paixaorpg | The tattooed man appears

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The tattooed man appears

Characters: Isaac
Content: Isaac enters Paixao
Setting: Joutenheim's Gate
Time: Afternoon.
Warnings: None.

After what felt like an eternity of sleep he woke up, standing, as if to do so was the most natural action in the world! His eyes sucking up the new area hungrily, trying to search for a familiar object, a throne, a pillar, a person. But everything seemed foreign and new. Isaac's immature brain tried desperately to understand what had happened to him. But before he could concentrate properly he was being ushered along, evidently he had awoken in a queue of people. The line leading to a large gate, quite ornate, its mouths opening into some sort of city.

The wait was long and dull and as often as Isaac tried to talk to those in front and behind him he was ignored, dismissed, and he felt as though he was shrinking into himself. Body contort with a variety of ugly emotions; loneliness, angry and frustration. But just as he was going to explode and demand some recognition he was approached by a petite woman holding some sort of smooth slate, much like a book, that she handed to him. He was asked a series of questions, basic details such as his age and name, and after answering them he was pointed into the city.

He took some hesitant steps into the bustling town, eyes wide as he watched pale figures blur past him, arms lank by his sides, very confused but somehow intensely interested in this inexplicable series of events.

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_{[Totally bringing Dracula reincarnate's ho into this, yo. XD]}

She had come into this place that she thought might've been a result of Dracula's castle, found that Soma was most definitely here she just knew it, and then ended up being insulted by a little girl. Fine, if she wanted to think she was boring, then she was boring. But she certainly wasn't odd like that little girl. And then, of course, the girl ends up getting attacked by those weird white things.

Mina was having a marvelous day. She had held her journal to her chest like a shield, and was attempting to stay away from the white things. Honestly, Soma really needed to be around here... but the gate master said he hadn't gone through that gate. While retreating into a door frame, Mina heard something approaching her from behind. One of those tinier one's, the one's that turned into things like weapons. She turned around and withheld the urge to shriek, using her journal to smack it away. She needed to learn how to fight, because she was pretty sure that journal couldn't take much more beating.

He heard some sort of 'crak' noise off to the side, like wood hitting skin (no, not skin, something more like leather). Intrigued he decided to follow the sound, casually walking around the corner in his typical loose sort of gait. He spotted a short, round, girl smacking a... some sort of animal maybe? in the face with the same present the gatekeeper had given him.

After a considerably long pause he approached the creature (walking past the girl), watching it's movements intently. The way it bobbed its head and swaggered like a drunk crab. Morphing between something human and something object. When it settled in its humanoid shape Isaac's hand darted out with impressive speed and his fingers curled around the white thing's skull (or what seemed to be it's skull). It's legs flailed and it seemed to struggle as his grip tightened. His fingers clenched around the relatively soft head of the 'thing' until it seemed to pop into non-existence... Was it dead? Either that or it had just disappeared somewhere out of sight.

Isaac stared at the spot where it was then turned to face the young lady again. Speechless. Eyes glazed like glass (white irises), red hair framing his face and body lanky.

Still Mina held the journal like she had when she smacked the weird creature away, prepared to hit it again if she had to. However, that was when the red haired man made his way into the scene. She observed quietly, as she always did in situations she was in trouble and someone managed to intervene, wondering what the thing was that was now caught in Isaac's hand. However, this left her mind as she squeezed it until it popped out of sight, whether dead or fleeing. It still startled her into a tiny jump, shoulders bunching up closer to her jawline.

"A-ah..." Mina considered a moment a response, before straightening somewhat to try and appear relaxed. "I... thank you." Well, he did get rid of it, even if he hadn't really intended to assist her or not. She was so weak... she'd have to talk to Soma about teaching her how to fight.

"Thank you?" he repeated with a questioning tone in his voice. "Thank... you?!" was she mocking him? For a moment he froze and stared at the girl with one of his bewildered, icy glared. A long few seconds passed at the atmosphere around them was so tense that you could hear the other breathing. But, the moment past and just as suddenly as Isaac had appeared he burst into fits of hysterical laughter (as though her thanking him was the most funny thing he'd heard in years).

"Ieehehehehe!! Hehehe!! Yes yes, you're right, thank you." he muttered at the end of his shrieks of joy, taking a step closer to the girl. "What place is this? Am I dead?" he had to hunch slightly so that he could have proper eyecontact with her, his stomach wrinkling slightly as he did so. "If this is hell... Then I can find my Lord here!"

Mina stared at the red haired man as he went between the tense and then to the fit of hysterical laughter. Blinking doe eyes a moment, she hunched back up at the shoulders nervously, though did not stare in a frightened manner. She had met many people before, and he was one of the one's that hadn't scared her immediately. He seemed... Mina wasn't sure how to explain it, but she knew that she was fine right now. Even though Isaac seemed a little jumbled in the brain from first-glance, even.

However, when he took a step closer, she slipped one of her feet behind her towards the doorway again and put it on the lowest step. She clutched the journal tightly to her now, blinking confusedly as he spoke his questions. "Ah... this is... is Paixao. I don't think you're dead... and I'm not sure if it is hell. Who is your Lord, might I ask?" Oh Mina, this question would lead to all forms of interesting.

"Paixao.." he repeated to get his tongue used to the word. He'd never heard of such a place... the last thing that Isaac remembered was being attacked by Hector at his Master's castle. Had Hector... moved him here? Since he distinctly remembered everything going dark and a implacable weightlessness (like being dragged through water). But he reckoned that was more like him passing into death then being transported somewhere... But no matter, he didn't feel it now, so everything must be fine.

"My Master?" his eyes glazed over with thoughts of his Lord, they were happy thoughts even if all his experiences with him weren't exactly pleasurable. "Lord Dracula... Yes... If this could just be hell, maybe I could find him." It was strange how that deranged expression had softened. Mina was right, despite seeming loud and violent, in actuality Isaac was actually quite docile and harmless -these days...

"D-Dracula?" Mina stared at Isaac with even wider eyes than she might've before, holding the journal still close to her. "I thought... this was Dracula's castle... when I first came..." well, she might as well tell him what she knew of Dracula. This would be strangely awkward, however. "Because of how I got here..." she pulled at a thread in her haori sleeve again, becoming strangely skittish. This man... he knew Lord Dracula somehow. The look on his face said it quite easily.

"Perhaps he is here as well? I... I know my friend Soma is." She would not tell him how she knew of Dracula, or really that Soma was the reincarnate of him... that would be too dangerous, she believed. No matter how docile and harmless Isaac might've been these days.

His face lit up, his Master could be here, alive (or as alive as Dracular could be), he could have orders, a purpose again! His lips stretched into one of his trademark grins (where a few teeth peeked between his wide lips). He was impossibly happy at this idea, the prospect of seeing his Lord again.

"He could be here?! Where?!" he moved closer and, without thinking, reached a hand out to grab the girl's shoulder in desperation "You have to tell me where he is!!" he pleaded with her.

Oh dear, perhaps she shouldn't of said that. Mina jumped when the hand got a hold of her shoulder, though didn't jerk away. That would show fear, she didn't like showing fear. She knew she was weak, but... this man wanted help finding Dracula... and, a lot of weird things happened... Perhaps Soma would know if there'd be another form of Dracula in this place? Or perhaps Soma's inner Dracula would remember this man...

"Ah... I haven't... I haven't seen himself, but... I can help you look for him!" she said with optimism, lifting up a hand off her journal and putting it on top of his that was holding her shoulder lightly. "We can both look for him, and if we do, we'll find him much faster if he really is here!"

"You... want to help me find him?" he was shocked, to say the least! Nobody had ever offered him help... Nobody! (Unless you count that traitor Hector, but that was all in the past now anyway).

He stared at her for another long few seconds, his hand didn't move from her shoulder (in fact, he didn't move at all). "Hn.. I..." he trailed off and his eyes tilted to the side, as if he saw something past her in the distance, a ghostly figure beckoning to him. But the moment he saw it, it was already gone, just a vision and nothing more. Isaac was prone to seeing things that other people didn't. "Alright..." What a shock! Isaac never usually agreed to help from strangers, especially women!

"Of course I do," Mina said with a genuine smile across her face, keeping hold of the red haired man's hand before carefully pulling it from her shoulder. She didn't let go though, just to let him know that she would still help him. "It's not very fair that you're here and you don't know where Lord Dracula is, now is it? Don't worry," she smiles again, trying to give Isaac some of her... optimism, she supposed. It was like reassuring a child.

"If we can't find him here, then we'll just find a way to get you to him!" Dear dear Mina, always wanting to help. She knew that he was either seeing something or remembering something with the way he looked, but didn't dare say anything. She had seen some interest things before, being amongst such things as Dracula.

Isaac's eyes never settled, on anything, he was wound up and tense the entire time (probably why he was so thin, using up all that nervous energy!). "I.. Uhn... Ah..." head darting back and forth like a sparrow, curious and just a little bit scared.

"Have... Have to find him here, or Hector might find him instead." Hector finding anything usually resulted in it's demise, especially if that anything was related to Isaac. It tore the redhead up to think of his once closest friend becoming the destroyer of his life, his dreams, but that's all he was now. A hooligan, vandle and a thug.

"Which way?" he asked, eyebrows slanting slightly.

The young woman frowned a little when he began to get nervous and fidgety, as though someone was out to get him. She carefully stepped off the stairs in the doorway of the building she had fled to, before giving his hand a light tug when he asked which way. With a faint smile, Mina looked off into the city. "Don't worry, then. We'll make sure we find him before this Hector does."

If not, then... she would have Soma help Isaac out with that situation. She vaguely recalled a man named Hector in her mind, but it wasn't coming up very easily. "We'll go this way, first. I have a feeling we'll find at least Soma. He'll know what to do." A smile was there again, light as she lead the way... despite the Nobodies, which she was trying to avoid.

"Hn.. ah, um..." he replied in a serious of unsure noises as he was led by the girl through the monster-infested streets. After years and years of loneliness maybe now... just maybe, he'd be reunited with his Master again. Such a thought had Isaac's heart fluttering. He had been alone for so long...

It was a strange sight from the outset of things, a sweet girl leading a lanky, tattooed redhead down the street, having to reassure him like a beat-up schoolboy, but in essence that's what Isaac was, the personality he displayed at the moment was one of sensitivity and fear...

From the general direction Mina was pulling Isaac in came a booming roar, as of an oncoming train. Three miles distant (and growing closer at an alarming rate) was a bright spherical ball at ground level, and the Nobodies parted before it like the Red Sea before Moses.

At the center of that ball were a pair of living beings, one tall and white-haired, the other rather small and wearing armor. As it hurtled closer, one could see that, when the bubble met a Nobody (or anything else for that matter), that object would be shredded quite handily, and moved out of its path.

Ahead of him, Soma could feel Mina's presence, and that was all he needed to know. If she was here, he would find her... and woe unto any that attempted to stop him.

Mina took far too much caution in moving through the monster infested streets, actually. She didn't want them to be noticed by any of them, because she wasn't sure that the both of them could handle being overtaken by too many of them at one time. She kept hold of the tall man's hand, knowing that he probably needed the reassurance. The shrine maiden had the feeling that he hadn't had a caring friend in a long, long time.

It was then that Mina got that chill again. The one that was like a warm breeze but still causing her to shudder. "Soma's up ahead, Isaac. He'll help." Of course, she started to notice the large bubble--it was familiar, how couldn't she?--advancing towards them quickly. She didn't rush to meet it, but instead slowed and kept Isaac next to her, hand holding his like the reassuring mother to the beaten-up child, her other hand on his shoulder.

He didn't comment, instead Isaac just followed Mina wherever she lead him, it was a lot easier doing that then trying to navigate all by himself. When the strange ball of light flickered near them his grip tightened slightly and he froze for a moment or two.

He peered past the slightly shorter girl to notice a slender, refined looking young man with pale hair. His first, and slightly inwardly repressed reaction, was wow, he's good-looking!.

It wasn't much of a surprise Sword was overlooked, considering the bubble surrounding them both, and the fact that he was all but trying to sink into Soma's chest the way he was pressed against it; the size factor didn't hurt either. It almost looked like Soma was carrying some sort of bizarre plushie.... He didn't plan to stay in the almost-vampire's arms long, though. Not with his stomach giving him hell like this. Why on earth was he having this kind of trouble, anyway? He'd traveled on Sir Meta Knight's starship before! ....Though, that had been with him entirely inside it so that everything had seemed to be still, so maybe it didn't count....

He couldn't help squirming and whimpering a little, though he tried to stay calm and still. After all, it wouldn't do to get down now, not while they were moving at heaven only knew what speeds. He'd kill himself trying! Seriously though, violent illness was going to happen in about three minutes, max, and he didn't mean maybe. It would be really impolite to vomit all over his benefactor from a vicious case of motion sickness, too....

With that sort of thing on his mind--and the fact that his eyes were shut and he was facing Soma anyway--was it any wonder he was unaware of the people they were approaching?

Soma slowed somewhat as he drew nearer to Mina's position, and as he did, he could feel another presence. It was vaguely familiar to some part of him, but... not. Like a memory of someone else's dream.

Finally, he came to a full halt, kneeling to deposit his erstwhile passenger on the ground. He couldn't help but pity the poor guy; he'd been motion sick the first few times -he- had used the Black Panther, too.

As he looked up, his red eyes met Mina's blue, and a spark of recognition flew between them. He didn't need to tell her what had happened; their rapport was that great.

Dusting his coat off and shaking his sleeves back down to cover his bracers, Soma took a few steps toward Mina. "Gods, Mina, I thought I had lost you this time..." he said as he drew her into a hug.

Mina's frown showed when she figured what had happened between the exchange of glances, seeing the red and becoming somewhat upset. However, she carefully released Isaac and gave him a light smile to assure she would not forget him in the reuniting moment between her and her long-time friend. She was quite surprised, however, when he drew her into a hug.

Blushing red in the cheeks, the shrine maiden hesitated notably before lifting her arms up and returning the hug. Her lower lip quivered a little at his words as she considered it. "You... you were missing for almost a week, Soma... I looked for you, and..." she kept herself from getting emotional, because that was stupid.

"I went to the shrine... to see if... that place had anything to do with it..." doe eyes went towards red and she frowned a little, as though hinting not to mention Dracula directly at the moment. She carefully pulled their hug away a little, looking to Isaac with a smile. "This is Soma, he's the one I said could help."

A lot happened in a matter of seconds and it confused Isaac (as he found it hard to follow a quick series of events). He just stood there after Mina released his hand, and he really did not like watching other people hug, especially when he could sense repressed strong feelings. Because of Isaac's delicate state of mind he couldn't think straight but his senses had been enhanced, he could pick up on emotions very easily even if they weren't expressed so openly.

He didn't move from where he stood and he just watched on from a distance. When Mina turned back and talked to him he looked past her at the new arrivals. Focusing particularly on Soma, there was... something about it, strange. He couldn't pinpoint it, it was like... A familiar smell or atmosphere, he couldn't... figure it out.

Sword was grateful for the fact that he didn't need to jump; instead, he just wobble-staggered his way away from the group, making it perhaps a dozen paces before yanking off his helmet and bracing his hands against his knees to vomit. He did it twice before his stomach settled enough to hold the rest of its contents back, though the stuff smelled singularly unpleasant--he could find neither sand nor dirt to bury it with, either. The only stuff nearby was a patch of grass that looked distinctly plastic.

Either way, he licked his lips to get rid of the slight mess he'd left behind, pulling his helmet back on and glad the others had been too distracted to watch. He padded back to rejoin them with only a little hesitation, sniffing in Isaac's direction as he looked up at the man. The woman was obviously Mina, but who was this? Soma hadn't mentioned any other friends....

Such interesting markings this one had, too. Why didn't Mina or Soma have any like them? After all, Mina and this one smelled human like each other, and Soma's scent was pretty similar, even if there was something just a bit off about it compared to the others. Sword sensibly (in his opinion, at least) remained silent, quite willing to let the others settle their business of reunion and helping and whatever else.

Soma held Mina at arms' length, forcing himself to regain composure before answering her. "It's not... back, is it?" he asked, obviously clicking along with her line of thought.

Sword and the stranger were not forgotten; the scent of vomit hung heavy on the air for a moment as the miniature knight regurgitated part of his mid-day meal. And the sense of power mixed with fear and indecision was almost palpable from the stranger.

"We should talk more later... This place is not safe. And getting here took what was left of my reserves; if I try to do that again before resting, bad things will happen."

Like mass murder...

Mina shook her head to the question, looking up at him before back towards Isaac. "No, I don't think so... this definitely isn't the place." But she smiled a little and gave a nod to what he said about the place not being safe, looking at her journal she'd put under her arm previously. It had scratches on the back of it from using it as a weapon, which she would talk to Soma about later.

"Oh, is he all right?" the girl questioned, peeking around Soma to Sword. It was funny, the idea of one of the creatures in Dracula's castle was brought to mind when she examined the small creature. But... she had seen fur before the helmet was put back on. And she was pretty sure that the creature in mind wasn't furry. She eyed Soma a little, closely, and stuck out her lower lip now. "I don't want you doing that at all right now."

Stood and watched from a distance, Isaac was beginning to believe in the back of his head that these people probably weren't going to be able to help him find his Master, they didn't look like the sort of people to associate with his Lord.

The longer Isaac stood there the more his concentration drifted, eyes glazing over and staring blankly off into the distance. He begain to let his mind wander as well, considering that if there was the chance of his Master being here, would Hector be here as well?

Sword wondered darkly what kind of bad things would happen, and to whom. Would he snap on all of them and go psychotic like Sword had feared he might earlier? Would he collapse and let them all be killed? Well, Sword wouldn't let that happen, not while he still had his armor and blade at the ready! .....Though he did wish he really did have Blade with him. And Sir Meta Knight, for that matter.

"I'm okay." Sword mumbled, sighing and adjusting his helmet a little and tilting his head back to peer up at Mina curiously. "I just.... don't like going that fast." And even if it was a bad state for Soma to be in, he was rather glad he didn't have to take another trip like that so soon. "But I do think we should get going again before the monsters come back after us again, even if we do have to walk the whole way." Mina didn't look like she could fight nearly as well as Soma, but he wasn't too sure about the man with markings on him. He looked like he might be able to.

(OOC: Since Isaac has been dropped, I vote we continue this at a later point. Perhaps after finding lodgings. I'll go ahead and post a transitional piece; let me know if I need to change it.)

Soma looked at the facade of the building they had come to, and briefly wondered if they might be safer outside. Sure, it was beautiful and all, but it was -glass-. And glass had a tendency to break.

Or contain demons. But that was another story altogether.

They certainly looked the part of a ragtag band of adventurers; the fierce warrior, fiery blade drawn and ready. The priestess, healer and protector. The dwarf, armored and armed. Indeed, a party right out of any number of fantasy games.

This was no game, though. And Soma wasn't altogether sure Mina could heal anything beyond supplying bandaids. The fact that the dwarf had already managed to throw up was another bad sign, and Soma was feeling definite dark pressuring from within. Clearly, Dracula liked the way things were developing, in some twisted way.

"Umm... Maybe we should keep looking?" he said, vaguely hoping that they wouldn't be stuck (literally or figuratively) in this glass opera house.

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The tattooed man appears

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