heard a silent snore from the direction of his Human, and found him already fast asleep on the caravan floor half curled from his sitting position before. He knew that given the chance, his Human would take more time to sleep to rearrange his scattered memories in his subconscious. He'd worried about the outcome before, but now he thought that no matter what his Human would be his Human still. It's not something critical as he thought before; it's just like a new hatched butterfly, who needed some time to spread its wings for the first time after they were curled in its cocoon for a long time. Archantra was his cocoon….
…hurry and wake up soon…I want to see you in person faster…. He covered his Human with the blanket, stroked his chestnut head gently, and called him with the softest whisper in his ear.
"…..my Duo…"
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In the darkness he stood alone…
Staring at his naked feet, curled his toes several times, enjoying the feel of the darkness sipped through between his toes like velvety-water..
A soft echo called him soothingly from somewhere on the surface out there..
((…my Duo….))
He smiled contentedly, loving that moment that that tender voice was his alone, calling his name only…
…my Obscury…. He called back
And in the darkness he was content….
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"…So we're going to leave this place sometime tomorrow morning, if there's any damage with the caravans we should fix them before noon, because at high-sun they wouldn't come after us so we would be able to leave them about half a day's ride away.." a middle aged man who was the troupe's top-guard said, he looked around briefly at the people's faces gathered in the circle who were mostly men; his eyes stopped at the Beast's face who still looked indifferent, but his years of living with animals and beasts and Wilds in the troupe enabled him to recognize the thoughtful expression on it.
"You have something in mind, Kid..? Better speak up now while we're listening…!" the man said grinning while biting a bluish-grass that was moving up and down from between his lips when he spoke; looking up at the Beast's face who was standing at the outer circle of the sitting people with some other men.
He blinked at the sudden question; they had been calling him 'Kid' from the beginning, which he didn't mind since he never cared about what names others call him with; but the fact that these people cared about his opinion enough to ask it quite surprised him. He'd never been with nomadic-artists before, except with some traveling mercenaries who'd be very alert with others and suspect everything, so he'd underestimated these people's adaptive ability. Before he knew it, he'd become part of their pack in just a couple of days, despite his secretive behavior about his and his Human's lives.
"…second night?" he asked flatly. Full moon came for two nights, some beasts would go more vicious at the second night of full moon, and for them to leave the rocks site they now use for some cover and barricade to the plain desert was questionable, of course.
"Ah, right. We'll have to leave that to Aku; the rest we'll sort at the time later. While I don't want to be too rash, but those pits between the high-rocks concern me.." he pointed the high projecting builds of large rocks at the center of the site. "Rice said he'd heard the depth of them and they troubled him, too. Now, I don't mean to make wild assumptions, but there's a possibility that may be the OWLs used some of them as the entry to the surface and that's what had this city to disappear…" the man stopped to catch a breath and examined his people's faces.
"Beasts' blood would attract bigger ones to come in the second night, even though there might be no OWLs with them." He shrugged one shoulder once, and back to the Beast; "So, instead of defending this site as our barricade, we could use the remnants of our first-night fights for bait to slow them for some time while we're running. Well, what do you think?"
He silenced for a while, giving it a thought; he could understand the man's reasoning, but their fear of the OWLs seemed a bit exaggerated for him, but that's may be because he knew about the OWLs more than they did who only heard stories and rumors and some leftovers from some battlefields and such, and what they did to the human's civilization, like that no-longer-city around that site for example. He didn't want to explain about the OWLs, so he just spoke up what his assessment at the time.
"I don't know what kind of beasts that would attack, nor the people's abilities, yet. So I'll just observe for tonight, any other assessment will come later. Is that fine?"
The people looked at him with relax faces, although there were some amusement in them. Suddenly a man's hand messed his hair from behind, he heard the man laughing, so he didn't react at that sudden action. "You're a soldier-boy, hu, Kid?! Relax..! We're doing this every month, with or without the rocks..!!" he closed it with another laugh. The others chuckled at them, may be because his expression looked funny, he thought to himself.
"I'm sorry…" he said flat. Truth was he'd feel more vulnerable fighting countless enemies in the open desert, especially when running away would become no option since he had some charges, the caravans and the people, that he couldn't leave behind when he had to run.
"It's okay, we have Aku with us. He'll keep the big ones at bay. Ah, you'll know what we mean when the time comes..!" a girl spoke with a big smile, she seemed like a fighter type, too, with two short-swords crossed behind her hips and a long whip hung from her waistband in loops.
He stared at her for a while, trying to ignore the man behind him who became bolder from just messing his hair who's now embracing his neck while he was doing that. "Hey, you smell nice..!" the man grinned happily.
"I'm not in heat in full moon..!" he said flatly, slower than before. "Ah, shoot…!" the man released his neck with a sweatdrop, knowing he'd crossed a beast-line. His comrades laughed outright, the girl serving the Old Lady even threw a dry bush she'd picked from the sand near her sitting spot at him.
The Old Lady, the chief of the troupe who always looked smiling on her comfy chair, seemed pleased despite the coming full moon night. He thought, must be because they were led by such a person that the troupe was so acceptant and merry living. Sometimes he saw the glints in her old grayish eyes when he encountered her stare, it made him feel a little self conscious. May be since he never much in contact with good-old-ladies before.
"…..in other words, you feel intimidated by grannies…!" his Human said with wide amazement in his violet eyes while he chewed on his lunch. He tried to not react to that, "True, you never really interact with grannies before. I mean, Ruéa wouldn't be counted as one; and the older women working for the Castile would be retired at 50…."
He stared at his Human, since he was saying about the Castile's live so casually, and he'd realized that his Human knew those facts as facts from his past now. He seemed more composed than yesterday, more time to sleep meant more puzzle-sets solved. He'd seemed to be in peace with the memory of the Castile's live.
A spoon full of thick soup presented at him, he swallowed it without much thought, his Human snickered happily at that then wiped the little spill from the end of his Beast's lips with his thumb and licked it.
"…There's something bothering me…." His human started, the Beast stared him from the ends of his eyes. "…ummm…" his Human made a thoughtful face, scratching his left cheek with his fore finger; that gesture often showed by his former-self, it meant he didn't really want to elaborate but he couldn't help but got bothered by his thought.
That intrigued the Beast, not realizing that he was watching his Human's gesture that much, but he felt something soothing in it. His Human's former-self would lower her hand and half-consciously took the end of her silvery-purple braid since it was cascaded on her left-side, and used it to playfully brush her chin while she spoke up what bothered her a little halfheartedly.
His Human's hand lowered and his fingers didn't find the end of his braid since it was behind his back now, automatically that hand searched blindly to the back, on the caravan's floor, and found its target, took it under his arm, and used it to really brush his chin lightly. "…I thought that…--" he continued after the 'ritual' was fulfilled; that made the Beast chuckled inside.
"…Pahh..!" his Human suddenly blew with flustered face, closing his eyes with some arteries popping on his forehead. "Don't stare me like THAT, I'm already melting in this hot air…!!"; still, he avoided his Beast's stare.
His heart felt lifted by his Human's critics, it showed him that he really was more composed than yesterday; he tried to reign the rainbow-colored-clear-bubbles inside his heart from invading his mind with melancholic thoughts while they pop; while the thought about the upcoming fight didn't bother him at all. Yes, this was love-sick, alright…!
The Beast stared him with a curious but knowing stare before, now he had a melancholic stare in his half-drooped eyes. He cleared his throat a little.
"What bothers you..?" his Beast beat him to it and got the conversation back to its track.
There was a light air around his Beast that he had almost swallowed back, but he didn't. "….you…"
"Me..?"
"…You and your enduring habits..!"
That earned his Human a blink from the Beast. They silenced for a few breaths, the desert air was burning under the scorching sun.
"..Is it normal like this?"
"The fullmoon-fights..?" he understood that his Human suddenly change the conversation's track.
"If it was what had bothered you before, you should have just told me so I could prepare myself…!" he said with a pout, feeling a little left behind, that if it was only the both of them they could look after each other fully, imagining that he could cling to the Beast literally when the odds closed in on them; now, his Beast would have to look after others, too.
"Only that?" his Beast asked with one brow lifted. Knowing his Human's tendency, he would…
His Human gave a long sigh, understanding what's important at the moment than just some selfish thoughts; "…what do you want me to do..?" he averted his violet eyes from his penetrating stare.
He smiled, he'd give everything to this Human, and more… "Sit still and don't make me worry more…!"
"Yeah…like a good wife, right? If that's what you want…!" he meant it as a metaphor, but realized what he'd said at the end, and widened his eyes with a flushed face.
The Beast wanted to chuckle outright and tease his Human a bit about not being a-girl anymore, but he refrained, not wanting to give his Human awful-first-memories at the time; so he pretended he didn't catch what had his Human flustered suddenly.
After that they silenced for the rest of the high-sun, his Beast was back to his chores with the troupe's people in the afternoon, preparing the fight and what needed as defenses. He, on the other hand, didn't quite find the right moment to actually elaborate what had him bothered in the first place: that the presence of the man called Aku made him feel ill at ease; the moment that that man had put his Beast on his broad shoulder, and his Beast was forced to hold onto him like a little child so he wouldn't topple from his sitting spot.
He furrowed in thinking, 'like a little child', that what really bothered him actually. Somehow the realization when watching the scene happening that night that it felt right made him shudder feeling the hollow inside his heart. '…it felt right….!' He repeated in his mind, '…he spoke the same language as me…' and repeated what the man had pronounced to everyone at the bonfire circles.
After sometime chewing on his braid end, pouting at himself in the end when he realized he did it; he looked around the caravan from its back door, after he was sure that his Beast wasn't around near him, he stealthily walked to find the one black caravan hidden behind the rocks to find that Aku-person. Not knowing that there were two pairs of identical eyes staring at him from one of the caravan's window between the busyness of the preparing for that night's fight.
Two identical smiles bloomed behind the little curtain, "…should we tell Rice about that fairish-person…?" the little girl spoke with the intonation of nothing sort of a little girl of her age.
"Hummm…aren't you wondering what would happen if we just let it roll like this..?" the little boy answered, blew at his pinwheel to make it let out the whistling sound softly.
The little girl giggled, "But Aku is ours; if we could eliminate two bugs with one tell we could watch it happens…!"
The little boy chuckled at his twin's words, "..it should be two birds with one stone, sister-mine, but I know what you wanted to see….It should be fun, too, but short spanned fun, you know..?" he blew his pinwheel with a longer breath.
"Brother-mine, we collect bugs in the summer; when it's autumn, despite the fact that they are in their long-nap-time or not, when we got bored keeping them, we burn them on the fire and eat them..!"
The little boy chuckled deeper, "Aah, good nutrition…", "Great fun..!" they said together and laughed merrily; the fact that Rice had the ability to 'hear' them didn't bother them the slightest.
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1. ….actually, saru still don't get it what exactly saru wrote there…(word-block means you write every words that came flashing your drain-of-brain)
2. Chapt. 13
…this is the longest-time saru took for writing 1 chapter; sorry for that.
For the whole May, saru got stressed by the illustration-contest (which sadly saru didn't win, hehee..), saru is single-minded –in a worse term- which meant saru couldn't divide saru's mind for more than one thing. June+July saru (& gank) got busied preparing the necessities for a (supposedly the 1st-BIG-WOW revolutionary) cosplay event in 2nd Aug; which had turned out to be the worst cosplay event we ever participated in (next time we'd just better participate in high-school cosplay event, or college's, or mall's…!!).
This chapter was supposed to be ended after the fullmoon-fights, but saru have to finish the comics jobs that we had neglected the past months to pay the debts of making the cosplay costumes and other things (including Oni-tan's sewing machine that she used to make her costume with), so despite the unnecessary-parts in this chapter saru humbly upload it like this (since saru already forgot what saru supposed to write in some parts due to memory-blanks), because if not, it will take months to have the time to write again.
Saru being selfish…sorry for the inconvenience.
Chapter(s) in progress: WoB c.21
Affix mode : children of winds (background story)