RPG: The Six Wizards

[salemboy]

Shaking his head, Damien looked into Ouki's eyes. "I know for a fact that you are not weak." He held her close, then said. "Let me make check your heart." He knew he would find nothing, but decided to play along. He didn't want to upset her. "I'll make sure you're good to go for today. Ok?" He smiled at her.

[Ms. Elsewhere]

In spite of the scent of his potion endeavours, he was still intoxicated by Neko no matter what the other distraction. He looked up and watched her from over his tools. She was delicious and beautiful looking. He was about to stand and join her, when something unsteadied him. He knocked over several of the glass vials he had prepared and cursed himself for it. Neko looked up, concerned. He steadied himself, but his head still swam. He fell to the floor and felt his breathing fail. It was only for a few seconds, but the glimpse of death was enough to concern him. he woke quickly, as if from a nightmare, his breath returning once more.
"What sorcery is this?" he asked to no one in particular, even though Neko was there and very concerned. He searched his thoughts ,and then it dawned on him. What could cause this? His very own booby trap; his binding spell on Ouki had been threatened.

Inu powered up the stairs and was at Damien and Ouki's door within seconds. He pounded on the door with all his might, cracking the hinges. "Ouki!!!" he shouted angrily. Then he breathed deeply. Foolish it was, to run in so emotionally. If she had any clue at all the progress she had made moving toward ridding herself of him forever, she could use it now. He hoped he still had the strangle hold.

"Ouki? Damien? Wake up! It is time to begin preparations..." Inu waited a moment and then chose to retreat, for now. He descended the stairs, and at the base, Neko stood, holding her hot cup of tea in her hand. The steam from it curled around and up, but she did not release her hands from the heat, no, she clutched the cup in her hands, knowing the pain it would cause, and still held Inu in her stare that was seductive, discerning and concerned all at once. Inu knew she was the only one he could talk to about this. He moved past her and motioned for him to follow her outside. "Neko, my sweet, it seems Ouki is a very real threat if she decides to leave us...."

********************************************

Ouki jumped at the sound of the door and Inu's angry voice. She cuddled in closer to Damien. She looked up into his face when she was sure Inu had gone. "You won't let him hurt me, will you Damien?" she stated more than asked. She knew he would not. Somehow, Damien loved her. Ouki shuttered. How could anyone love a monster were the words that echoed in her head like a still small voice instructing her to accept her fate that she was evil, and hell was the only release she could ever know. She tried to perish the thought, but something in her mind pushed forward, reminding her that she was nothing without Inu, and she was a killer. Still, she clung to Damien, and hoped as far in the back of her mind as she could push the thought, that he would be her salvation. The day had begun, and they would, as Inu put it, need to prepare if they were ever going to stand a chance against the ministry.

[salemboy]

Smiling, Damien helped Ouki to her feet. "Let's get you ready," he whispered as she clung to him. "Don't worry, Ouki. I will protect you."

Lifting her head, she looked into Damien's eyes. "Really?"

He embraced her, burying her head in his chest, stroking her hair. "Ouki, I will always protect those I love."

[Ms. Elsewhere]

Ouki got dressed and brushed her hair. It was silky and flat once more. She sighed and tried to get her mind on the task at hand, which was to practice and prepare her skills for the attack on the ministry. She stared into the sink and played with the water droplets on the side of the basin, pooling them together, and then sliding them up and over the bench, onto the mirror and across her reflection. she even made the huge droplet slide down her reflective cheek like a tear. She smiled at how clever she was, and how ironic she was being. Turning away, the droplet fell hard from the mirror and collided with the bench top with a splat.

On her bed was her bag, which was what she affectionately called her 'bag of tricks'. She took out a bottle of water, a selection of powders in small vials, a lighter, and some small branches with several leathery green leaves still attached. She frowned at the last items. She needed more suppies. She hoped she would find them in these gardens somewhere. Ouki looked over at Damien, who was leaning against the wall with his arms folded, watching her.

"I'm fine. I really am." she said to him. He continued to frown. "Seriously, get yourself organised. We should go into the forest and get some more supplies. We only have today to brew and prepare our potions." She looked at her powders and pondered what she was saying. "Much of these take weeks to make. I'm glad we were smart and thought to make them while we were... away." she looked up at Damien again, who had unfolded his arms and made his way to his own things. Ouki watched him, and knew his heart was not in this as much as she hoped. But she knew he would do it for her. She knew somehow that he loved her. That was enough, for now.

Ouki gathered up her bag and headed for the door. She opened it, stood for a moment staring into the hall, and then walked out.

[Q.Araignee]

“A threat?” Neko’s lips almost twitched into a wry smile, but Inu’s completely serious tone quelled it. The heat from the cup almost scalding her hands was a comfort as she joined him outside in the cool morning air, its briskness making her breath catch in her throat. After a few moments she got used to the chill, and asked “Why might she be a threat, my darling? I have never considered her as such...” She blew on her tea and sipped it as she waited.

[Ms. Elsewhere]

Inu spoke to the trees. "Ouki is connected to me by a binding spell. but I am strong enough to not feel her urges, desires or pains, but she feels all of mine. Especially the homicidal ones. The need to kill. Neko, she was never the killing machine she is now when i met her. she was just a pretty girl I saw in the camp ground that I wanted to ... play with." he turned to face her. "I was obsessed with the idea of binding someone. I had killed even at that early age, but it wasn't enough for me. I wanted to control something. She was my experiment. I lured her down the river, I stirred the water and enhanced the undertow. And when I felt her heart was about to fail, I brought her back, and bound her, and then I started to feed the little monster I had placed inside her. Can you imagine Neko? " Inu stepped forward, clutching her shoulders, a gleam of madness in his eye. "Imagine binding someone to you so that they are devoted to your every endeavour, your every conquest? It is the makings of an army the world has never known. Unswayed. Unmoving. " He turned to the trees again. "But she has been swayed. Or at least, she considered defying me. Until now I have known her devotion and committment to me is pure and the binding is strong. But just now... she was tempted. If the spell worked right, she would have nearly died from the mere thought. The only problem is..." and inu turned around again, his expression serious and concerned. "I shared a moment of her pain. This is what I mean by Ouki being a threat. Her unbinding could mean me feeling .. well... dying as she will if she decides to undo it." Inu stared at Neko, wondering if she fully udnerstood the magnitude of the situation.

[FawkesthePhoenix]

"It's time for preparations!" Yuta heard Inu call to Ouki and Damien. He'd be after her next. Yuta got up from her bed, from where she'd been catnapping, and strode into the bathroom. After a quick shower and brush of her hair, Yuta felt her almost sleepless night melt away. She knelt down and rummaged beneath her bed, feeling around for the strap of her bag. There! She pulled it out, running her hands over the worn canvas material. The bag, and its contents, was like an old friend. It contained all of her essential ingredients and weapons. Flipping it open, Yuta examined her stock, then pursed her lips. She was running low. She'd have to take a gander at Inu's garden today, and see if it had the... variety... she required. Yuta slid the bag shut and pushed it's buckles home, being careful ot to disturb the stiletto knife concealed beneath the top layer of fabric. Her hand tingled at the contact. That blade had lots of memories.... But now was not the time for reveries.
Yuta got to her feet and strode back into the kitchen. Inu and Neko were outside, talking. Yuta deliberated for a moment, biting her lip, then decided against interrupting them. Instead, she lurked just outside the doorway, listening. The wind was high, and she could only hear snatches of conversation.
"Devoted to your every endeavor," Inu was saying quietly to Neko, "...The makings of an army... Unswayed... She considered defying me.... She would have... Died from the near thought... This is what I mean... A threat..." Yuta gasped inwardly, knowing better than to actually perform the action. Inu had hearing more superior than anyone she knew, and would detect the slightest shift in the air. She backed away from the doorway, quickly and quietly, thinking back to that night all those months ago. She had thought of leaving the Six, of running and never coming back.... How had he known? What would he do? One thing was for sure; she couldn't let him know that she knew that he knew. She'd never admit to it, even if Inu was stupid enough to bring it up someday. Just act normal, Yuta thought to herself, feeling composure return to her actions as she pushed emotion away. There. It was as if she had never heard.
She retrieved a mug from the cupboard, being sure to make just enough noise that Inu would hear. If he so much as suspected that she had overheard anything she'd said, he'd have her head for sure. Sure enough, Inu looked up. Yuta waved at him and Neko from the window, and he nodded back, turning to say something unintelegible to Neko.

[Ms. Elsewhere]

Inu looked down into Neko's face and then he pulled her to a bench to sit down. He reached into his robes and pulled out a knife encased in a leather holder. He slid it out. The look of it was deadly; sharp, shining, and jagged edges. It was very much a ceremonial blade. Neko winced once. Inu held the exposed knife in his left hand and reached for her arm with his other hand. As he did, the cloth from Neko's shirt fell to the side, revealing her skin. She was looking down at her arm, then the knife, and then to Inu's face. Her look was stoney, but patient. She waited, and her heart rate did not change. Inu found her courage more desirable than any faint hearted, terrified kill he had bled just for fun. He took a deep breath and then spoke softly.

"I want you to want this, Neko." he said, twisting the blade so that the sun reflected off of it, gleaming onto the windows too. He leaned closer, pulling her hand to his chest. "Be part of me. I know the idea intrigues you. It's not just me who controls it. You would have that power too. You can feed off of my strength. You can use my senses. Please..." he said in a voice he knew Neko loved. "Bind to me, and permit me to feel what someone with a true sense of insanity, of cruelty and sadism can expell. Neko; I made Ouki what she was because I was able to dominate her personality. With you... we are the same. If not with MORE impressionable skills to share. I made the mistake of setting a trap on the spell. If she severs it, we both die... but if there are others bound to me, only she dies. If anything... do to protect me." at this last request he dropped his head, but his grasp on Neko's arm was firm. He would bind her without her permission. But he wanted to give her a choice. He needed her to say yes, not only because he loved her, but because he desired more than anything that she would be his ally in all of this until all of this came to an end. He looked up at her and his mind wandered to Yuta and Buta. If he had Neko on his side, he would bind the others too. Just their binding would not be enough to shelter him and Neko from the trap. He would need them all. And if he had Damien.. Ouki would never dare to try to walk away again.

[Q.Araignee]

Such a serious conversation- the sky seemed to have darkened as Inu was talking just to emphasise the magnitude of Inu’s words. And they were serious, the urgency and need in his voice were clear enough about that as the words rolled around her. Neko wasn’t sure what she would do if Inu died, and as a result of a mere plaything...unacceptable, ever unacceptable.

But to be bound, forever, to this one man. Was it really something she wanted? Sharing his thoughts, his instincts, his knowledge of all things cruel and twisted and...

The more she pondered, the more she realised he was describing the perfect union for them. Being bound and bound to in one fell swoop- and to the man she feared, she admired, she wanted, she needed...

The knife he wielded as he pulled away her robe didn’t scare her when she took notice of it, her breathing didn’t even hitch. The knife glinted cruelly in the mid-morning light, and Inu’s grip on her arm was firm. He would take her if he had to, she knew, but even now it was not necessary. Neko met his eyes, unaware of the flicker of mania and insanity hidden within her own gaze. A harsh smile crossed her lips as she whispered her response to this wild idea.

“I am yours, now and forever.”

[Ms. Elsewhere]

Inu needed no more than that as a cue that her permission was given. He stood up and, still holding her arm, escorted her further into the woods. She came willingly, and when they were out of sight of the house, he pulled her to the forest floor so they both were on their knees. He leaned forward and kissed her. One hand on the knife, the other caressing her face. He pulled away and stroked her hair from her cheek. It would not take long.

[Q.Araignee]

With a few muttered words, Inu cleared the debris from the forest floor until it was completely clear. He left Neko knelt on the floor as he stood and paced around them. He walked around clockwise in a perfect circle, muttering something about “three times deosil”. From what she could judge it was about five metres across. After walking twice round, he completed one final circuit- this time using the knife to scribe a circle into the ground behind him. Once that was completed and he stepped inside, it suddenly seemed like all the noise in the forest had been silenced. No wind blew, no bird chirped, no creatures rustled in the undergrowth. Even their smells were absent, which was a completely new sensation for Neko. She didn’t like it.

With the circle completed, Neko watched Inu as he paced between each of the four cardinal points within the circle, again moving clockwise from what she determined as East. At each point, he knelt and muttered a short piece of verse before carving an odd symbol into the ground. With each carving, there was an increase of pressure in the circle which dissipated in mere moments. When the four were done, he returned to the centre and knelt in front of her once more as he drew one last symbol on the ground between them. He spoke in a tongue she did not recognise, and which sounded awkward to him, though it apparently had the desired effect. The pressure for this last one threatened to choke the breath from her lungs but again dissipated, though it left the hairs on the back of her neck raised and tingling.

From within his own robes he drew a chalice; there was no other word for it. It was made from gold, and inscribed with runes and arcane symbols from base to rim, shaped like the Grail they talked about in the West. If she weren’t sure by now that she was partaking in long forgotten magics, Neko would be trying to deny that the metal hummed as it was placed between them. The wicked knife Inu held in his hands reflected in the polished surface of the chalice, and the surface of both objects seemed to shimmer. Now muttering harsher words in the foreign tongue, he reached for her bare arm. With such careful precision, he placed the tip against her skin and applied pressure until the skin broke. The metal was hot as it touched her, and the pain was subtle as the knife scored down her arm leaving a bleeding cut from elbow to wrist. He held her arm over the chalice so that her blood would fall into it, always muttering. Though the cut would normally heal quickly, it remained open and continued bleeding, and soon Neko was feeling light-headed but she did not waver. When the chalice was half filled, Inu broke in his words to lick the cut clean. His rough tongue stung, and when she reflexively jerked he held her still. His head rose and gestured for her to look down. When she did, Neko almost gasped- the cut was gone, leaving but a nigh invisible scar. While she examined herself further, Inu pulled back from her and repeated the process with himself- again speaking in tongues. When the chalice was filled, Neko instinctively reached for Inu’s arm to clean his own cut- while surprised, he stopped speaking and nodded his acquiescence, watching as his own cut disappeared from sight.

The full chalice looked ominous in the dappled light as it tried to pierce the foliage, more so as Inu stirred it with the knife and chanted over it. Odd gleams of colour seemed to swirl in what should have been a pure red substance, and Neko could not figure out what they were at all. But she guessed what came next, so when Inu raised the chalice and offered it to her she did not hesitate. She took hold of the cup, feeling the warmth of the metal seep into her hands as she raised it to her mouth and drank. The blood burned like fire as it coursed down her throat, making her hands tremble terribly. Her body screamed at her to stop as it was seared from the inside, but as Inu placed his hands around hers to steady them her mind cried out against it. When half of their blood was gone, Inu pulled the chalice away from her and began drinking from it himself. When he began drinking, however, the pain Neko felt increased five-fold and with a curdling shriek she passed out.

When she came to, Inu was dragging himself around the circle counterclockwise and removing the circle- again mumbling, this time about “widdershins”. With a final sweep of his hand, it was gone, and all the sensations in the forest crashed into Neko’s senses. It was painful to have the sounds and smells return in a split second, and she whimpered as her head throbbed. More than that, though, she felt pain of a different kind. It was the same, but not affecting her physical senses. It was as if she had acquired a second set of senses. And certainly the second sense of smell was keener than her own. Then, a wave of love and comfort swept through her. Neko looked up to see Inu looking at her oddly. But of course, the ritual magic...it had worked then. Working through the pain, Neko tried to offer her own sympathies to Inu without a word, and his wan smile seemed to tell her that he knew. The mingling of thoughts and senses was still taking place, they both knew, but when the magic settled it would indeed be formidable. Neko tried to stand, desiring to walk over to Inu and hold him. But even as she did, Inu’s thoughts urged her not to. They came too late though- Neko stood, and the world turned upside down. A pain flashed in the back of her skull, and darkness once more enveloped her as the ground came up to meet her.

[Ms. Elsewhere]

Inu tried to get to Neko, but he was still weakened by the binding and nearly toppled as he moved forward. He collapsed to his knees and crawled to her like an animal, panting and scratching at the soil beneath him. He gathered her up pulled her into his lap where he cradled her in his huge arms. She was small and fragile, but even as he held her he felt the force of life within her welded to him. He started to laugh wickedly. He had never felt this with Ouki. she had been a drain on him since the day he had tried the ritual those years ago on the river bank. She was simply a vessel he knew he could control and mould in his own image. But Neko; she was worlds beyond that. She was something like a discipline Inu was desperate to master. She had a power within her that Inu was now so in tune with he nearly cried out with the desire he felt for it. He sensed the animal in her, the murderess, the lover, the woman and all that was in her mind. He was so hungry to absorb it all, and the very thought nearly split his head open.

"Easy..." he said out loud to himself. There was time enough to possess each other completely. For now, there was work to be done, and she and he would equal each other in power, strength and ability. Now, he thought selfishly, they would have to plot to bind the others. Would they come easily? Neko could help him force them one by one. All in good time.

[FawkesthePhoenix]

Yuta noticed Inu pull something from his pocket, and strained to see it more clearly. Sunlight glinted off of an ugly blade, and Yuta gasped as Inu lead Neko into the forest. He was binding her. No doubt Neko was willing enough, but it wasn't for her companion that Yuta worried. They'd be after her next.

[Ms. Elsewhere]

The reality of what had happened pulsed through Inu like a quickening. He stood up and straightened up to his full height. His senses were already heightening so much it was hard to take in; and this was only half of what it would eventually be, about a day from now. He struggled with the intensity of it, feeling so connected to Neko, and so completely aware of every living creature around them. Even the trees seemed to have a pulse. When he strained to listen, he could hear the sap within them, oozing slowly. And best yet, He felt the delicious urge to hurt, and to kill, and to silence every life that crossed his path. He may have even fallen asleep for a moment. Then he noticed her.

Inu turned his attention to the house and narrowed his eyes. He carefully layed Neko down onto the forest floor and covered her in his robes, and then moved, bare chested, to where he could see the house. He could smell something.. he thought in his head for a moment, trying to categorise the creature.

"Human." he muttered. and crouched down, hoping to catch a glimse of who it was. Yuta was in the kitchen. He breathed deeply, trying to focus on her. His eyes opened and he felt something charge up inside him. He felt absolutely savage. He stared into the house, his breathing quickening, his hair standing on end, and he was starting to crouch lower. He could smell... sweat, sweet and cold. He could sense ... fear. Inu put one hand on a tree next to him, feeling his body heaving with his fast breathing. He was actually growling, and he was murderous. Yuta moved within the house, and he stepped forward, then he another step, then another. Shaking his head, he tried to clear his thoughts. He felt so completely arroused to the idea of killing, he could barely concentrate. But..

"I have to." he said to himself, and sometihng of what he knew of his own sense came back to him. He smiled to himself. Neko must have mastered this amazing, savage and preditorial nature. He would have to ask her for guidance. But in the meantime, Inu was starting to realise that he needed to gather his alies. He needed to speak to Yuta. Inu entered the house and moved into the kitchen. "Yuta?" he asked, in the same voice he had always used for their relationship. They were friends if anything, bound by a promise. He would speak with her. He owed her that much.

[salemboy]

After gathering his supplies- his potions jacket, his wand, and a water bottle- Damien stepped out the door into the hallway. He could see Yuki moving from room to room, gathering dirty clothes as she went. She stopped in front of Damien. "Does Master Damien wish for me to clean his room?" she squeaked.

Nodding, Damien stepped aside for the house-elf to enter. With haste, Yuki went in and began setting about to cleaning. Closing the door behind him, Damien went down the stairs to the room with the large painting. Ouki was waiting there. "Are the others awake?" he asked her.