Oh good Emma-sempai, you had sleep. What's the word from the others about the chapters so far? I have a funny feeling DK is going to be very upset by this chapter. MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, and I'm having Gopher say Noah-sama like in the manga, purely because I find it easier. Oh, to give you guys a bit of an edge in Japanese honorifics, I'm gonna share some after-story info in the mangas.
Sama- Lord or Lady, term of great respect that usually means the speaker is lower in status than the person they're talking to.
Sempai- (Emma probably knows this one) coworker, usually more experienced than you.
San- Basically Mr./Mrs., or sir. (note, not the Sir as in Sir Arthur, but the sir as in "Can I help you sir?")
Chan/kun- Female and male forms respectively for affectionate or cutesy nicknames. Usually used only among friends.
January 21, 2014
Even if he has no dignity, a man can live if he can eat. Even if he has no dignity, a man can persevere if he has food. But if he has neither, he will rely on anything.
-Nobunaga Oda
DK's POV:
"So then…this is the Book of Eibon." I said with a stretch, shoving my hands in my pockets as I looked around. Empty, dead zone was all around us, black swirls and chains of random magic sigils and letters looping in slow, continuous patterns as Kid, Akuma, and Hazel looked around as well. "According to Nightstalker research, there should be and I quote "Some annoying guy with a mask for a head" that shows us around." I said absently, reading it off a scrap of paper in my hand as the world shifted slightly around us. "Are you kidding me?" Akuma asked with a raised eyebrow, and Kid facepalmed as Hazel gave me a withering look. I irritably threw the piece of paper up in the air as it disappeared in a small poof of black smoke. "Sue me, I'm a demon in a book that acts like Lock 'em Sock 'em for magical entities. I'm not at my tiptop form." I grumbled, folding my arms as I turned back to them, seeing we were all floating in empty space without the floor. Hazel was floundering a little, obviously unused to this, and Kid was not exactly balanced either. Akuma and me were more stable, mostly because we were more used to these astrological phenomena-like things.
"Indeed. The Table of Contents, the Index…you may call me what you like."
I turned, seeing a small creature with a mask-like face and a robe-body that was comprised of book pages, although they were in a language I didn't know and way out of order. "Yo, Index. I'm DK, the Great Old One of Rage. I have one of Order's fragments and we're here to see the Black Mass. Where is he?" I asked formally, stepping forward as the Index drifted away a little. "The Black Mass huh? Wadda ya wanna see it for?" he asked in surprise, and my eyebrow twitched as my temper flared sharply. "Cause I do, now do you want me to dismantle you and pry the knowledge from your memory circuits, or cough it up here and now?" I snapped, and it drifted away more quickly in alarm. "Now hold on! You can't do that; if I'm not here than the contents of the book will fall out of order!" I jumped, trying to catch the elusive device. "Tough luck, now spit it out."
It stopped fleeing with an irritated huff, and I got the feeling I was already on the nasty list for it. "The Black Mass is buried deep within the pages of this book. The Book of Eibon you see, is divided into seven chapters…but the Black Mass is in a place beyond the seven chapters. It lies deep in a hidden section that cannot be reached by an ordinary reading of the book. Those who do reach it find the onset of Madness that awaits them there…I warn you, if you take this path you will not return without paying a price." he said ominously, and I snorted and blew a raspberry. "Screw that, I'm a demon god. I think I can handle whatever some moldy old spell book has inside it." I said insolently, and Hazel elbowed me sharply, looking worried. "We've all paid prices before. Once more won't make a difference." Akuma said staunchly, folding his arms, and Kid nodded silently, looking determined.
The Index bobbed a few times, looking calmer. "Very well then, I shall act as your guide to the contents." he said calmly, and I made a face. Oh joy. I get to be lead around a book with the potential to lock me away permanently with a snarky robot that already hates me. I thought wryly, my lip twitching upwards, but I frowned as the Index began muttering, also a language I wasn't familiar with. The swirling ribbons around us suddenly tensed and twitched, and I motioned Hazel back as my eyes narrowed, waiting as they nudged together, forming a portal. "Follow me." he said as he passed through it, and I sighed heavily, taking the lead and doing so as Hazel nervously grabbed my hand.
Hazel's POV:
"The first chapter is titled "Lust". The subject of erotic desire makes quite an effective hook to draw readers in, wouldn't you say?" I heard the Index say as DK's hand suddenly shimmered in mine, and I squeaked as we came out onto a raised dais with curtains surrounding it, a cloying, choking scent surrounding us that smelled of roses and musk, making me dizzy with nausea. I heard Kid and Akuma step out behind us, wiping my watering eyes rapidly as I heard coughing and hacking, and then DK's voice, somewhat higher than normal.
"I…I HAVE BOOBS!"
My head whipped up, my jaw dropping as I saw DK, his hair significantly longer and his face less sharp, his body narrower at the hips and his legs more slender. His chest was also…much more female, to the extent of making me blush and look away. His face was horrified, and both his arms were held awkwardly away from his body, as if the sight terrified him. I suddenly came to a conclusion, looking down and squeaking as I saw my chest flatter than it had been in years, patting myself down as I realized with a blush I had switched genders as well. "Huh. Wadda ya know." I whipped around, seeing Akuma pull his shirt away from his chest and look down, raising an eyebrow. "I got 'em too." he said matter-of-factly as Kid gave him a withering look, his…erm…assets also more noticeable than they should be. "Creep." he muttered, and Akuma shrugged flatly as I saw DK whirl, turning to see him glaring at the Index.
"ALRIGHT WISE GUY, WHAT'S THE IDEA SWITCHING OUR GENDERS?! YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY OR SOMETHING!?" he roared, jabbing a finger in the Index's mask, and he floated up above us slowly. "This is the chapter of Lust…there is nothing particularly unusual about one being transformed into the opposite sex according to one's interests and desires for the opposite sex." he said with a little shrug, and DK smacked his forehead. "Uh…" I asked sheepishly, raising a finger, and he nodded wearily, as if expecting the question. "We changed into whatever we find most attractive in the opposite gender." he explained shortly, pinching his now turned-up nose, and I blushed, seeing him and the others in a new light. "So how come Akuma only got…um…" I mumbled, pointing to the almost unchanged-Nightstalker as he shrugged absently. "Ask him." he said, pointing two of his fingers towards the Index and DK. DK answered first.
"My guess is you're not that sexually oriented, not to mention you have the biggest ego ever, next to mine of course. Your ideal person is someone who's just like you." he said with a snicker, and I giggled a little as Akuma's lips curled up in a wry smirk. "Well, that explains why Kid looks just like Kage." he said snidely, and Kid turned red as I giggled a little, seeing the almost exact resemblance, except with Kid's black hair and yellow eyes, as well as his normal black suit. "W-well you two look just like each other!" he stammered, pointing to me, and I looked askance at DK as he turned slightly pink. I noticed that he did indeed remind me of myself, and I saw him scanning me, his cheeks turning darker as he apparently realized the same thing. "Okay, enough with who looks like who, let's move on!" I said with a red blush, and Akuma sniggered as Kid nodded rapidly.
"Whoo hoo!" I jumped as I heard a voice, and as one we turned, seeing a buxom woman who was clothed in an apron-thing –and not much else– wiggle out of one of the drapes, and DK raised an eyebrow as I blushed even brighter and hid behind him. "What-" Kid started to yelp, and DK answered instantly, cutting him off. "She's a succubus. It's a demon that seduces men and drains their life energy from them. No relation to me or my sister's kind of demon, thank god." he said coldly, folding his arms, and the succubus made another flirty sound, blowing me a kiss as I eeped and jumped back behind my partner. "Why does she keep looking at me?!" DK snorted as I heard Akuma snicker behind me. "Well, you are the only "guy" here." he said with an unsympathetic chuckle, and I punched his back as I cowered further behind it. "I'm the only GIRL here!" I corrected him in panic, and he turned, giving me a nonplussed look. "Dude, look at me." He pointed to his chest. "Look at Kid." He pointed to the reaper. "Look at Akuma even though you can't tell he changed." Akuma raised an eyebrow, but otherwise maintained a deadpan expression.
"WE ALL HAVE GIRL STUFF! YOU DON'T!" he bellowed with a slightly smug grin, jabbing me in my depressively flat chest as I squeaked and covered myself instinctively, even though I really didn't have anything to cover anymore. "That's right cutie! Come on over here and give me a kiss!" the succubus squealed, and I blushed bright red again as she somehow wiggled her body, hurriedly looking away as I covered my eyes. "Please can we get out of here now…" I whimpered, and Akuma shrugged, flicking the blades in his hands as shadows slid up around my partner's legs, my skin tingling as I transformed into a cannon. "Why do you people always think destroying is the best way to overcome a target?" Kid asked wearily, and as one Akuma and DK answered "Because it works." as I was carefully aimed at the succubus. "And unless you want us to toss Hazel to her to keep her busy until we manage to find a way out, this is our best option." Akuma added as I felt DK's hands tighten around me, looking up to see his feminine face set in a deep scowl. Your weight changed for the masculine. You're a bit heavier. He said hurriedly through our mental link, and I nodded a few times, smiling all the same.
Kage's POV:
"So, this is the Great Old One of Fear?" I scowled as a dark-skinned man with strange tattoos on his left arm raised an eyebrow at me, a book clipped to his hip as he appraised me with his head cocked. "Hi. Who's the kid?" I asked dully, motioning towards the younger man at his side, his black hair slicked back and his eyes oddly reminiscent of Kid's, double irises a dark shade of blue. "I am Noah, and this is Gopher." the older man said indulgently, and I shrugged, feeling apathetic. "Whatever." Something tickled in my brain however, and I tapped a finger against the cuffs, my skin raw and chafed as I watched him inspect me, tilting my head this way and that as I growled faintly. "Hands off the face, ya creep." I hissed, then choked as a fist slammed squarely into my stomach, blood flecking my lips as I saw the Gopher kid pull back, his eyes furious and slightly crazed. "HOW DARE YOU DISRESPECT NOAH-SAMA!" he shrilled, and I yawned in his face, showing my slightly bloody teeth.
"Noah-shmoah. I don't give a crap." I said bluntly as I closed my mouth, and he drew his hand back to hit me again with his eyes wild, but Noah caught his wrist. "I don't want you damaging a possible item in the collection." He lowered his fist, tears watering in the corner of his eyes as he made…well, a gopher face. I snickered as he regained his psychotic anger, but obeyed the orders of Noah and did not harm me again. Arro sat in a blue throne, his eyes burning into mine with equally mad light, but more controlled if that was a possibility, than Gopher. I'm surrounded by psycho and socio paths… I thought as my lips twitched up in a grin, and then blinked as Noah looked down towards the book on his hip. "The book has acquired some irregularities." he said in slight surprise, and I blinked again as Arro whipped upright, his eyes almost panicked for a split second before they were calm again. "WHO?!" Noah shot him a raised eyebrow. "It doesn't matter. I doubt anything has the mental fortitude to make it through all the seven chapters of sins, and besides, nothing less than a Great Old One would draw the attention of the Black Mass." he said confidently as he flicked through the book's pages in search of the foreign bodies, and I snickered softly, watching as they all turned to me.
"I severely doubt you know who you are dealing with." I said simply, and Arro's lips twitched in a faint smirk as Gopher scowled, Noah looking at me with a neutral expression in his eyes. "I doubt you know who you're dealing with either. I am Noah, I am Greed. I want everything, I will keep everything. Not one candy from my pocket or a Great Old One alike, they are all my possessions and I keep what I possess. Even what others claim as theirs is mine." he finally said, his eyes growing more excitedly as he spoke and grabbing my chin at the end of his speech, his eyes as crazed as Gopher's or Arro's. He raised his other hand and snapped his fingers, and my eyes widened as I saw a semi-familiar man swagger through the door, a beer bottle in hand. "Yo, wadda ya want now Noah?" he asked with a scowl as I scratched at the back of my brain, trying to think of his name. Oh yeah…
"So what's Giriko doing here?"
As one they turned to look at me, and I saw Giriko raise a pierced eyebrow.
"And who's the twat?"
7.41 PM USA Central Time
Well…that's all from me right now. In the manga he actually does join up with Noah, but I'll be spoilering if I say who else is in the group. I also am not going to be putting said people in the group; so far it's just these guys. I gotta eat dinner now, so bye! Please, other people than Emma-sempai review! I need other people! Review Request Rcomment Auf Wedersien!