Sweet Delusion

Admittedly the information chased had hardly come from a reliable source, tales of this supposed ‘haunting’ obtained while attempting to gather a few things. His trip to the markets and subsequent tavern merely turning into an endeavor at eavesdropping on idle gossip. Nothing that could be verified as truth as it slurred upon drunken tongues. Frankly, he had trouble believing any of it to be true; while anomalous properties were bound to be different between these lands and those hailed from… it did not necessarily mean their versions of concocted ghouls existed.

Yet if they did, even the faintest presence could give way to useful materials. Something more potent to aid in crafting protective seals against a wider variety of beasts; including those rather familiar to him. Even if there were no living specimens to collect from, the deceased could provide their own samples; if not they then the warped plant life which surely flourished in such infected zones. If nothing more it could at least make for an interesting venture.

One he would have preferred to take on alone though after an encounter with a certain persistent man, Raoul had been saddled with watching another for the day. Or night or however long it took for the incubus to collect her once more. Why one as old as she needed to be kept beneath a watchful eye was lost on him, surely she had things she wanted to do. Friends made within these lands that she would much rather hang out with instead of remaining in the kitsune’s presence or wandering his home. Such matters he would not press her on lest it slipped freely from her lips, perhaps some things were better left not understood.

Briefly gilded sights flickered to the girl, only half ensuring she remained on his tail as unasked questions lingered upon his tongue. An offerance to turn back forever unspoken as a mind held upon an option not given, an utterance which never fell - one which bid her to stay at the observatory. To busy herself with whatever she wished while he went out to collect some supplies, a promise he would return soon; only to argue with himself. A mind hissing that wasn’t a good idea. If another discovered that Celestine had gone more or less ignored in his company… well, there was hardly any desire to hear too much of Jun’s complaints.

It was bad enough when matters of work consumed the mind. A hyper fixation that gave ample opportunities for the girl to slip away, yet for some reason she hardly ever did. Instead her tongue rang out ever sharp with its interruptions whenever she sought his attention. The fox’s ear always turning before that jeweled gaze met her own in silent query, ever ready to behold whatever it was she wished to show or tell him.

Just as they did now the moment paces slowed before the overgrown cabin. That foreboding notion palpable in how it radiated from the structure - though whether it lay plagued in ghouls or demons remained to be seen. No matter what he would at least enter though a final option was given to this perhaps unwilling tag along, “Are you coming in or do you want to stay out here? By yourself.” Query asked rather flatly as glass adornments lay adjusted upon his features as if ensuring they would remain in place.

Celestine Soo
Silken Touch

A chance of freedom of sorts had caused her to linger in the presence of another instead of offering any resistance to frolicking far away from the comforts of an abode instead of an open sea. Yet, she wasn’t on the sea either, hardly touching any waters on her way to where he guided her. The walk wasn’t horrible, he was silent as was she in their observations of the world and that made him tolerable for the most part. Everytime he did make any effort to connect with her, she was quick to turn her head away in order to try and keep that silence between them and the air light. She knew if she talked, anger would serpent its way back out from where it lay dormant within her ever starving independence that never was satiated. Always a hair’s trigger away from snapping at him simply meeting her gaze but she had known him for such a long time, she knew he was someone her shit head of a captor trusted more than she ever did.

He never hurt her. That was what mattered most to the young woman, the only reason no scorn or hostility was desired to touch her lips to show her hatred toward him. In one sense he was safe. In other, he could be far more dangerous. She knew only his surface, she didn’t know his soul and that lack of knowledge made her hesitant to do anything toward him after all this time. There was no belief he was a murderer or anything of that sort, yet, with whom he held connection to, she didn’t wholly toss such an idea away for good either.

No one in that man’s company willingly was ever sane and she would not credit Raoul as any different.

Perhaps curiosity also played a part in all this. She wasn’t so sure anything he ever said was true or even made sense for that matter. Yet he seemed educated, maybe she was the one lacking knowledge just as much as maybe he could be a way out. He left so many openings for her to run and she didn’t take any of them, not so sure she wanted to see what would happen if she did because the peace of tolerance was more glamorous in the moment.

Her brow pinched at the sight of the ruin lost in a bed of overgrowth, now starting to wonder if part of this excursion was in some means to have her work. The fur along her shoulders bristled a touch though swiftly flattened when eyes not so different from her own found their way to her, causing her head to lift in detached acknowledgement of his attention. “Is this some kind of test? You have never been a cruel keeper but if I run…?” she asked curtly, her tail giving a single lash of displeasure as she walked a few steps toward the cabin.

Whatever was inside? Maybe a fabric or two she could use in her collection? She barely paid mind to the striped man for a few moments before letting out a sigh. “Would you chase me down to wonderland?”

code by claerie

Glittering gold lingered upon her for a moment in silence, anticipating refusal or some snippy remark and he was not left disappointed with such predictions. Exasperation restrained as it refused to fall upon a sigh when, like so many times before, the sharpness of her lyrics bit at his ears. One of those overgrown audits flicking and turning back as if to mitigate what flooded the senses. Now what did she think he tested her on this time? While it may have been common for him to attempt to poke at the limits of her mind in hopeful understanding; this was hardly the time for such things and certainly not the place.

Foreboding thought which bid attentions to flicker briefly toward the dilapidated cabin's shadow veiled doorway just a few paces behind him before sights returned to Celestine just as swiftly. Wonder as he may, the kitsune remained silent for a query never needed to rise upon his tongue as soon enough it dripped upon her own. What if she ran? A matter he had definitely considered as possibility. It was the sole gnawing notion which kept offerance from falling back at the observatory, the only reason as to why she did not remain back at his abode alongside a vulpine menace. A beast he thought good company for her. Surely they would get along even if the creature refused to speak.

Tails swayed in quiet contemplation as he looked to the woman though no matter the tone she’d taken, his own did not change. “There is no test. If you run, then you run. I have matters to deal with here,” what exactly that may entail the foxian could not be certain. Not without having a look around, witnessing for himself what manner of materials could be gathered within this particular locale. If she wished to flee then so be it. That was her business alone - further information she seemingly refused to divulge, leaving Raoul to place it upon her temper and apathy. However, she had not fled from his company yet.

Why start now after coming all this way?

“My time will not be spent chasing you into the abyss,” though the temptation to do so would always hiss in the back of his mind if only to escape a different fate. He was hardly in the mood to listen to a lashing of another’s tongue if anything were to happen to one he’d been tasked with watching. “So now instead of ask, I will tell you. Stay out here alone or come inside with me. In the end the decision is yours to make.” He did not intend to stand her entertaining possibilities forever more though the kitsune was not blind. One could still behold the curiosity burning behind the venom in her eyes. Lingering upon her gaze as he turned toward ruin.

Celestine Soo
Silken Touch

His hesitating silence made her gaze grow heavy upon the man, questioning every motive within that cog of a mind of his but in the end his voice would not give way to anything incriminating within her own mind. Her head tilted up ever so slightly, drinking him in all the more as he apparently didn’t care if she went missing from under his nose and that brought her tail to brush against her heels in uncertainty. There was a trigger switch, wanting to take that as truth, challenge it by running as far as she could but would that benefit her in the end? Her supposed father had lackeys everywhere and even if he didn’t, he always found her. Always knew exactly where to look because he knew her, he knew her mind probably better than she even did. It made her tense as she returned her gaze to the crippling building.

Was it all worth it?

An ear would be the only thing offered as he went on, answering her last little jest though she hardly would call it the abyss as he had. The world beyond was more of an amusement park, entertainment for all that was not her. Still, she wouldn’t argue with his term choice as her ears folded down against her skull. Her eyes narrowed all the more as she contemplated her world, not so sure she believed in and that belief would become all the more tested as he offered her free will. It still felt like some kind of test instead of options she could choose.

She was apprehensive and it was obvious as her fur fluffed up a bit along her shoulders, fears illuminating that it could send Jun to his last bit of tolerance with her disrespect. Her eyes closed and her head twitched at the visions that played, the corpses that lined her childhood home of those she once knew as family. Faces long forgotten where only blood drenched fur remained. Her breathing started to increase before her eyes flicked open and she pushed all her thoughts away, showing active tension releasing from her muscles immediately as she let out a long sigh.

There was no looking back at Raoul, not a single word uttered as she ventured forward into the alien structure. Jumping up into a window before jumping down into a dark room, unable to see her surroundings upon first entering. Not that her eyesight was the best to begin with. Knocking into deteriorating wood, her fur fluffed up again when suddenly the feeling of bugs skittered over her feet making her fumble backwards right into potentially a wall or a certain striped man that may have followed her in.

code by claerie

Whatever contemplation ran through her mind he would leave her to it, for the kitsune was done standing around simply waiting on a decision to be made. Raoul already knew his choice and that was what he intended to follow. A crown shaking lightly before his own release of breath partially blotted out the girl’s as paces ventured toward the decrepit building. His thoughts racing over what manner of creature or materials may await inside. Surely something to aid with experimentations mose so than anything related to the ever expansive cosmos… but that was still a worthwhile endeavor in the end. Even if - more often than not - such concoctions were, well, less than fruitful toward their intended purpose.

Seals never seeming to hold, at least one veil of protection always faltering behind glimmering hues. One day there would come true success but until that moment came he would just have to keep trying whenever time allowed. Features crinkled lightly as Raoul lingered on past failures only for a frame skirting around his own to abruptly yank him from internal focus. A brief flash of alarm crossing the scholar’s visage as another disappeared into a shattered window, barely evading the bristled fragments of splintered wood and glass.

Such a reckless route one he did not intend to follow as limbs carried him through broken doorway, nearly having to squeeze himself where framework remained only half open. Wood lain sideways, held aloft by vine and stone as it leaned against the opposite side. Glancing back at it one could only hope this relic’s structure would not give way before it came time for escape. A matter of being trapped here not one he attempted to dwell on for too long as gilded sights slowly adjusted to the darkness. Only to find disruption rather swiftly.

A huff knocking from his lungs as weight suddenly thumped to his chest, the woman who’d rushed in before him rapidly back tracking from something within the very room. Ears remained on a swivel, perking up as attentions danced though all one could spy was the thrum of nature. Skittering insects, the tickling brush of plant life, and the faint dusting which caught whatever light filtered through. Something more may reside deeper within the ruins - for what opportunistic beast would not take up easy shelter? - but from where he stood now, there was nothing of worry. Nothing that leapt out at him as a warning to falter as she did.

Perhaps Celestine should have waited outside, “Already rethinking your choice?” A question she truly did not need to answer as a frame moved to step around her. Tendrils of wild fur brushing through her own as all focus turned to what lay around them. Nothing truly capturing his focus within torn open cupboards or the scattered remains of pottery, no fluttering pages decorated the floors… only dust and debris. An empty discover which only coaxed him to stray further inward, pressing to the creaking frame of a half there door before pausing. Lyrics almost a second thought as he called out to another, “I suggest you stick close.” If she could not even handle insects there was no telling how she would react to anything else within these halls.