Castlevania: Aria of the Ascending Soul
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
A/N: Just had to fix a few things.
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"Please tell Yoko we didn't tell her about Arikado because we honestly didn't think there was anything serious going on." Richter got himself comfortable on the small table next to the bag, ready to pull out the next snack as needed. His shiny, fake eyes fixed on Kazu as though somehow the young man would be able to sense the intense focus Richter wanted to convey.
"Mr. Richter wants you to know that they didn't tell you anything because they thought everything was fine," Kazu reported dutifully.
"Er... you don't have to say 'Mr', Richter is just fine," Richter offered the tip of his right ear twitching in good humor.
"Yes, I know..." Yoko replied half heartedly, "I just feel like I'm just a trinket rather than someone who has some importance... And all these Black Masses. It doesn't make sense to me, because its not like Soma is getting summoned away," she added causing both of Richters' ears to flip up in attention.
"Ah, here's to hoping she actually talks more on that," Richter noted aloud and seeing Kazu glance at him.
"What 'is' a Black Mass anyway?" Kazu asked, both out of his own curiosity and to satiate Richter's own curiosity. Given his upbringing he had never been told a great deal about the 'family business', and he was pretty sure their mother left strict orders for him to 'not' know anything.
But if he could find out something...
"Well you know how Catholics have Mass as a means of coming together? Draw attention to the Lord and bring it to the church? Its like that, only its meant to draw Dracula for the same purpose and to return him to the living prematurely. He's only supposed to come back every 100 years when the evil in the hearts of man are strong enough. But well we've been thinking that maybe man is on such a decline now that he could come back sooner than 100 if he so desired." Yoko explained, while Richter nodded.
"She's right, there were cults through out our times who would try to bring him back, but it doesn't have to be used for that purpose alone. There have been multiple Masses of that type and it doesn't make sense. Soma is here and alive, he's not been dragged away to a strange location or showing signs around us that he's aware that they're going on. Which might be because of the shields around the Vatican. Hence my curiosity," Richter explained while Yoko nommed on a cookie.
"But Soma is here so what's the point?" Kazu asked as he picked up cookie for himself.
"Well we figure it was because the two active groups are trying to confirm if Soma is Dracula or not before they carry on their plans." Yoko explained, "but that's the thing, there have been so 'many' as of late. I mean how many times can people be sacrificed before they get it in their heads that Soma is the real deal." She complained waving a piece of cookie around as though to empathize her point further.
"Can they be used for anything else?" Kazu asked earning a confused look from his sister and Richter. "Well, dealing with spirits like I do, I'm used to people who suffer violent deaths hanging out where they died. Some make peace with their deaths, but they stay around for various other reasons, usually to protect a family member or a location. Soo is there something different about people who die due to these masses?"
Yoko looked a bit startled and crammed her silver dollar sized cookie into her mouth as an excuse to keep silent while she pondered. It wasn't impossible and Alexis had to work her way up the ranks of the cult so it wasn't like she would know the possible varied purposes that they were using. Realistically it 'was' feasible that they 'could' use the Black Masses for something else, but what, was the question. It wasn't as though they could study the myriad of uses a Black Mass could be used for without killing someone.
Soo summoning, binding energy...
"I've never been used in a Black Mass, however; if it was anything like what I experienced, its not pleasant and can be used to suppress a person's mind or twist their point of view." Richter pointed out as he sat up, his head cocked to the side thoughtfully.
"What happened to you Richter?" Kazu asked turning his attention to the brown spotted tan dog sitting on the table.
"I was captured and tortured via magical rites for a full year," Richter answered, his ears dipping down as did his head. After he had been freed by Alucard he couldn't remember what happened during those dark times when he was awake. When he lived the memories came back during his dreams invasive like ants swarming his mind. Yet being a plush dog meant he never slept, so those dreams had no place in his 'life' now.
"Tortured? How did you escape?" Kazu asked, curious about how such a premier hunter could be captured. Only between Richters' posture and the way he turned his attention back onto Yoko reminded Kazu what they were supposed to be doing.
"Arikado rescued him," Yoko answered, her mouth now empty of cookie. "And to answer your question, he'd probably be the expert. He was taught the dark arts by his father and Death, Soma might have some passing recollection. But I'm not confident that he would remember anything valuable or at least not anything valuable without alerting him to things."
"Death? Death as in the Reaper of Souls, Death?" Kazu asked, his mouth twisted into a half smile, half grimace.
"Death as in the Reaper of Souls, when your idea of a good time is killing it makes sense that Death wants in on the action," Yoko pointed out before picking up another cookie for the nibbling. "I asked Arikado once what was the difference between the magics that my family did and what he did."
"What did he say?" Kazu asked dutifully.
"'Intent is the key, the alignment of any spell can be adjusted by the mere intent that goes into it.'" She quoted holding the cookie up as an type of sugary replacement for a finger.
While back in the kitchen Trevor was busy with Juste and Christopher, loading up a small wagon with cups and napkins. They worked to pass down the spoons and a sizable bottle of honey between Juste and Christopher while Trevor packed it all in. There was a soft sound of bubbling coming from the kettle and Trevor had everything set up to climb up the moment the whistling began.
"So this is how you built your life given you're a dog plush," Juste noted casually as he finally felt safe enough to open his mouth and drop the honey bottle.
Christopher nodded, "a wagon that you can direct on your own is pretty nice. Yoko has one, but the wagon wheels don't really have this level of control. Given that she only had Simon roaming around though. Being a bear is pretty easy," he noted while looking at the bar that was above the stove. A rope had been tossed over and he could see that, when Trevor was alone, it would be useful on getting things down from the stove. But it meant going across the kitchen all together and pulling things up before letting it down slowly.
"Yes, though I can warn you now that just being a bear isn't necessarily better. Doesn't matter how strong you are or if you can walk like a man. If you get pulled off your feet you're just going to hang around," Trevor agreed while giving Christopher a quick warning. "So you might as well go to the counter and thread that rope. Since the three of us aren't heavy enough to compete against the weight of a full kettle."
"Trevor, what do you think of us being released from our plush bodies? Out of all of us, you're the only one with a serious purpose," Juste asked. "I mean we can help the kids who get lost in the Vatican, but you're actively helping monitor Kazu's ability. If the chance came that we could leave our plush forms, would you?"
Trevor stood still for a moment, his head tilted to the side thoughtfully. They were right, he 'did' have a purpose to being here as a plush dog, and being freed, while attractive, meant abandoning Kazu. He turned to look up at the counter where Juste was watching the kettle, before dropping his gaze down to the ground where Christopher was carrying the rope to the other side of the kitchen. "Soo you've been talking to Soma I see."
"He's mentioned it to you?" Juste asked in surprise, looking down at Trevor from his perch.
"Not directly no, but it was mentioned in passing."
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"This is the cutest thing ever," Sophia announced as she sat before what could easily be considered a shrine to Leon. Or more accurately, his own personal apartment. It was a cardboard box with cut outs for a door and windows, brightly painted and stylized like an European castle. There was a pair of flower boxes, a large button that when pressed turned on providing light in the 'castle'. There was furniture in the castle, sized for him to sit down and even a bed!
And if the idea of a literal cardboard cut out castle was enough to give someone pause if they saw it? Mina had plans in the works for a proper wooden one that she, Momoe, and Ai were coming up with. Though Sophia had to ask herself if the Lolita girls fondness for the whole thing was because Leon was a European soul thus had the tastes and mannerisms of a European Lord.
Leon himself was currently trying to make an escape from the house, and Sophia was left pondering why he would want to. After all he spoke a language no one else was proficient at and he couldn't go very far without alarming civilians.
There was literally nothing for him to do, but go outside for the sake of being outside or talk to the portals.
Which was a thing now that she thought on it. Drifting after Leon, he was here because he and the Lady of the Castle were working together. So she 'would' manifest for him, right? Not that Sophia had been able to get a solid answer as to 'why' Leon would opt for this. The Lady wouldn't appear for her and Leon was still working on talking at all. His movements were still lumbering and exaggerated, unlike the rest of the clan who moved almost life like.
Life like meaning that moved like humans trapped in animal forms. It took a long time for Trevor to stop walking like a man on his hands and knees. She could only image it was the same for Juste and Richter.
But if Leons' presence could somehow convince the Lady to talk to Sophia, then the Lady could tell Sophia why they brought Leon into this. It would most certainly be faster than waiting for Leon to get proficient at talking. His ability to communicate currently being faster than his ability to move all together, though it might have also been due to the kimono he was wearing.
Poor Leon was currently decked out in a modified Japanese priest outfit, designed to allow him to walk around. On the plus side the silks were helping prop him up so he could walk, though Sophia could have sworn that he was having trouble getting his feet on the ground. Possibly forcing the poor lion to have to walk twice as fast. Currently he was eyeing a closed door his head tilted a bit to the side.
"Hello Leon," Sophia greeted in a cheery voice before floating her way before him so he wouldn't have to strain to see her.
"Greetings Sophie," he answered, unable to get the last syllable of her name out turning it from an 'a' to and 'e'.
"You look nice today, I see Mina works hard to keep you looking elegant, your castle looks nice , too." She offered watching as his ears flickered in response while he bowed his head.
"Th-tha... tha-ank ooo..." his voice box readily conveyed his struggle to talk, making his polite words sound filtered and course. Akin to static type videos that she had her husband had found on the internet while Kazu slept.
He resumed walking, placing himself against the wall next to the door ready to rush through it into the next section of the house.
"Say, why do you keep trying to get out of the house?" Sophia asked finally, only to remind herself that he couldn't talk all that well.
"Li-sa."
Sophia was curious about the clearly European name while Leon waited, but she didn't ask for clarification. After all if someone heard him talking, they would just take him back to Minas' room. She didn't know how long it would take until someone needed to walk through the door and unable to really converse with the man left Sophia growing bored.
But as Sophia hovered there she realized that he 'could' be meaning the Lady of the Castle. After all they were clearly friends given that the Lady of the Castle helped him get that body. So was he trying to report in? She couldn't imagine there was a great deal that Leon knew about current events given where here was. Though what Mina lacked in access to the clans, she more than made up for with her connection to Dracula.
Which made sense, she would probably tell Leon about her day, and he could glean what he could about Dracula. So he was probably trying to let the Lady know since Mina obviously couldn't just hang out on the lawn and talk to someone no one, herself included, could see. Not only that, but it was impossible for Sophia to just relay the message. Given just how difficult it was for Leon to talk and the clear disdain that the Lady had for the Belmont Clan.
"I wish I could help you, sir. Only given how difficult it is for you to talk and she won't even talk to me..." Sophia held her hands out in an expression of helplessness.
For which Leon looked up at her and she could only assume he was trying to give a shrug under those robes.
"I think I'm going to go visit Charlotte in the After Life, you have a good adventure, sir!" She finally decided drifting backward. Watching as he bent forward apparently intending on a bow only to face plant as the weight of the robes sent him down. The things the poor man was being subjected to, granted he looked nice but...
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"Yoko doesn't look like she's going to bawl again, you can come in now," Trevor informed Simon, standing in the doorway and looking at the Bearmont.
Simon gave an internal sigh before he hopped down and stumped his way into the rest of the apartment.
"Mother is going to have Soma meet a few other members of the outer clans, its pretty obvious that I can't stay. I need to find Arikado, and that means that there needs to be others who can observe Soma." Yoko explained as she took another bite of cake.
While Juste and Christopher stood to the side and were busy measuring themselves to the height of the discarded junk food containers.
"Where does she put all this food?" Juste asked balancing himself on his hind feet.
"Well they 'are' kinda tag teaming this, but seriously they don't really look like they could put away this much food. Where does it go?" Christopher noted casually as his eyes went down the several bags of cookies, a pie container and the cake container. "Do humans have two stomachs now?"
"Yoko will burn this off easily now that she's going out on a mission, Kazu on the other hand..." Trevor answered as he joined the rest of the clan, with only Richter opted to get onto of the counter away from the group for a bit.
"Think we'll go with her? Or at least a few of us?" Richter asked as he watched the room, "Can't take Simon the kids will lose their minds at the church. But there must be 'something' we can do, short of being stuck with Soma watching. Which will be useless given the fact that only Kazu can hear us."
"And no one directly in the clans knows about him. So unless Valencia wants to pick us up so we can chat," Christopher agreed.
"Oh that's rich, I can just see Valencia trying to pick us up and travel. It doesn't gel well with her esteemed presence," Simon snickered.